The Land in the Middle of the Pond makes reference to the 1950’s forced displacement of the Atayal Qara community from their ancestral territory for the construction of the Shimen Reservoir – now the main water supply for Northern Taiwan. Throughout the video, we hear the voice of an elder who recalls the events which resulted in the forced displacement of her community and the impact of diaspora. In the video we see Ciwas tracing veins that run along her limbs like rivers. During the performance, later Ciwas and other Atayal women engage in an Atayal name exchange ritual, between person and plant. This customary ritual Ciwas employs like the tracing of her bloodline at the reservoir, as a symbolic act for reconnecting with her ancestral land while affirming her identity past, present and future.
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Divine Intervention explores the journey of a woman tormented by the entanglement of her hair, seeking solace through a spiritual guide. Together, they employ a unique technique to enter her consciousness, aiming to uncover the root of her distress. The Yuan Shen Palace, also known as the House of the Mind, is depicted as a virtual world constructed by the brain. If it truly exists, it might function like a vast organic hard drive, recording the intricate details of one’s life. The film strives to rationalize magic and symbolize the process of spiritual healing.
Divine Intervention
香花與毒草
“Road to Human Rights” revisits Taiwan’s authoritarian past through the stories of four political prisoners during the nation’s White Terror era. The documentary resonates with viewers across generations, especially younger activists, who play a crucial role in effecting change in Taiwan’s politics and society.
Road to Human Rights
Passion
On the eve of Taiwan’s controversial referendum related to same-sex marriage, the world is crying for an outlet under the stiffing social atmosphere. Jie, a woman in her early 30s, is trying to balance her life between taking care of her ill mother in Taipei city, her aspiration as a substitute teacher in a rural county, and her lesbian identity. Her effort to earn recognition from her parents and from work falls apart after experiencing a major train derailment accident, followed by the death of her mother. Such life-changing events awaken her desires to break free from the status quo burdened by social and familial responsibilities to “fit in” and “impress”. She realizes she cannot fulfill her aspiration as an educator in the current education system and starts making peace with life of her own accord.
Life Derailed
This experimental animation made out of multi-techniques, to explore the new possibilities of mixing the stop motion and computer graphic images in animation making.
Pohyper
Integrating home movies shot over six years of traveling with friends and lovers with postcards and flyers collected during past travels, Wu Chun-Hui takes us on a journey without end, a voyage searching for the origin of memory and infinite desire. Noah, Noah deals with relationships, distance, and memories, and turns the needs and desires that evolve from them into a cinematic experience. Trains departing, back roads roamed, navigating by water or air. It’s also about distance in filming, a distance from one image to another film roll, from one frame to another perforation, the distance from the real to the faded memory.
Noah, Noah
A super-8mm Maya Deren-inspired queer experimental film shot in San Francisco, exploring queer desire through surrealism.
Castro
4 Children share a similar fate. Their fathers fish on the sea. Their mothers are of foreign origin. What are their inner worlds like?
4ever Kids
Kinmen is a group of islands governed by Taiwan and a solid base for the capitalist camp during the Cold War era. Kinmen commenced its construction of military fortifications in 1958, with millions of soldiers stationed on the island. As the USSR communist bloc gradually disintegrated, Kinmen began a large-scale withdrawal of troops in 1988, placing the lives of the island’s 50,000 residents in a predicament after having relied on soldiers to earn a living for so long. With the improvements of cross-strait relations, large amounts of Chinese tourists now flood the very islands they once rained countless bombs on. Tourists from both sides of the Taiwan Strait now take group photos in front of fortifications, but will the future of the cross-strait relations be as fine as the seemly peace?
Once Existed
In Hpakant, Myanmar, poor young people are numerous. Some of them engage in drug trafficking and make a living out of it. Some of them choose to leave Hpakant in pursuit of love. Some of them stay in Hpakant and dream that the jade hidden in the mountains might be the hope of improving their future lives; thus they often sing this song: “…before the best of luck comes, don’t underestimate we, jade miners…”.
Hpakant Jade Life
那些年 - 胡夏
My SuperMan
“Lio-ma-gou” is the only fresh water in Green Island, In the 1950s, in a political prison concentration camp, held nearly 100 female political prisoners. With the film, let us follow the pursuit and inquiries of the young generation, and approach the two “former female political prisoner.”
Freemale
搶救石虎
At midnight, two kids who don’t sleep start to play. Talking about the present and future, they travel to lots of fantasy imaginary worlds, becoming animals, flying into the sky, and having fun with their beloved blanket.
Blanket Talk
Formosan B.B. is Coming
On a calm summer day, children want to have a different end of the vacation......
