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Experimental Taiwanese

Hebei origin, air-force officer retiree, Mr. Chou, now diligently learning Taiwanese, met “Chang Jiang No. 1,” China’s top secret agent during Sino-Japanese war, on a Peking opera’ seminar. Chou’s flat moon life has then been sparkled. He started to talk around about the heroic accomplishments this “Chang Jiang No.1” had done. This person, “who contributes most to China,” gradually becomes Chou’s only mark on the Moon. Is “homesickness” a gene? Inheritable? Transplantable? Can be parted or chosen? Contagious? Needs regular purging like computer viruses? … Through the story between Mr. Chou and “Chang Jiang No.1.” the film uses lively rhythm to represent the interesting homesickness issue. The director adopts a humorous way to re-present these new Taiwanese in Taiwan. As for whether “Chang Jiang No.1” is a real person or not is up to the audience to decide.

Experimental Taiwanese

NR 2003
Bohemians in Taipei: The Life of Theatre

"Bohemians in Taipei: The Life of Theatre" documents a group of artists living in Taipei who have committed themselves to creating and performing theatre. Some are no longer young, but theatre work continues to incite their creativity. They are either out of work, working part-time, or have temporary jobs; but theatre is still the main thing in their lives. Theatre provides a minimal and unstable income, and their lifestyles are remarkably thirfty and frugal. But these financial shortcomings do not limit their theatrical ambitions.

Bohemians in Taipei: The Life of Theatre

NR 2004
Family Photo, Moving, Tomb Sweeping, Picking Mangoes, Going Home

"Searching for Love: A Story of Family Life Delicately Presented" This is a family movie that mainly reflects the importance of family. Home is a nurturing environment where family members gather together and share some of the subtle actions and interactions of each other's lives, revealing Show love and support for each other. Reflect on the subtle but important moments of love in our daily lives as a family . The importance of these moments can only be discovered and cherished when we take the time to observe and reflect.

Family Photo, Moving, Tomb Sweeping, Picking Mangoes, Going Home

NR 2024
Taoism: A Question of Balance

In this landmark 1977 documentary, narrator Ronald Eyre journeys to Taiwan to explore the vibrant and complex world of Chinese folk religion. Facilitated by the pioneering team behind ECHO Magazine—Linda Wu (吳美雲), Huang Yong-song (黃永松), and Yao Meng-chia (姚孟嘉) —the film captures a rare and precious glimpse of 1970s Taiwan, a time when ancient spiritual traditions remained deeply woven into the fabric of daily life. From the thunderous temple festivals and the mystical trances of spirit mediums to the quiet ancestral rites in family halls, "A Question of Balance" examines how the pursuit of the "Way" (the Tao) provides a sense of cosmic harmony amidst a modernizing society. It stands as a definitive visual record of a vanishing era, showcasing the enduring power of Taoist belief and its diverse pantheon of deities.

Taoism: A Question of Balance

NR 1977
Old House

The Chen Family Residence “Chen Sì-yù” in Xiushui Township, Changhua, was built in 1846 (the 26th year of the Daoguang reign, Qing dynasty). Designed by craftsmen from Tangshan and constructed using stone from Mount Wuyi, the residence features a symmetrical and meticulously crafted layout. The “Wénkuí” plaque above the main entrance serves as a moral exhortation to future generations, bearing witness to the Chen ancestors’ journey across the strait from Fujian to Taiwan.

Old House

NR 1980
The Sojourn

Directed by artist and filmmaker Tiffany Sia, The Sojourn (2023) imagines a restless landscape film in Taiwan. Visiting scenic locations shot by King Hu, the short experiments with the road movie genre and its intersection with the martial arts epic. Sia meets actor Shih Chun, who played the protagonist in Hu’s Dragon Inn, Touch of Zen and other wuxia films, as he guides the quest to re-encounter the iconic landscapes where Dragon Inn was shot. He advises on the perfect conditions of mist and weather. Yet, in the journey through the mountains of Hehuanshan, the sublime landscape of King Hu remains ever elusive. She later visits the elementary school of Indigenous filmmaker and principal Pilin Yapu of the Atayal tribe. Absent of conventional subtitles, the essay film employs text burned into the center of the frame as a mode of translation, sometimes refusing total disclosure. – tiffanysia.com/glossary/the-sojourn

The Sojourn

NR 2024
Journey into the Mine

“Journey into the Mine” (礦之旅) is a 1981 documentary directed by Chang Chao-Tang (張照堂). Part of the “Journey Through Images” series (映象之旅), it documents the Ruìsān Coal Mine (瑞三煤礦) in Houtong, Ruifang (瑞芳侯硐). Using a portable ENG camera, the crew descended 600 meters underground to record miners working amid heat, coal dust, and gas hazards. Rejecting elite-centered television perspectives, the film foregrounds the resilience of working-class laborers. Its essayistic voice-over is paired with ECM jazz and blues, creating a distinctive tone. In 1982, it won the Golden Bell Award (金鐘獎) for Best Educational and Cultural Program. A rebroadcast added footage of the Neihu Futian Coal Mine disaster (內湖福田煤礦災變), producing a stark dialogue between policy narrative and industrial tragedy. Its footage was later used in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 1986 film Dust in the Wind”(戀戀風塵).

