2
April
15:45
Irish Film Institute, Dublin
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EAFFI 2023: Far Away Eyes & A Moment Twice Lived

2 April 2023 / 15:45 / Irish Film Institute, Dublin
This image is a still from the short film 'A Moment Twice Lived' by Irish filmmaker Martin Healy. The image depicts an elderly woman seated with her side to the camera, gazing at a painting. She wears a beige mack jacket, a beige scarf, and has her grey hair tied in a bun. In the background, there is a red antique chair wooden bookcase and wooden window shutters. The painting has a golden, antique-style frame with flowers, and appears to show the silhouette of a person standing against a fiery background, although it is unclear due to the angle. The woman appears to be deeply absorbed in the painting.

Martin Healy, A Moment Twice Lived, 2016, image courtesy of the artist

East Asia Film Festival Ireland presents the award-winning debut feature, Far Away Eyes, by director Wang Chun-Hong, preceded by Martin Healy’s short film, A Moment Twice Lived, selected in partnership with aemi.

Film Information
Martin Healy, A Moment Twice Lived, 2016, IRE, DCP, 12 mins
Wang Chun-Hong, Far Away Eyes, 2022, CHN, DCP, Subtitled, 79 mins
Running Time: 91 mins

In Far Away Eyes, writer-director Wang Chun-Hong, a photographer born in Taiwan, plays the young male protagonist in his debut feature set in Taipei at a crucial period of history: the Taiwan presidential election in January 2020. Nearly thirty, the film’s protagonist reflects on his past, present, and possible future. Inspired to imagine his film – about a young man trapped by the unknown – on seeing a photograph of a group of people watching two planes in the sky, and merging documentary and auto-fiction, he forges his own cinematic visual style, a blended language of image overlays, mirror-images, panning, and long takes.

Wang Chun-Hong’s film is preceded by Martin Healy’s A Moment Twice Lived which was selected by aemi in partnership with EAFFI. Healy’s film explores our perception of the passage of time through the subjective experience of memory, ageing and dreaming. The work makes reference to JW Dunne’s theoretical book ‘An experiment with time’ (1927), which described a series of precognitive dreams, in which he experienced multiple dimensions of time. In the film, Dunne’s theories are reflected in the formal structure of the narrative and an analogy is created between the artifice of filmmaking and the experience of time repeated. The circuitous narrative focuses on a fleeting moment when a lone character studies the surface of a painting and begins to sense she has seen the image before. As the character becomes absorbed in the painting’s composition, she begins to experience dual realities and the composition becomes visualised as a parallel film shoot in which she performs the lead role. The narrative moves between the two interconnected scenes and the distinction between past, present and future becomes increasingly blurred, creating an impression of time.

This programme is taking place as part of the East Asia Film Festival Ireland (EAFFI) 2023 and will be introduced by artist Martin Healy.

Biography, Wang Chun-Hong
WANG Chun-Hong was born in Taiwan in 1990 and graduated from Shih Hsin University, Film and TV Department, in 2017. His first film, FAREWELL PHOTOGRAPHY (2015), shot in 16mm, was selected for Taipei Film Festival. His second short film, DOUBLE REFLECTION (2017), was part of the official selection for the 2018 Marseille and was nominated as Best Short Film at Taipei Film Festival. FAR AWAY EYES (2020), his first feature film project, was awarded the MicroClimate Prize at the FidLAB 2019 and was selected in the WIP section of Golden Horse Promotion Platform where it won the TAICCA Creative Award.

Biography, Martin Healy
Martin Healy lives and works in Dublin. He works predominantly through the mediums of photography, film and sculpture and his works have been shown widely both nationally and internationally. International residencies include CCA, Andratx, Mallorca, 2022; Cove Park, Scotland, 2014; Temple Bar Gallery & Studios / HIAP-International Residency Exchange, Helsinki, 2010; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, 2008; Artists’ Residency Programme at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2007; the International Studio Programme Residency at PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York, 2000/01. His film A Moment Twice Lived was funded by The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion Visual Arts Project Award.

 

       


Images:

A black and white still from the film 'Far Away Eyes' by the director Wang Chung-Hong. In this image, we see a Taiwanese man in his late 20's standing on a balcony of a building located in an industrial area in Taiwan at night-time. He is wearing glasses and a dark jacket, and he is standing to the right of the frame, slightly turned away from the camera. In his right hand, he holds his mobile phone, which he is focusing on. The man is facing railway tracks, and we can see a train passing by in the background. Behind him, there are several apartment blocks and some shrubbery.

Wang Chun-Hong, Far Away Eyes, 2022, image courtesy of the artist

A black and white still from the film 'Far Away Eyes' by the director Wang Chung-Hong. In this image, we see a Taiwanese man in his late 20's driving a motorcycle at night-time, with a young woman of a similar age as his passenger holding onto him from behind. The man wears glasses, and they are both wearing dark jackets, trousers, and helmets. The cityscape in the background is blurry, creating a sense of motion.

Wang Chun-Hong, Far Away Eyes, 2022, image courtesy of the artist

A black and white still from the film 'Far Away Eyes' by the director Wang Chung-Hong. In this image, we see a night-time street filled with motorcycles, along with a few cars and a bus trapped in traffic. To the left of the frame, we can see some houses and a few people on the pavement. Trees are planted along the sidewalk. The scene has a slightly ominous atmosphere.

Wang Chun-Hong, Far Away Eyes, 2022, image courtesy of the artist



Supporting and Exhibiting Artists' and Experimental Moving Image in association with LUX, the Irish Film Institute and Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. Supported by the Arts Council.