"My mother and I have lived like strangers under one roof for decades. The only exchanges between us are the meals she cooks for me since we never talk to each other. One day, I finally summon up the courage to sit her down and make her talk. But am I ready to hear what she has to say?" Anu is a tomboy. Although she was married off at a young age – as was customary in Taiwan in the 1970s – and had two children, she quickly divorced her violent husband and brought up her daughters alone. Since then her only relationships have been with women who, like her, earn a living as professional mourners at funerals. One of her daughters is filmmaker Hui-chen Huang. It’s considered taboo in Chinese culture to question a mother’s unconditional love, and yet this is exactly the topic of Huang’s intimate portrait. Mother and daughter set off on a journey together into the past during which Anu is confronted with questions that have tormented her daughter for years. In a series of long shots the two women discuss such topics as trust, abuse and cognisance, and yet most of these discussions end in painful silence. Shifting focus in order to plumb the depths of the depicted room, the director attempts to understand her mother by also talking to her mother’s siblings and ex-lovers. In doing so she paints a picture of changing living conditions for three generations of women in Taiwan.

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"The conversation surrounding sex work affects all human beings, even if we aren't sex workers ourselves or hire sex workers. This issue is, at its core, about our bodies and the agency we should have over them and our actions. [...] We also need to be aligning these conversations alongside the other larger, cultural conversations that are currently taking place; about policing, incarceration, the murders of trans women of color and other vulnerable members of our society ‚ and basic human rights that everyone should be concerned with. [...] Events like the Rentboy raid don't just affect sex workers; they impact all people affected by policing, incarceration, surveillance and institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and transphobia." By James Michael Nichols - The Huffington Post

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On her way to the store with a group of friends, Chrishaun Reed “CeCe” McDonald was attacked. While defending her life, a man was killed. After a coercive interrogation, CeCe was incarcerated in a men’s prison in Minnesota. An international campaign to free CeCe garnered significant support from media and activists, including actress and executive producer Laverne Cox. Cox used this platform to explore the roles race, class and gender played in CeCe’s case. CeCe emerged not only as a survivor, but also as a leader. Documentarian Jac Gares pushed past everyday narratives of victimhood that surround the lives of transgender people, to spotlight the way CeCe and other trans people are leading a growing movement to critically interrogate and disassemble the prison industrial complex. Desc. courtesy of the L.A. Film Festival.

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