After Spring, the Tamaki Family…海的彼端｜New Jersey

After Spring, the Tamaki Family…海的彼端｜New Jersey
Co-organizer:TAIWANESE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA NORTHERN NEW JERSEY CHAPTER
Date:2/22 14:00
Location:Taiwanese Presbyterian Church of Northern NJ（343 East Cedar St., Livingston NJ）

During Taiwan’s period of Japanese rule in the 1930s, a group of pineapple farmers sailed to the Yaeyama Islands in Okinawa to start a new life. Over time, they became naturalized Japanese and thrived. Grandma Tamayo TAMAKI was among the first-generation of these immigrants. In 2015, the TAMAKI family reunited to celebrate her 88th birthday, taking her back to Taiwan to revisit her family, and reigniting memories of her quest for a better life.

From the basis of the TAMAKI family’s history, HUANG undertook extensive fieldwork to represent the forgotten history of these island immigrants. Having experienced and observed many historical events such as Japanese rule, WWII and Taiwan’s retrocession, their identity as a Taiwanese faded with time. But by returning to Taiwan, questions of identity resurface. Like Shinsuke OGAWA, HUANG fully immerses himself in his subjects’ lives and environment enabling him to establish an intimate rapport with his subjects, while ample archive materials give depth to the story’s historical context.

海的彼端

玉木家等待了無數個春天，終於迎來他們平和安穩的人生晚景。距離台灣約三百公里外的日本沖繩八重山諸島，一座被歷史遺忘的邊陲小島，曾是戰前移民而來的殖民地台灣人落腳之地。他們歷經農業開墾與徵召、戰爭期間的強制遣返、二二八事件的波及，最終在美軍統治下成為無國籍的政治難民，流離漂泊整整三十年。玉木家在大時代的洪流中跌宕起伏，如今百餘人的家族終於團聚，兒女們正籌劃著帶著身體逐漸衰弱的老母，最後一次重返她年輕時離開的家鄉——台灣。

這是一部橫跨八十年大東亞苦難歷史的滄桑家庭電影。玉木家的孩子們走過萬千，如今迎來屬於他們的盛宴。這不只是玉木一家的記憶旅程，也是所有沖繩八重山台灣移民共同的漂流史，如同兩座島嶼之間來回拍打不息的海浪，曾經年少的身影，如今也都成長為記憶的守護者。

2015 年初春，在家族春假的一週裡，玉木家隨著母親逐漸斑駁的記憶，再次踏上一段未曾有過的尋根之旅——一場關於記憶、認同與回家的深刻追尋。