What do films, plastic waste and up-cycling have in common?

Reflections from the Red Room, January 2022

• Taipei Filmmaker Nights
• The Red Room Open Letter on Ocean Plastic Waste
• “Your old is my New” Second Hand Market and a Craft Market

What do films, plastic waste and up-cycling have in common?

The Red Room community.

There is a growing consciousness about our planet, the waste we create, and the ‘cradle to cradle’ concept. The Red Room community gathers for many of these conversations and exchanges, sharing resources, ideas and helping each other through art projects that bring awareness about our world, through filmmaking, and turning what may be considered trash into functional objects, or ‘treasures’.

We are working together to ensure that we and future generations can enjoy a life of abundance.
Happy Lunar New Year!

Please use this link for Chinese.

Taipei Filmmaker Nights

Taipei Filmmaker Nights is a community of indie filmmakers and people in related fields (This includes professionals, amateur enthusiasts and beginners) who get together roughly every two months for an evening of networking and connecting, sharing their work, and finding like-minded creatives who can help with collaborations and projects.

In February 2021, we came together for an evening featuring husband-and-wife filmmaking team Vincent Soberano and Sarah Chang, who showed clips and talked about producing martial arts/action movies for Netflix – even during lockdown!

We then took a bit of a hiatus, but after a few months, we decided to hold a ZOOM meeting to give everyone a chance to reconnect. Guest speaker for the July event was Juanita Ingram, producer of EXPATS TV series that was broadcast on Amazon Prime.

The evening was a great success with a fascinating presentation by Juanita, detailing her journey as a POC producing a unique show about a Black family’s experience traveling and living abroad.

In October we had a great in-person event at Rendezvous, a sneak preview of AT Beaune’s award-winning short film “Shoe Story” with several members of cast and crew on hand to answer questions.

And then in December we had filmmaker David Hall showing three of his shorts, also with cast members on hand to talk about their process and challenges.

As always, the event was a stimulating evening of creative discussion. While most Filmmaker nights event tend to focus on the production side, this evening happened to during a lot of focus on acting, as a large contingent of actors who had worked with David, were in attendance. It was a great opportunity for filmmakers to hear about the experience of being on the other side of the camera!

We are looking forward very much to February, when we hope to have the Producer and/or Director of Golden Horse winner American Girl to come and chat about their film! (To be confirmed).

Everyone is welcome to attend Filmmaker Nights events, whether you are directly involved in filmmaking or not. It takes place usually the second Sunday of every second month. Cost is NT$300 which includes a free drink. Rendezvous offers an outstanding menu of vegan and vegetarian dishes if you should wish to have dinner before or during the event.

Tobie Openshaw
Program Director, Filmmaker Nights

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The Red Room Open Letter on Ocean Plastic Waste

Opening day of Midway Collidoscope at the Museum of Marine Science and Technology in Keelung

In July 2021, the Red Room published an open letter to raise awareness on ocean plastic waste. We built on the momentum of Midway Collidoscope, the ongoing exhibition on ocean plastic waste, curated by Red Room artivist La Benida Hui. The exhibition is currently ongoing at the Museum of Marine Science and Technology in Keelung/

: close up of one installation

: Eco-gathering on Zoom with La Benida as host

: installation by La Benida Hui

: Trash Installation “Plastic Bubbles”

The open letter was sent to over 70 stakeholders including banks, press and media, NGOS, government organisations, foreign chambers of commerce and education establishments. A second round of letters to government organisations will be posted after the Chinese new year.

We received several responses. For many stakeholders, this was the first open letter they had ever read. They were thus not sure how to engage further. A few NGOs and concerned citizens suggested further dialogue and increased emphasis on the collection and sorting of ocean plastic debris. This is important to identify the sources of the waste and thus plan more targeted action. Several schools have invited us to give short talks and have/plan to visit the exhibition. Heping Island, which is implementing a zero waste management programme, is requesting engagement.

The idea to pen an open letter was born at the Red Room Eco Gatherings which began on Earth Day in April 2021. At the first meeting, we exchanged ideas on greener ways of living. La Benida Hui presented at the next meeting, walking us through her scientific expedition from Bermuda to Iceland, which marked the start of her activism and art using ocean plastics. The 3rd eco gathering featured Olivia Dung, a researcher at the University of Leiden who spoke on waste recycling and management in Taiwan.

We plan to organise further eco gatherings and continued follow up on the open letter. We welcome volunteer speakers and co-organizers (contact Anne Dewees directly for this: annedewees@gmail.com). Stay tuned for the next steps !

Read the open letter in English
Read the open letter in Chinese

“Your old is my New” Second Hand Market and a Craft Market

Keeping with the spirit of “From Trash to Treasure” (T2T), Red Room has recently added 2 new events that will be held monthly.

“Your old is my New” Second Hand Market and a Craft Market

One of our big problems is the enormous amount of trash that we all create. Too many things needlessly end up in the garbage. Throwing things in the trash bin often seems the easy way out when newer and better things come into our lives and old things become a burden. The problem is that our burden then becomes a burden for the planet. To break this unhealthy culture of “From cradle to grave” we need to introduce a culture of buying less, reusing, mending, up-cycling, repurposing, exchanging and gifting back into our lives.

“Your old is my new” Second hand Market wants to create a community around people who strive to be less wasteful and more resourceful. It provides a space to people who declutter their homes or closets where they can sell, trade or gift their oldies while others can find things they need or want at a cheaper price or for free. And as a bonus it’s usually fun. You can meet new people, make friends and sometimes get some interesting stories about the things you acquire.

Art and crafts play an important role in the journey to a less wasteful life. An artistic mind can imagine the possibilities of giving a new life to things by repurposing or up-cycling. Craftsmanship and skills give us the know-how. Crafts also teach us the value of things. Knowing how much time, skill and materials go into the making of a hand-crafted item is often humbling. By hosting regular crafts markets Red Room wants to give a platform to people of the crafting community where they can show and sell their works and exchange ideas. It might also be the opportunity to find somebody who can help you remake, mend or up-cycle something that you want to give a makeover.