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Local Guides
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The Glass Box
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by Emma Renda
October 9 – 15, 2008 |
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Teaching English overseas has become a common answer to the
cloying, age–old question: “What will you do once you’re done
school?”
Matt Finlin, however, put an unexpected twist on his
response. In between teaching English to students in Taiwan,
Finlin made a movie. He wrote, directed and had a hand in
producing the short fiction film, The Glass Box, contrasting the
lives of a North American girl visiting Taiwan to teach ESL with a
homeland Taiwanese girl working full–time in the city of
Kaohsiung.
“The film is fiction,” Finlin says. “I thought it was such a
unique place in Taiwan. The idea that it is the size of Vancouver
geographically but there are 23 million people there – for such a
small place, there is a lot of texture in its culture.”
Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s second largest city, but one that is still
relatively unknown to the Western world. It may be a booming
metropolis, but like so many other East Asian cities, its traditions
are deeply entrenched in the culture.
It was the everyday social tradition of betle nut that stuck out
to Finlin, and even heralded the namesake of his film.
Betle nut, a sort of chewing tobacco, is sold openly in street
vendors throughout most of Taiwan. But the vendors are quite
different than those found on the streets of Toronto or Montreal.
Scantily clad women are cooped in neon–trimmed glass boxes,
only leaving them to sell the betle nut, or other commodities like
beer, Coke and cigarettes. Although it is a well–paying job for
many women, Finlin said the occupation is generally looked down
upon.
“I thought this was something totally unique in the world to
see and thought that bringing it back here, people would be
interested and intrigued by it,” Finlin said. “There are flashbacks
to most of the girls’ lives as they’re talking. The box is symbolic
that they are trapped in their lives but it’s glass so they can see
where they want to be.”
Finlin decided to tackle the issue on a universal level, and
had each of the women speak their respective languages
throughout the script. Even while making the film, he
encountered first–hand issues of fixed traditions. The original cast
actress for the Chinese girl was forced to step away from the role
by her father, not because of the content, Finlin said, but because
he didn’t want her staying out at night.
But as always, the show must go on. So Finlin booked
another actress, the daughter of the film’s translator, to step into
the role and production carried on.
Finlin is actually an old hand at the filmmaking process, this
being his second film in his self–taught repertoire. He graduated
with his psychology degree at University of Guelph before he
shipped off to Taiwan for two years, and it was there he learned
more about the craft than ever.
The Glass Box was picked up by a production company in
Taiwan that agreed to screen Finlin’s first film there, and a crew
of both English and Taiwanese–speaking members was assembled
in short order. On his first film, which premiered at the University
of Guelph in 2006, Finlin said he he most of the work but for The
Glass Box, having a crew allowed him to relish the process. And
now back home in Canada, he is already thinking ahead to his
next project.
“I’ve had so much help on my films and the basis of them has
been my ideas,” Finlin says. “But I think the goal each time is to
get good at one thing, so if I can just direct then that’s great, or
just produce. Films turn out to be a lot better when a great team
of people do specific jobs.”
Finlin said his reception in Taiwan was more than he ever
could have hoped for, but bringing it back to Canada is what
keeps him holding his breath. The premier screening will be
hosted on October 10 at Princess Cinemas in Waterloo as part of
Cinematheque, a non–profit film initiative in the city.
Cinematheque’s board of directors is made up mostly of
university professors in the community, who push for a more
personal film experience and more exposure to independent,
thoughtful films. Their website claims the idea of an evening at
the theatre has been lost somewhere in modern entertainment’s
clutches, but Finlin’s film could hardly be more of an escape.
“Since it’s a cultural comparison, I wanted to show even
though we are all super different – Chinese culture and Western
society – we all sort of still have the same hopes and dreams and
problems when it comes down to it,” he said.
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