The Last Day of Summer
In 1962 China, Japanese warlords hold the power and are wielding it with no regard to ethics or propriety. Two private entities, the Nagoa Isam Transportation Company and the Bai Loon Forwarding Agency, have taken competition to the extreme, wreaking havoc and violence as a means to hold onto whatever sovereignty they may have. Loyalty no longer exists as residents watch out only for their own interests.
Dragon Force Operation
When stress piled up, the bullied boy turned his gaze onto weaker beings to bully, not realizing that he himself was turning into the kind of person he dreaded the most.
Dragonflies That Can't Fly
Where All Windows Meet
Separate from You
The story begins with the king’s mysterious Totem, drawing us into the world of the StarHerder. Through a fantastical journey, the secrets of the Totem will come to light.
StarHerder
Lucky Star Lil J 100%
This is a story about the descendants of Takasago Giyutai (Taiwan Indigenous volunteer units during the Pacific War) went back to the battle field of the Pacific War in Papua New Guinea following the footsteps of their grandfathers, and made a monument based on a legend of ‘Amis people who believe the soul would return home by taking the wings of a certain kind of bird. The monument was build up at the Mission Hill in Wewak, where was a Japanese naval base during the War, there are two monuments, one of them was set up by the Japanese in 1969 and the other one was build up by the Australians afterwards. A monument is not only a way to memory the history, but also a cultural representation on the spiritual world, questioning that “do you believe the soul really have returned home by taking the wings?”
Wings for Takasago Giyutai
An outlander tries to find the amulet that his mom gave him. During the searching, he steps on the journey that he has to face the mistakes he made from the past.
Kuroshio Current
Eyes on Democracy: Break the Cocoon
The "Wannsee Conference" recalls the Nazi meeting at Lake Wannsee deciding the Jews' fate. This work takes its title from that event to allude to powerful figures across eras who, though expressing different ideas, ultimately echo "Eve Clone," revealing shared ambitions. These figures are depicted as "Eve Clone," a Babylonian idol, revered yet marked by 666, combining evil and seduction, boasting before God while plotting ultimate schemes for humanity.
Eve Clone Wannsee Conference I
Chiayi's City Center Fountain is deeply embedded in everyday life, layering a rich cultural foundation. In the "post-roundabout era," youth creativity injects new energy to reimagine the old town. From a traffic circle to multidimensional revitalization, how does this new generation bring fresh trends to the century-old landmark and traditional trades? The film captures this dialogue across time, exploring the fusion of old and new. More than a landmark, the fountain symbolizes the heart of Chiayi, where collective memories come full circle.
It Was Chiayi All Along
"Can I be your boyfriend?" The boy hears the man he admires say this to him. However, due to his past as a prostitute, the boy constantly moves from one man to another, always getting abandoned in the end. He decides to leave before this man grows tired of him as well. Years later, the boy meets the man again. The man has changed a lot and seems to have forgot him. The boy hesitates, wondering whether he should rekindle the man’s memory or start a new relationship with him under a different identity...
I Remember I Forgot You
Is man the measure of all things? He can calculate, yet he cannot calculate; ultimately, he cannot calculate.
Calculations
梅花梅花幾月開
Two soldiers escape from a thunderous battlefield, drifting to a deserted island where they are rescued by a woman. Upon the island, the trio reveal primal desires and savage humanity. The uncivilised setting served as one method of justifying nudity in films of the era, while the castaway trope represented a localised adaptation of prevailing international cinematic trends. The extant version of this film bears the title _Woman Fights to the Death for Love_.
A Beauty on Island
“Natalia” is a film I made in Poland from the perspective of an Asian student. I went abroad for a year, in order to escape from the monotonous life back home in Taipei—only to realize, that I had merely created a new kind of repetitive daily routine in a foreign land. The film presents the absurdity of everyday repetition with abstract imagery. Through the bilingual internal dialogue of the protagonist, Natalia, who becomes aware of this looping pattern, the film questions whether travel is an escape from the cycle or simply the beginning of a new one.
Natalia
Gim's Little World
Maciated and exhausted girls are trapped in a dark dungeon, where they are repeatedly subjected to the violence of a terrifying creature. Through mutual support, they search for a way to escape, only to realize that the companions who helped them along the way were, in fact, reflections of themselves.
Under Water
Tell you a secret... : Ban-Ma in Her Forest
The Pink Pig Warrior
The Act of Looking Back
The director holds the membership of the current Taiwan Film Institute, the former Chinese Taipei Film Archive and Film Library, for more than 30 years. He interviewed the former and current staffs of this institution hoping to find the meaning of his experience by talking to these old friends. But all the interviewees switched position and become the interviewers after 10 minutes. They could ask any questions to the director. By crosscutting various questions and his wondering around in his motorbike, the director went through a self-reflexive process.
