Bound

Cloth waving in the wind. Heartbeat sound. Slow motion of Chinese woman practising t’ai chi. Face superimposed. Hands, body and legs wrapped by cloth superimposed. Feet stepping out of cloth. Woman on sand and rocks at sea’s edge. VO: "Through the sand, through the rocks, through the mud, my imprints on the world are anonymous, sexless, raceless … reflecting my decision, my desire, to find my way … to step outside of history, outside of memory … escaping a need that will only be known if I do not stop, if I do not lose my way." City. Woman’s muddy feet slip on kerb and she falls. Twigs, fern. Woman leaves muddy footprints on mats, then puts her feet into water where man’s hands wash them. Man. Woman retraces her steps but is stopped by man. He starts to unwrap long scarf from his body; she wraps it round herself. VO: "I remember this cloth, holding pieces of me together …" Man and woman with cloth between them. He tears it. "I remember this cloth … labelling me … Chinese woman ..." Woman dancing and on sand. Man asks woman if he can help; she rejects his offer. Her feet walking in mud. Man wraps her feet in cloth. She asks if he’s binding her. Photograph of her grandmother; her grandmother’s embroidered shoes: "… to step outside of history, outside of memory …" Woman continues to reject man who, she says, doesn’t understand. Woman practising t’ai chi. Her bound feet. Running along seashore. VO: "Escaping the past… if I do not stop..." Woman bound in cloth on beach. Her slipping foot. Man tries to convince her that she needs to wrap her feet. Woman and cloth watched by man. T’ai chi. Her VO wondering if, by refusing to conform, she has changed her history or if she has just lost her way. Credits.

Cast: Michelle Lee,
Andrew Mallett.
Lighting Camera André Geniski;
Music Sultan Ahmed,
Richard Hinds;
Sound Engineer Jon Wilkinson;
Flute Sequences Engineered by Neils Larson;
Costumes Chris Becker,
Colette Koo;
Stills Photographer Tony Lam;
Off-line Editors André Geniski,
Kimi Takesue;
On-line Editor T. Potts;
Thanks to Obin Ahmed,
Koutaiba Al-Janabi,
Carolyn Anderson,
Terence Austin,
Tim Brick,
Peter Harvey,
Hanna Heffner,
Junaid Khan,
Colette Koo,
Danielle Lamarche,
Brian Larkin,
Meridian Film & Video,
Patrick O’Reilly,
Platform Films,
Wagner Ramalho,
Nina Rapi,
Tower Hamlets College,
James Van Der Pool.
Special Thanks Tony Lam.
Produced with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Great Britain.
Written Directed & Produced by Kimi Takesue.
© 1994.