Mongrel

白衣蒼狗

Quinzaine 2024 | Feature film | 128 min | Taiwan, Singapore, France

World premiere | Film in competition for the Caméra d'Or Award

Like many Vietnamese, Filipinos, Indonesians and Thais, Oom is an illegal worker in a rough province of Taiwan. Under the thumb of an unscrupulous boss, he can't refuse any of the jobs he's given. There are menial tasks, but there are also more worthy vocations: he helps a sick old woman and a mentally handicapped man at home, with patience and gentleness, perhaps recognising in them his own imprisonment. A stark film, with bursts of intense light.

Director

Chiang Wei Liang, You Qiao Yin

This film is codirected with You Qiao Yin.
Born in Singapore and based in Taiwan for the past decade, Chiang Wei Liang focuses on migration and diaspora of Southeast Asians in modern Asia. His film Anchorage Prohibited received the Audi Short Film Award at the 66th Berlinale and recent short films Luzon, Nyi Ma Lay and the VR short film Only the Mountain Remains – in competition at the 76th Venice Film Festival – continue this commentary on the difficult lives of migrants.