Ash

In 2002, Cheng's father murdered his mother. He is both the son of the perpetrator and the beloved son of the victim. That afternoon, he met the children of two other death row inmates. The three of them talked about life, about marriage, and about their greatest fear: their fathers, and the death penalty.

Twenty years ago, LIN Sheng-hsiang was a successful athlete who enjoyed glamor and glory. Once a child abandoned by the education system due to his unimpressive academic performance, LIN has redeemed himself in the modern pentathlon, an obscure sport in Taiwan. Now a coach, LIN tries his best to serve disadvantaged children who have a similar background to his own. This year, he meets CHEN You-hsuan, a talented young girl from a remote village in eastern Taiwan. LIN devotes himself and all the resources he can find to train You-hsuan. If he manages to help You-hsuan qualify for the Olympic Games, he will have realized his dream of bringing Taiwan’s modern pentathlon team onto the international stage. But everything, including time, funding, the system, and the wayward adolescent, all seems to be going against his wishes. But LIN never expected that this would be just the beginning of the cruelest and toughest challenge he has ever faced.

The film centres around three condemned prisoners who committed different crimes, with one still serving his sentence, one who has taken his own life in prison, and one already executed. Consisting of unembellished interviews and news footage, the film shows the director’s concern for the condemned prisoners and their families as human beings; moreover, it examines the contemporary history of capital punishment in Taiwan and questions the current judicial system.

In 2014, when protesting against the Cross-strait Service Trade Agreement that was hastily approved, a group of protesters stormed into the Taiwanese parliament and ended up occupying the assembly hall for 24 days. Questions are raised - what is democracy? What is the government? What is violence? What is our future? What is the happiness we seek? Who is "we"?

In 1991, a gruesome double murder was committed in Hsihchih in Taipei. Wang Wen-hsiao, a soldier whose fingerprint was found at the crime scene, was tried, convicted, and executed the following year. Prosecutors apprehended three additional young men and were suspected of torturing the suspects to extract confessions. The three’s death sentences have been appealed repeatedly over the years. Today, they are still waiting for a final outcome. This case of the century has proved to be difficult work even for forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee. Eighteen years of trial have hounded the three men and the victims’ son. They all yearn to unearth the truth and uphold justice. The truth, however, is elusive due to the passage of time and Taiwan’s flawed judicial system. The four young souls held captive in different forms can only continue to spend their lives trying to pursue that taste of freedom that no one else can truly appreciate.

How does a dream become a reality after 10 years? Prof. Cheng and his students at the National Taiwan University built a solar car, and the team competed in the 2005 World Solar Challenge in Australia. They overcame great difficulties along the way, and achieved fifth place in the 3,000-km race through the Outback. However, the finishing line was certainly not the end of their story. For More Sun II continues their story and shows us where they are heading NOW.