#TIFF20: “SING ME A LULLABY”

By Mr. Will Wong

Premiering as part of TIFF‘s SHORT CUTS Programme 05, Tiffany Hsiung written and directed SING ME A LULLABY has been 15 years in-the-making. The Documentary follows Toronto’s Hsiung who is in search of her maternal grandmother in Taipei, trying to fill-in the missing gaps of her mother Ru-Wen‘s childhood, as she was separated from her family inexplicably as a child.

While the Short which clocks in at 30 minutes, moves along briskly in its first-half, it is the second-half which gets to the true heart of the story. Ru-Wen has spent most of her life giving-up hope she’d ever be reunited with her mother, never understanding why and as a result, Hsiung inherits this pain. We learn the shocking truth eventually why it is Ru-Wen was separated from her family and from this we begin to witness the process of healing as Ru-Wen re-integrates with her family.

Hsiung sums it up beautifully that in looking for her grandmother, she actually finds her mother. The Film is a heart-felt look at lineage and a search for one’s self which in some ways echo sentiments felt in, but is different enough from Lulu Wang‘s The Farewell. Be patient, the camerawork improves vastly in the latter part of the story set in the now, but it is Hsiung‘s storytelling and words which draws us in.

SING ME A LULLABY screens at TIFF ’20 as part of the SHORT CUTS Programme 05 as follows:

September 15, 2020
Bell Digital Cinema
6 pm