- Welcome to Independent Lens.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
"What if it's the tragic moments that bring things to light?"
That is a quote from tonight's film,
the story of one curious daughter
who explores her family's war-torn past
and the lingering effects it has had
on three generations of her family.
The film is Light of the Setting Sun.
Light of the Setting Sun is directed
and narrated by Taiwanese American filmmaker Vicky Du.
Du's first documentary feature-length film
tells an incredibly personal story.
Du's parents came to New York City as college students
looking for a better life
in the aftermath of the Chinese Communist Revolution.
Her parents were good at the basics,
always making sure she and her brother were well-fed,
clothed, and educated.
But under the surface, Vicky grew up in a house
where she frequently saw abuse, displacement,
and mental illness, resulting in childhood trauma
which followed her and other family members into adulthood.
Du's parents would have shouting matches
followed by long stretches of piercing silence,
causing anxiety for the rest of the family.
When her brother speaks on camera,
he talks about the fear, anxiety,
and the sadness in their home.
Du draws a correlation
between the trauma in her house growing up
and the trauma her parents and grandparents dealt with
during the Chinese Civil War.
Vicky Du tracks her family's history over three generations
and across three countries:
China, Taiwan, and the United States.
What is even more remarkable is that,
like a true documentarian,
she was able to research her family tree back 900 years.
In Light of the Setting Sun, Du hops back and forth
between her family's life on the streets of Taipei
and where she grew up in suburban New Jersey.
Du takes her time with her visuals,
complementing them with different genres of music
as well as silence,
which you will see is a theme throughout the film,
allowing viewers to immerse themselves in her experience.
The director tells her story about her family history
with respect and care.
She talked to multiple generations
of her diaspora family,
hearing stories about the war for the first time,
including how her grandparents fought in the Shanghai Army
against the Chinese Communist Party,
which gave her a sense of her ancestors' history.
In addition to exploring her family's past,
Vicky Du also lets us in to her more modern day family life
and uses humor when needed,
like when she tells her mother she's a lesbian.
Yes, Vicky Du is not afraid of awkwardness on camera.
The film is comprised of not only intimate interviews,
but priceless archival footage,
as well as narration from the director's own calming voice.
Let's sit back and watch this talented director tell her story
about how her family's tragic moments bring things to light.
Light of the Setting Sun starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.