Kulumaha! Behind the Singing directed by Hao-Mei Chen will open the Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival which will take place from September 8 – 10, 2023 at the VIFF Centre, Vancouver, Canada.

This is a story behind the beautiful singing at the bottom of Mount Jade, the highest mountain in Taiwan. In 2008, Vox Nativa (a Taiwan Acapella Children’s Choir) sang their way from Taiwan to the Vienna Cathedral and various places around the world with their song ‘Kipahpah ima.’ However, being a music performing group was not the initial purpose of the ‘Vox Nativa Association, Taiwan’; it was the culmination of 14 years of educational achievements.

This film began shooting in 2018 and avoids using a third-party narrator. Instead, it weaves together interviews with the individuals and records of their lives over the four-year period. It truthfully presents the precious moments of growth that the children experienced in Vox Nativa. It also captures several graduated students as they transition into key stages of life, such as studying in urban high schools, and universities, and preparing to enter the workforce. The film reflects on the concerns and issues of rural education, the indigenous bonus points system, and the challenges of adapting from tribes to cities. After having attended Vox Nativa and left their tribal villages, will these children return with the skills they have acquired?” (TWFF 2023)

Trailer:

About the director:
Director Hao-mei Chen, formerly a seasoned producer and coordinator for advertising and commercial videos, has been involved in the production of biographical programs for international channels such as Discovery and AETN. After volunteering at Vox Nativa for three years, observing and building relationships, and being deeply affected by the tragic accident involving director Chi Po-lin in 2017, Chen, at the age of 50, decided to make the documentary Behind the Singing as a milestone in her life, marking it her directorial debut!

For more information, please visit: https://www.twff.ca/2023/