DIRECTED by Grace Chung Lay Woei and produced by Angel Yuen Yi Qian, Red Wine Chicken, focuses on a Vietnamese bride married to a Malaysian man living in Bukit Pelanduk, Negri Sembilan.
The bride, Ah Jiao – who is also Yuen’s aunt – learns how to cook the family’s version of the Fuzhou Chinese dish, the titular red wine chicken. The documentary is also about the couple’s life and marriage.
“When Ah Jiao gave birth to her first child in 2009, I remember my grandmother prepared her Red Wine Chicken daily during the confinement,” Angel Yuen said in an online interview. “For me, Ah Jiao became a family from the day she married my uncle."
“We made this because there is some discrimination and stereotypes towards women who come to Malaysia as brides and that a younger generation of Malaysians are starting to lose interest in inheriting the recipes of the traditional cuisines of their cultures,” said Grace Chung.
Grace Chung and Angel Yuen are pursuing their Bachelor of Communication Broadcasting at the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Faculty of Creative Industries.
The documentary was among the five winning documentaries chosen by the Visual Documentary Project (VDP) 2020 in Japan.
The film ranked top five among 1,066 documentary submissions and nearly 120 entries from Southeast Asian countries.
Red Wine Chicken「紅酒鷄」by Angel Yuen and Grace ChungRed Wine Chicken「紅酒鷄」 Producer 製作人 Angel Yuen Director 導演 Grace Chung 福州人善用紅糟入膳，而紅糟是福州菜最典型的調味料，當中最為著名的菜色為「紅酒鷄」。 根據福州人的傳統，無論是在歡慶佳節或坐月子，必定會用自製的紅酒及紅糟亨煮出紅酒鷄。 然而，這傳統美味佳餚卻漸漸失傳。 「紅酒鷄」紀錄片 即將呈現不一樣的味道與故事。 Red Wine Chicken is one of Fuzhou’s traditional delicacies. It is usually cooked and served during festivals or during the confinement stage of women after their pregnancy. However, this traditional delicacy is slowly being forgotten as each generation passes. The documentary ‘Red Wine Chicken’ will present you a different perspective of the story. Screening details : 9th to 10th May 2020 from 10am onwards at Action 2020's Facebook page
Posted by Action 2020 on Saturday, May 2, 2020
Started in 2012 by the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, VDP aims to provide a platform to deepen exchanges on Southeast Asia through documentary filmmaking, and other means.
Each year VDP holds a call for documentaries from the region on different themes and promotes exchanges between directors, researchers and citizens.
This year’s theme is LOVE.
“We had the purpose of wanting the audience to understand that true love can be found in many ways even if they are uncommon and get the audience to think that we shouldn’t forget our cultures and traditions,” Grace Chung added.
The documentary was shot in early 2020 with support from the crews of Just Another Production (J.A.P), a local production company.
“We would like to thank VDP 2020 and the international committee for selecting our film to be one of the winners. Also, the J.A.P. team was a big help to us not only during the production stage but other times as well. Jermenn Yip, the founder, helped us to colour grade the film,” said Grace Chung.
Jermenn Yip said, “I am very proud of Chung and Angel Yuen because it was never easy to make a film, moreover a documentary. Although the film was a student project, our team never skipped any important filmmaking steps, from planning to pre-production, shoot and lastly post-production.”
Because of the pandemic and movement restrictions, the screening of all five VDP 2020 winning documentaries will be available starting from December 7 here: https://vdp.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/2020screening/.
A post-screening discussion will be held online from 3-5pm on Saturday, December 12. Registration for the free post-screening discussion is open until 4pm Thursday, December 10. The link to register: https://tinyurl.com/y28l8fjf. – The Vibes, December 1, 2020
