Short Film 'The Filial Daughter' Tells the Story of Taiwanese Professional Funeral Mourners

FAMILIA director Lu Xiao-Wei has launched 'The Filial Daughter', a mixed-media documentary short covering Taiwanese professional funeral mourners. ‘The Filial Daughter’ explores questions of representation, gender and the clash between tradition and modernity in present day Taiwan.

Set in the urban metropolis of Taipei, The Filial Daughter is a portrait of the youngest and the best-known professional funeral mourner Liu Jun-Lin, and the group of women who perform alongside her. Known as 'Filial Daughters', professional mourners play a crucial role in the time-honoured funeral tradition that is slowly dying out in Taiwan.

The dance documentary captures the exclusive sight of Liu and these women’s pre-funeral rituals and elaborate performances, which include acrobatic dance manoeuvres, sombre songs, theatrical elements and detailed choreography. The event is steeped in folkloric tradition yet wholly modern, featuring maximal lighting and pumped up PA systems. The film celebrates the beautiful resilience these marginalised women bring to their unique, vibrant performance while exploring questions of female identity and the clash between tradition and modernity in present day Taiwan.

The Filial Daughter is an official selection of the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival 2020, the Baesianz Film Festival ‘No Room Left in the Margins’ and featured on NOWNESS ASIA and i-D.