Four leading lights of Asian film attended the Asian premiere of Daughter’s Daughter at the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 29. Executive produced by the great Hou Hsiao-hsien and its veteran star, Sylvia Chang, the film made its bow in TIFF’s Competition section.
 
After the warm applause died down, TIFF Programming Director Ichiyama Shozo asked director Huang Xi, a protégé of Hou’s, about the inception of the project. “It actually came from my own relationship with my mother,” Huang told the audience. “Just after I finished Missing Johnny, I had the opportunity to travel and stay in Los Angeles. When I told my mother, she asked if I was insured because she said it was going to be very dangerous to drive. I started thinking about what would happen if I had an accident there. It was a time when a lot of people were receiving fertility treatments, and I then started imagining, if I embarked on such a journey myself and if I were to die, would my mother come to the US?”
 
In the film, Chang plays Jin Ai-xia (called Ai), whom we first meet in 2018 after she’s broken her leg and is gradually, amid much bickering, surrounded by her mother and her two daughters, as well as her younger daughter’s same-sex partner. Over the course of the story, which shifts frequently between different periods of time and between Taipei and New York City, we will learn why there’s so much bickering, why Ai has left her daughter Emma (Karena Lam) behind in the US, and why her relationship with her younger daughter Zuer (Eugenie Liu), has been so fraught.
 
Shortly after we begin piecing these interactions and the timeline together, Zuer and her partner go to the US for fertilization treatments. One day, Ai learns that the two have been in a tragic car accident… and she has become the guardian of a healthy embryo. Ai is given the impossible choice of either abandoning the embryo, donating it or finding a surrogate mother. Her journey to a decision is deeply considered, stirring up many memories from the past and her own unconventional history as a mother.
 
The TIFF audience found the bilingual Emma, Ai’s first daughter, a most intriguing character. Huang was asked about the white t-shirt that Emma wore, emblazoned with Not Selfish, once in awhile. Huang commented, “We talked about how we could portray the character, and that was one deliberate detail that the costumers came up with. But Karena Lam also gave a wonderful performance.”
 
But considering that we don’t find out Emma’s unusual story for quite some time, another viewer wondered whether she was actually meant to be a figment of Ai’s imagination. Huang explained, “I wanted to depict Emma as a presence that was always in her mother’s heart and mind, and not make it all completely clear.”
 
Lam, who plays the headstrong, outspoken Emma, had seen the film with the audience for the first time, an experience she found “very moving.” She recalled first reading the script and “wondering the same thing — whether or not she was an imaginary character. I started thinking about taking on the welcome challenge of playing this ethereal character, which I was very happy to do. I decided to play her as a living character and not be too deliberate about it. Whether or not she’s imaginary, it seemed like the audience today was really engrossed in the story, which makes me very happy. I want to take this opportunity to thank the director and my fellow actors.”
 
Liu, who plays the younger daughter with a faux bravado that’s often heartrending, told the audience, “This was the second time I watched the film, and it was far more emotional than the first time around. It was wonderful to see it with my screen mother and sister, and although my character dies in the film, it was a very good experience, very moving. I would also like to thank my director and fellow actors, and thank TIFF, for inviting me to travel all the way to Tokyo to be with you today.”
 
Q&A Session: Competition
Daughter’s Daughter
Guests: Huang Xi (Director/Screenplay), Sylvia Chang (Actor/Executive Producer), Karena Lam (Actor), Eugenie Liu (Actor)