Skip to main content

[May 22 At 6 PM] GAGA & Post-Screening Q&A with Director Laha Mebow (in-person only)

May 9, 2023

The UW Taiwan Studies Arts & Culture Program is thrilled to invite you to a special screening of Laha Mebow’s award-winning film, GAGA 哈勇家 (2022), on Monday, May 22, at 6 pm, at the University of Washington (Kane Hall 120).

The screening will be followed by a post-screening Q&A session with Director Laha Mebow. Floor will be open to the audience, too!

Registration is required, but FREE! To celebrate the PNW premiere of this award-winning film, the screening is free to everyone. IN-PERSON ONLY.

Tickets are required to attend the screening and Q&A session at Kane Hall 120, UW. Visit http://gaga-uw.eventbrite.com to get your tickets.

 

Screening | GAGA (Laha Mebow, 2022) | 111 min

Trailer: https://youtu.be/WlAtj9onzcU

★ GAGA is a heartwarming story at the joint effort of Do You Love Me As I Love You producer Eric Liang, Your Name Engraved Herein producer Arthur Chu, and the Taipei Film Awards Best Director winner Laha Mebow (for Lokah Laqi).

★ Every family has its own issues. GAGA portrays the new generation’s connections and complexes to families and lands in a unique way. It’s the most touching and beautiful movie in 2022.

At the end of September, the mist surrounds a mountain tribe. The smoke from the firewood shed signals the start of a day for Hayung’s big Atayal family of three generations.

Grandpa Hayung (Wilang Noming) follows the Atayal tradition, GAGA, all his life that younger generations no longer value. He can only try to teach his grandson Enoch (Yukan Losing).

Hayung’s land has been encroached by Mayor Toli’s family and his powerless family is furious. After the lost cause, Hayung’s oldest son Pasang (Wilang Lain) hopes to improve their status by winning mayorship. Meanwhile, Pasang does not get along with his daughter Ali (Ali Batu) who recently returned from New Zealand. Since her mother passed away, there always seems to be an invisible wall in between them.

After grandpa Hayung’s sudden passing this fall, the tribe has encountered a fog that won’t lift, just like this family’s uncertain future is haunting them.

After Hayung’s passing, Pasang decides to run for mayorship. His brother Silan (Gaki Baunay) tries to help, but Silan ends up in fights with his wife Yuli (Esther Huang). Their mother (Kagaw Piling) goes from being strong against it to making a crazy move, all for the sake of the campaign…

*GAGA is in Tayal and Mandarin, with English subtitles.

 

Filmmaker | Laha MEBOW

Laha MEBOW, Best Director at the 2022 Golden Horse Awards for her feature film GAGA, is the first Taiwanese woman and the first Indigenous filmmaker to win the prestigious honor in the history of the Golden Horse Awards. Her works focus mostly on the shared experience of indigenous peoples in Taiwan. Her second feature Hang in There, Kids! was awarded the Grand Prize at  2016 Taipei Film Festival. She received an Annual Top 10 Outstanding Young Women Award in 2015 for her contribution to indigenous issues. She recently visited the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris as an artist-in-residence on the recommendation of Taiwan government.


This special event is a collaborative effort between the UW Taiwan Studies Arts & Culture Program and its generous partner, the Seattle International Film Festival.