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M+, Hong Kong, ©️The Propeller Group
The Propeller Group 螺旋槳小組
The Living Need Light, The Dead Need Music 生者要光，死者賞樂
2014
Blending together pulsating music, fantastical images, and provocative subject
matter, The Living Need Light, the Dead Need Music takes viewers on an
audiovisual journey through ritual and funerary traditions specific to southern
Vietnam. Featuring trained acrobats, snake charmers, sword swallowers, fire
breathers, transgender performers, and others who are not easily accepted into
mainstream society, funerals in this region frequently unfold in public space over
several days. The film, created by a three-person collective, seamlessly weaves
together staged performances, documentary footage from funerals, pop-style
vocals, and processional music played by a brass band, wilfully occupying
a liminal zone that is neither dead nor alive, neither male nor female, and neither
mournful nor celebratory. It also borrows heavily from the seductive aesthetics
of music video, not just in the fluid slow-motion effects, inverted camera angles,
and fast-paced editing, but also in the foregrounding of a textured and exuberant
soundtrack.
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