Truth or dare
In the Amis language, a moment signifies peace and a sense of ‘home’ when the ocean calms. This metaphorically relates to the journey of a group of Amis people who left their coastal homes in the 1970s for city work. In Taipei, they established the “Xizhou Tribe” near a riverbank, contributing to urban development but ultimately facing displacement. This dichotomy highlights the choices they made: some stayed in cities, while others returned to ancestral lands. Decades later, as they completed new houses, their story reflects a deeper narrative of indigenous urbanization—a crossroads of starting anew or enduring broken connections with their past and identity.
Finding Home at Tides End
My brother passed away in 2013 and my parents hold opposing beliefs about where he went after death. In search of answers, I turn to spiritual professionals, hoping they might offer real clues to the question: Where'd My Brother Go?
Where'd My Brother Go?
Under the Green
A single act of kindness, involving three DVD players, plunged a father and son into a fate they could never reverse. Like a sinking ship, they desperately tried to slow their descent, but ultimately could not overcome the water rising past their noses and throats.
In the Same Boat
Colt is obsessed with the rock band Speedy's Overdrive, to the point of hallucinating conversations with its frontman, Speedy. When he unexpectedly wins a contest to meet his idol, his excitement turns into inner conflict, forcing him to choose between his dream and his friends. As the long-awaited day arrives, Colt finally comes face to face with Speedy, but the encounter doesn’t go as he imagined, leading him to question everything he once believed.
Reality of Obsessive
Parallel
Little House
During Taiwan’s long colonization history, the difficult-to-survey mountainous areas, which were not described until late in the history of cartography, have been feared by some regimes as they hid rebels. Folded and wrinkled, they are the common “homeland” of people who have encountered diaspora due to the arrangements of regimes. After withdrawing from the tasks of extraction of resources and expansion of governance. It is a Zone that used to be inhabited by wild animals, Negrito people, the Truku tribe in search of hunting grounds, Japanese military explorers, soldiers evacuated from Myanmar who settled their colonies in the high mountains to reclaim and escaped migrant workers who had been displaced at current moment roaming here. Their ghost-like nomadism and migration have led to the drawing of a map of wandering within an area of Blank Zone.
Cartographer
K9
The protagonists of the film are are siblings whose mother, Euis, gave up her dreams as a young girl due to financial difficulties and came to Taiwan to work as a migrant laborer before eventually marrying and settling down. Now, as the siblings’ dreams begin to take root, they navigate the cultures of Indonesia and Taiwan, transitioning from childhood to adolescence—a journey from which there is no turning back, marked by a unique cross-cultural experience of growing up.
Childhood In Between
A meditative animated short film set in a reimagined Japan during the Warring States period. Combining myth and history, it depicts an intense yet introspective duel between two legendary warriors, not as a celebration of combat, but as a serene reflection on honor, conviction, and the search for inner peace.
Samurai Spirits
The Accidental Politician is a ten-year documentary journey following three young Taiwanese activists who emerged from the 2014 “Sunflower Movement” and stepped into the complex world of local politics. Fueled by ideals but confronted with entrenched power, political deals, and disillusionment, their stories unfold like real-life quests through Taiwan’s democratic landscape. As they struggle between hope and burnout, the film reveals not only the cost of participation, but the unfinished nature of democracy itself. With the 2024 “Bluebird Movement” weaving the past into the present, this is not just a portrait of three individuals—it’s a timely reflection on the fragile, ongoing experiment of democracy in Asia.
The Accidental Politician
Jasmine
Somewhere Only We Know
I'm Free
Memories of Lin's Family
A film by Lu Xiao Wei for Boiler Room—a documentary that delves into the story of FINAL, a groundbreaking club in Taipei that has redefined the city’s underground music scene. From dimly lit staircases to the dreamlike glow of neon, FINAL is more than just a venue—it’s a cultural movement. This is where boundaries are pushed, genres are reimagined, and self-expression takes center stage. Through the voices of its founders, DJs, and the wider creative community, the film explores how FINAL became a sanctuary for experimentation, a home for those seeking freedom beyond the mainstream. Shot entirely in Taipei, the film captures the raw energy of the city: its chaotic streets, intimate club spaces, and the relentless spirit of a scene that thrives against the odds. It’s a story of resilience, identity, and the power of music to bring people together, even in the face of challenges like the pandemic.
Boiler Room X FINAL Taipei
Taiwan action film.
The Professional Killer
"People who have been abandoned by their family can only seek reunion with their second parent." Mads, a depression sufferer, is not accepted by her family. She wanders to find where she belongs and who will love her. After a failed suicide attempt to jump off a building, her life swings between the chaos of her symptoms and fleeting moments of happiness, continuing her journey with trauma and sequelae. Will she find the “haven” and be accepted by society this time?