Arnie
Rina B. TSOU/taiwan&philippines/24MINS/la premiere
Docked at the port of Kaohsiung, Filipino seaman Arnie buys a ring with the help of his mates, to propose to his girlfriend back home. The supposedly happiest moment of his life soon takes a downward spiral when he finds out she is pregnant - but he is not the father of the child.
Director Statement
We co-exist in the same land, but live parallel worlds, a sea of invisible waves separating us. I felt that, in this modern world of different races, cultures, or simply social status. I once came across a group of Filipino seamen in Taiwan, and to them, I broke the paralleling spell when I popped up the first “Kamusta na?” (How are you?). In this film, our camera is the eye, the invisible wave, swimming around Arnie, whose parallel world also intersecting with a Taiwanese girl by chance, by mutual sadness, and by an attraction that needs no translation.
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Director's Bio
Taiwanese-Filipina filmmaker Rina B. TSOU studied filmmaking at Motion Picture Department of National Taiwan University of Arts. Being of two lands, she has an intimate understanding of the East and Southeast Asian situation and has applied her unique sensibilities to the issues raised in her films. This can be seen in her latest short film Arnie, about the situation of transient Filipino workers in Taiwan, competing at the 2016 edition of the Cannes Film Festival Critic’s Week. Based in Taipei, she is developing her first feature film project, titled, Raining Roses.