Under Construction (or the place where I was born no longer exists) / Give Me a Home

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Under Construction (or the place where I was born no longer exists)

Chile, 2000

A man watches as his neighborhood in Santiago, Chile, changes around him. Houses are sold and torn down, neighbors move away. Refusing to change with it, he invites documentarian Ignacio Agüero into his home, sharing his hobbies and personal history with the camera. Meanwhile, life continues, bringing changes within his own family — the passage of time never ceasing. Ignacio Agüero, one of Chile’s most acclaimed documentarians, made his early films during the Pinochet dictatorship. Under Construction captures a post-Pinochet Chile at the turn of the century, as the people of Santiago reflect on their country’s history through architecture, anecdotes and visions of the future.

Digital, color, in Spanish with English subtitles, 77 min. Director: Ignacio Agüero.

Give Me a Home

Taiwan, 1991

Before his feature film debut Rebels of the Neon God (1992), Tsai Ming-liang had a brief career directing made-for-television films. Give Me a Home is one of these early works, offering glimpses of Tsai’s distinctive, lingering cinematic style soon to emerge in full definition. His television work often centered on the struggles of Taipei’s working class, as seen here. Set in 1990s Taipei, the film follows a young unhoused family whose breadwinner builds houses for others. Filming in both public and private spaces, Tsai reveals the lives of those living in the shadows, without a shelter of their own.

Digital, color, in Mandarin with English subtitles, 52 min. Director: Tsai Ming-liang. Screenwriters: Tsai Ming-liang, Li Zongyu. With: Lung Chang, Ling-Ling Hsia.

—Associate Programmer Nicole Ucedo

Part of: (Dis)placement: Fluctuations of Home, Part II