Following the strong performances at the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals this year, Taiwanese works continue to make an impact at the 81st Venice Film Festival. Venice has selected seven outstanding Taiwanese works for its official competition this year. These include Stranger Eyes, a feature film co-produced by Singapore, Taiwan, France, and the USA, nominated for the Venezia 81 Competition. Additionally, Wishing on a Star, a documentary co-produced by Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, and Croatia, with participation from a Taiwanese production company, is nominated in the Orizzonti section. Five Taiwan-related immersive works have also been selected for the Venice Immersive Competition: Free UR Head, A Simple Silence, The Guardians of Jade Mountain, Address Unknown: Fukushima Now, and Encounters. Winners will be announced on September 7th.
Stranger Eyes ©AKANGA FILM ASIA: GRACE BAEY
Wishing on a Star (Photo Credit:TAICCA)
Venice Immersive has become a highly competitive and anticipated event worldwide. Of the 26 nominated works from 18 countries, five are from Taiwan. Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) Chairperson Homme Tsai extends best wishes to all participants and emphasizes TAICCA's role in supporting the content industry. With its global lead in the tech industry, Taiwan has been ambitious in the immersive field and engaged in international co-creation. When advanced technologies meet cultural creativity, international business opportunities can be magnified.
Besides the competition section, Somewhere Unknown In Indochina is selected in Biennale College Cinema Immersive - Out of competition. Filmmaker Chen-Ti Kuo is bringing Love Before Sunrise, a Taiwan-Japan co-production, to Venice Gap-Financing Market. In total, nine works related to Taiwan are visiting Venice Film Festival to expand international markets.
Among these nine titles, six have been supported in various TAICCA programs. These nominations prove how TAICCA substantially promotes industrial development. At Venice Immersive Market this year, TAICCA continues to set up Taiwan Pavilion online and offline. The open call has attracted 32 immersive works, 8 in-development projects, 2 venues, and 6 tech and production companies, offering opportunities to expand international connections, explore potential partnerships, and identify new collaborators. Several completed works from Taiwan will also be deployed at Venice in their international tours, including All That Remains, Over the Rainbow, and Madame Pirate: Code of Conduct.
PHI Centre from Canada will moderate a TAICCA panel at Venice to talk to creators and professionals , including Craig Quintero (Riverbed Theatre), Tung-yen Chou (Very Theatre), VIVE ARTS, and Funique. They will discuss how Taiwan's expertise and visionary approaches are shaping global immersive experiences, fostering international collaborations, and setting new standards for technology and entertainment. And a Meet the Creators session will invite four nominated teams from Taiwan to review their creative journeys.
Cultural reaches people via technology
How do creators utilize groundbreaking technologies to deliver resonating cultural content? While Taiwan is known worldwide for its tech industries, its cultural content with a technological edge also attracts global attention. Nominated immersive works this year vary in interactive modes. Free UR Head and A Simple Silence integrate tech into theater. The Guardians of Jade Mountain, Address Unknown: Fukushima Now, and Somewhere Unknown In Indochina bring viewers back in time via VR. Encounters is an interactive experiment between real and virtual. These works show how Taiwan is ambitious to explore possibilities, diversity, and new markets.
Free UR Head (Photo Credit:TAICCA)
Free UR Head, by Tung-yen Chou and Very Theatre, challenges the usual connection between audiences and performers by redefining the concept of “seeing and being seen” in theater. Participants wear VR headsets and move their heads in different directions, guided by an onsite dancer. For spectators without headsets, these participants become an integral part of the choreography. Tung-yen Chou and Very Theatre have delivered multiple immersive works in recent years. Chou’s VR work, Traversing the Mist, won the Grand Prize at the NewImages Festival this year, and was also nominated at Cannes Immersive Competition.
A Simple Silence (Photo Credit: TAICCA)
A Simple Silence by Riverbed Theater also translates theatrical experiences into immersive content. It is the final chapter of Craig Quintero's Just for You VR trilogy, inspired by the offline immersive theater version that began in 2011. The theater version featured a series of large-scale, immersive performances designed for one audience member at a time. In contrast, the VR adaptations put the immersive experience into headsets, continuing to explore how people connect with their surroundings and blur the line between seeing and being seen. Previous works in the trilogy include All That Remains (which premiered in Venice in 2022) and Over the Rainbow (nominated for the Panorama Prize at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Canada in 2023).
The Guardians of Jade Mountain (Photo Credit: TAICCA)
Somewhere Unknown In Indochina (Photo Credit: TAICCA)
The Guardians of Jade Mountain is a Taiwan-France co-production by director Hayoun Kwon and Volos Films. It describes an unusual friendship, in the early 20th Century during the Japanese colonial period, between a Taiwanese indigenous person and a Japanese anthropologist. The work shifts the focus from countries to individuals, questioning the idea of “enemy”. Address Unknown: Fukushima Now is the first episode in a VR documentary series. Serendipity Films in Taiwan co-produces the work with Japan and the USA to revisit Fukushima ten years after the earthquake and nuclear disaster. Participants listen to survivor accounts, witness how nuclear power impacts the environment, and see daily scenarios after the disaster. Somewhere Unknown In Indochina is a co-production by six countries (Taiwan, Belgium, Vietnam, Canada, Cambodia, and the USA). The story is about a forgotten refugee camp in the Indochina Peninsula, inspired by the Vietnamese refugee camp in Penghu in the 1970s.
Encounters (Photo Credit: TAICCA)
Encounters is a Taiwan-France co-production by French director Mathieu Pradat. In a multi-player VR interactive experiment, participants feel changes in natural conditions (drops, drizzle, downpours, and mist) in the virtual world, while walking in a pool barefoot with headsets. In this abstract and lyrical experience, participants can leave voice messages to those in the future.
Love Before Sunrise (Photo Credit: TAICCA)
The film project Love Before Sunrise is adapted from literary works by Weng Nao in the early 20th Century. In the changing time during the Japanese colonial period, this Taiwanese writer expressed about life, love, and lust. The project is looking for international co-production partners in the Venice Gap-Financing Market. The filmmaker Chen-Ti Kuo previously won Best Documentary at the Golden Horse Awards with Viva Tonal－The Dance Age that reviews pop music in Taiwan in the 1930s.
The 81st Venice Film Festival will be held from August 28th to September 7th. Venice is the first of three major film festivals to include immersive content in official competitions. Since 2017, Venice Immersive section has brought all screenings, performances, and industrial events on Lazzaretto Vecchio as “Venice Immersive Island”. It ensures Venice as a leading occasion for immersive content.
Taiwan Pavilion at 2024 Venice Immersive Market: https://culturetech.taicca.tw/en/selections/vim-taiwan-pavilion-2024