The Teochew Store Blog / Laos
Denis Do: Creating a bridge for all Teochew communities in the world
The Forest of Miss Tang (陳小姐的森林) is a 40-minute Teochew language animation film produced in France. It tells the story of a Teochew family over six generations in Swatow, China, asking the question, to leave or to stay? The Forest of Miss Tang is the first Teochew language film to be produced in the West. It was broadcast on ARTE channel in Europe on 10 June 2023 and it has since been screened in a number of film festivals around the world.
The Teochew Store managed to speak with the film's director Denis Do, a Paris-born Teochew, to find out more about his feelings towards the Teochew identity and the creation of his film.
专访｜导演杜来顺：电影为桥，连接世界各地潮州人
《陳小姐的森林》是一部在法国制作的潮语动画电影，它讲述了从十九世纪至今，一个汕头家庭绵延六代人的故事。它抛出了一个问题：“在社会剧烈变迁的背景下，我们是离开还是继续留在自己的家乡？”这部时长40分钟的动画电影已于2023年6月10日在ARTE（德法公共电视台）首映，这是潮语电影首次登陆欧洲。也在全球多个电影节的银幕上亮相，在各国的潮州社群中收获了不少好评和讨论。
潮舗特别连线本片的导演杜来顺（Denis Do），一位法国巴黎出生并成长的潮州青年,聊聊他对潮州人身份认同的经过，并运用于电影创作的过程。
Teochews in France
For over 200 years till the mid-20th century, Southeast Asia was the primary migration destination for the Teochew people. However, as the result of various wars and upheavals in the 1970s, tens of thousands of Teochew families in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were forced to resettle again in France. Watch this documentary produced by Shantou Television in 1997 to hear the stories of how these Teochews who arrived in a foreign land as refugees courageously re-established their lives in Europe.
直到上世紀中旬，東南亞一直是潮州人主要的移民地。但因二十世紀七十年代的戰亂，數万個原定居在越南、柬埔寨和寮國的潮人家庭被迫二次遷移到法國。請看這部汕頭電視台1997製作的紀錄片，聽聽這群潮州人如何以以難民的身份勇敢地在歐洲找到新生。