"Taiwanese Cha Cha Cha (台語恰恰恰)," a 2019 Taiwanese short film that explores language and culture, will be screened online at CAAMFest – San Francisco's annual celebration of Asian cinema, from Oct. 14 to 18 on the CAAMFest website, as part of the festival's fall event.
The 16-miniute film follows two high school students, PeiPei and Xiaoqi. Trying to escape from the tremendous pressure for the upcoming college entrance exam, PeiPei plans to travel to the countryside to visit her grandfather without her parents' permission.
Worried that her poor Taiwanese skills might make it difficult for her to communicate with her grandfather, who can only speak Taiwanese, PeiPei encounters Xiaoqi who dreams of cultivating a career in translation as a Taiwanese interpreter, despite the strong objections of people around her. The encounter encourages the pair to set off an adventurous journey.
Director Judie Yang Yu-hui (楊渝惠) graduated from San Francisco State University's School of Cinema. While language loss, fading culture, as well as intimate but intense family relationships are common themes that run through her films, Yang is also known to be exceptional at employing black humor in her works.
"Taiwanese Cha Cha Cha" is her second production, which was also showed at the 2019 San Diego Asian Film Festival and 2020 Austin Asian American Film Festival.
The film, along with other short films from countries around the world and post-screening Q&As, is part of the CAAMFest FORWARD – a five-day event with a primarily virtual lineup and two drive-in experiences from Oct. 14. Viewers worldwide will be able to purchase tickets for screenings here.
CAAMFest is presented by the Center for Asian American Media, a nonprofit organization founded in 1980 dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the international audience for 40 years, according to the center's website.