Reunification
Reunification is a documentary by Alvin Tsang. It received special jury mention at San Diego Asian Film Festival, and toured international festivals.
"REUNIFICATION is Tsang’s poetic and self-reflexive exploration of many unresolved years... Backed by an achingly beautiful score, the film moves moodily across different channels and modes, bending into labor histories and Hong Kong’s colonial trajectories, wading in the mire of nostalgia, grief, and confusion that is his past."
An extract of an interview with Tsang from the Berliner Festspiele blog.
"The film’s music is very impressive. Can you tell us about it?
Karselis… generously gave me her all in creating the wonderful soundtrack. I gave her as many notes as I could on my feelings for each scene and the scenes where I felt music was needed. Her eclectic repertoire in classical, electronic and their mixture really impress me. The music complements the film really well in the simplicity and directness of its mood. For my sister’s wedding scene, I gave her a prerecorded track of a traditional Chinese ballad played on the erhu that I recorded on the subway platform, and she recreated it with Western strings. She respected the film’s human story and characters and didn’t orientalise the soundtrack in anyway.”
This score was created on no budget in the living room of a one bedroom flat, recording the violin through a broken mixing desk and a single microphone. The score is minimalist and focuses on creating a sense of light and space, through electronics, piano, and violin.
New York Film Academy – NYC
Genesis Cinema – London, UK
Chapeltown Picture House – Manchester, UK
Berliner Festspiele (Gropius Bau) – Berlin, Germany
CACAGNY Mid-Autumn Film Festival
Asian-American/Asian Research Institute (AAARI)
Macau Film Festival – Cinematheque Passion – Macau
Maysles Documentary Center – NYC
Hong Kong Contemporary Film Festival (HKCFF) – NYC
DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival (DCAPA) – Washington, D.C.
Queens World Film Festival – NYC – Program Note
Hong Kong Independent Film Festival – Hong Kong – Program Note
Pineapple Underground Film Festival HK – Hong Kong
San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) World Premiere – Winner, Special Jury Prize