Centre of Taiwan Studies Film Screening: "Tongues of Heaven", SOAS
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 2014-02-06

This was recorded at the screening of the film: "Tongues of Heaven" with Q&A with Director Anita Chang which was held by the Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS, University of London on 24th January 2014.

Find out more about Taiwan Studies at SOAS: http://www.soas.ac.uk/taiwanstudies/
Find out more about Taiwanese film screening at SOAS at http://www.soas.ac.uk/taiwanstudies/taiwan-film-screening/

Director's Biography
Anita Wen-Shin Chang is an independent filmmaker, educator and writer. Chang has taught documentary film and media studies in the San Francisco Bay Area, AAVAS in Kathmandu Nepal, the Motion Picture Department at National Taiwan University of Arts, and the Department of Indigenous Languages and Communication at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. Her Honours include grant awards from Creative Capital, Fulbright, San Francisco Arts Commission, National Geographic All Roads, and KQED Peter J. Owens Filmmaker program. She is currently pursuing a doctorate at University of California, Santa Cruz.  
For more on Anita Chang's films see: http://www.anitachangworks.com/

Synopsis of "Tongues of Heaven"
Set in Taiwan and Hawai'i, Tongues of Heaven focuses on the questions, desires, and challenges of young indigenous peoples to learn the languages of their forebears -- languages that are either endangered or facing extinction. Using digital video as a primary medium of expression, four young indigenous women from divergent backgrounds collaborate and exchange ideas to consider the impact of language on identity and culture. With 96% of the world's population speaking only 4% of the world's languages, what does it mean to speak your mother tongue in this age of language homogenization? To put it another way, what do you lose when you lose your native language? These are just some of the questions that these women, with camera in hand, ask themselves, their families and peers.