Journey into the Mine

NR 1981
Manfei

A pioneer in Taiwan’s contemporary dance scene, Lo Man-fei receives a beautiful tribute from director En Chen, a decade after her passing. Three years in the making, Manfei traces the life and work of the dance legend, including her early days at the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, her studies at New York’s most prestigious dance schools, and the founding of her Taipei Crossover Dance Company. Featuring rare footage of Lo’s graceful performances as well as candid conversations with her closest friends and collaborators, Manfei is a stirring journey into the heart of a true artist and a moving remembrance for a dearly missed member of the Taiwan art world.

Manfei

8.0 2017
Several Successful Situations; Simultaneous & Successive

I enjoy religion, I appreciate belief systems and how they offer structure to people's lives. I also appreciate how spirituality manifests itself in Asian cultures as this almost earthbound presence guiding people through every day life and when they need an extra bit of help they need only ask whichever deity holds dominion over their desire. Here is an experimental film I made with videos from my iPhone. Shot across Taiwan and South Korea. An experimental film I made with videos from my iPhone. Shot across Taiwan and Korea. My aim was to explore success in how it pertains to every day life, the satisfaction of small moments, spirituality, superstition, and daily rituals.

Several Successful Situations; Simultaneous & Successive

NR 2024
Homage to Hung Tung

Using footage shot between 1974 and 1978, this experimental documentary offers an intimate portrait of Hung Tung, one of Taiwan’s most singular outsider artists. Born in 1920 in Nankunshen, Tainan, orphaned at a young age, Hung Tung worked as a laborer, fisherman, and spiritual medium before suddenly beginning to paint at fifty. His densely imagined world—filled with plants, humans, animals, gods, ghosts, and symbols—captivated the Taiwanese art scene of the 1970s and secured his reputation as a legendary folk artist. Combining observational footage, interviews, and a distinctive musical structure—from Tibor Szemző’s evocation of innocence to Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire”—the film traces a life of solitude, frustration, and pride, shaping a restrained yet poignant portrait of an artist who remained fiercely autonomous within his own inner universe.

Homage to Hung Tung

NR 2000
My Nostalgia, My Songs

My Nostalgia, My Songs is a poetic documentary centered on Lin Hwai-min’s landmark dance work for Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. The music, curated by iconic photographer Chang Chao-tang, weaves Taiwanese folk melodies into reflections on urban migration and collective memory. Through the cinematography and editing of Christopher Doyle, the stage becomes a cinematic space, transforming performance into a sensory meditation on Taiwanese identity and cultural displacement in the 1980s.

My Nostalgia, My Songs

NR 1991
14 Apples

Wang Shin-hong is suffering from insomnia. A fortune teller advises the Mandalay businessman, whose car and bulging wallet suggest that business is going pretty well, to spend 14 days in a monastery, living life as a monk and eating an apple a day. Such a thing is possible in Burma today. Wang Shin-hong arrives at the rural monastery, has his head shaved and dons a red robe, in which he instantly becomes an authority. During the welcome procession, the village women, their poverty clear from their clothing and the huts in the background, put more than they have in his alms bowl. During his fleeting role as their advisor, Wang Shin-hong soon learns of the villagers’ attempts to survive and make a living as legal or illegal migrants in China, Thailand or Malaysia. He also finds out how the other monks try to generate profit and additional income.

14 Apples

5.4 2018
Absent without Leave

They sacrificed their lives fighting for the independence of their country, but their stories remain untold for 60 years. The story begins with a man’s portrait, which has been hanging for more than 30 years in an old wooden house where I was born and grew up in Perak, Malaysia. It’s long become a taboo that my families do not talk about this man, not even to bring up his name or his past. Eventually I found out he is my grandfather, who sacrificed his life fighting for Malaysia’s independence and decolonisation, but his and his comrades’ stories are excluded from history. This documentary set out to unveil the mysteries.

Absent without Leave

NR 2016
HERO! HITO!

Hero! Hito! tells the true story of Chinese Taipei, the team that represents Taiwan in international baseball competitions, and their eleven-year climb from the heartbreak of the 2013 World Baseball Classic to a world championship win. With powerful tournament footage and candid player interviews, the film shows how an underestimated team overcame doubts, pressure, and tough odds to defeat Japan and unite fans in a moment of unforgettable pride. A heartfelt and uplifting documentary from director Lungnan Isak Fangas.

HERO! HITO!

10.0 2025
Recipe for C

Recipe for C is a collaborative creation by visual artist Jie-Huai Yang and graphic designer Changwei, inspired by their shared experiences with a mutual ex-boyfriend, C. As a restaurant chef, C centered his life around experimental cooking, with his notes and recipes serving as the foundation for this project. Though a recipe book and a cooking tutorial video, the work transforms intimate emotional memories into a public sensory and visual dialogue. Cooking becomes not only a retrospective of a past relationships and sexual roles. By kneading and blending ingredients, the work reinterprets fragile yet profound memories, showcasing the vulnerability and resilience of emotions. Recipe for C unveils private stories hidden in the shadows, like a dish releasing its lingering aroma, challenging viewers' perceptions of emotions and gender roles.

Recipe for C

NR 2025