03-08-2022, 11:17 PM
A 10 min short film about Taguo, the largest school near Shaolin, directed by Iyabo Kwayana
I've never been able to fully describe what Taguo is like. Tens of thousands of students practicing Kung Fu simultaneously. It's mind blowing. I've been privileged to see it in full force at the Festival, as well as walked the grounds when practice has been in session - field after field of thousands of practitioners. I've met the founder and several of the leaders. The magnitude is overwhelming. Last I heard, there was upwards of 30K students there.
This documentary approaches it abstractly, first starting with close up images of uniformed students preparing for a demo and moving to the inevitable mass demo, shot from above with a drone. There's no narration, just a short moment when a head instructor gives some quick comments. But the rest is just color and texture.
It doesn't catch it all. I'm not sure that's even possible. But it catches something awesome. It makes intimate art from mass art.
It's great. Artsy. Beautiful.
Seen on Criterion.
I've never been able to fully describe what Taguo is like. Tens of thousands of students practicing Kung Fu simultaneously. It's mind blowing. I've been privileged to see it in full force at the Festival, as well as walked the grounds when practice has been in session - field after field of thousands of practitioners. I've met the founder and several of the leaders. The magnitude is overwhelming. Last I heard, there was upwards of 30K students there.
This documentary approaches it abstractly, first starting with close up images of uniformed students preparing for a demo and moving to the inevitable mass demo, shot from above with a drone. There's no narration, just a short moment when a head instructor gives some quick comments. But the rest is just color and texture.
It doesn't catch it all. I'm not sure that's even possible. But it catches something awesome. It makes intimate art from mass art.
It's great. Artsy. Beautiful.
Seen on Criterion.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
