From Taiwan, where he is studying film, Ray Kamhei Chan video-calls his father in Hong Kong. It is 2020, at the height of the pandemic lockdown. The conversation starts off somewhat superficially, but gradually it becomes clear that the filmmaker is looking for answers.
The conversations continue in the years that follow. As soon as the lockdowns are lifted, Ray visits his father, and together they clear out his late mother’s tiny, cluttered apartment. The marriage between Ray’s parents broke down early on because of his mother’s mental health problems, but his father continued to care for her—possibly at the expense of his own mental health.
In diary form, using phone recordings, family photographs, and home-movie footage, Scenes from Departure delicately tells the story of the pain of growing up in a family in which everyone was an island. With a gentle touch and without spelling much out, the young filmmaker succeeds in peeling back layer after layer of a traumatic past. The result is a deceptively simple, deeply sensitive family portrait. Awarded the Grand Prize at Taiwan’s documentary festival.
Stills
