MY GRANDMOTHER IS AN EGG
DIRECTED BY WU-CHING CHANG
UNITED KINGDOM, TAIWAN // 2021
9 MINS
My grandmother was a T'ung-yang-hsi. It is the traditional practice of pre-arranged marriage, selling a young girl to another family to be raised as a future daughter-in-law. Egg is life per se. Eggs are fragile, but at the same time tough.
Reflective Encounters
“In Taiwan, T’ung-yang-hsi was the traditional practice of pre-arranged marriage, in which a young girl was sold to the family of her future husband. From then on, the majority of domestic labour befell the child, who hardly had time to study or play. In this compact animated documentary, Chang Wu-Ching recounts the story of her grandmother, from her stolen childhood to her days spent boiling and peeling eggs for a business that wasn’t truly hers.
My Grandmother is an Egg opens with a foreshadowing statement, “Eggs are fragile, but at the same time tough”. This simple statement conceals a larger truth. Throughout the film, Chang’s grandmother is often visually associated with an egg – the smooth surface of it transforming into a canvas on which the woman’s face reverts back in time – and trapped inside it to signify her lost freedom. Though this practice might have died out with time, My Grandmother is an Egg asks us to remember the women whose lives were sacrificed to inequality and relentless labour, but whose resilience should inspire us all to fight for permanent change.”
— Ren Scateni
Filmmaker Q&A
A Q&A with filmmakers from The Past Within programme at Encounters Film Festival 2021.
Filmmakers - Ewa Smyk (Homebird), Wu-Ching Chang (My Grandmother is an Egg), Jorge Aguilar Rojo (Our Perpetual Now) and Christine Saab (In the Space You Left).
Hosted by Iris Dosen, Encounters programmer.
Director’s Statement
The film aims to reflect upon women's oppression and struggle for freedom. The director Wu-Ching Chang creates the animated short film ‘My Grandmother Is an Egg’ by exploring her grandmother's experience. Her grandmother was a T'ung-yang-hsi.
It is the traditional practice of pre-arranged marriage, selling a young girl to another family to be raised as a future daughter-in-law. This tradition has vanished for decades, but the patriarchal shadow still lingers.
Trying to be true to the historical context, the film is done by doing interviews and research in the pre-production stage. As the metaphor of women in the film, the eggs are the symbolization of productive gender and social role.
After labor and oppression, the film reaches its climax with Hakka 'Old Mountain Song' combined with turbulent waves. Behind the rail track, there is the sea. Across the sea, therein lies freedom.
Filmmaker Bio
Born in Taiwan, Wu-Ching Chang is an animation director, illustrator and concept artist who earned MA. Animation at Royal College of Art in the UK and BFA in New Media Art at the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan. She is the founder of Aco Studio, and she has worked as a freelance animator and illustrator since 2010.
The clients include Channel Four and Tiger Party New York. She is the concept artist and cinematic artist for the game Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition.
She creates arts by exploring personal experience and female issues. Her animated films are often based on historical context by doing interviews and research in the pre-production stage. Except for 2D animation with hand-painted texture, her films contain multiple experimental practice, such as animating with eggs. Through visual art, she tells stories about life.
Her animated short film 'Bird' won the Hand Painted Animated Shorts Award at Palm Springs Int. Animation Festival in the USA. Her experimental short film ’The Impermanent Sea’ won the Best Multimedia Film Award at Global India International Film Festival in India.
Her animated short film 'Mother' won the Quality Award at T. Creativity Award and the Best Visual Effects Award at 4C Digital Content Awards.