Journey through Images

China Behind

A group of Mainlanders fleeing the Cultural Revolution risk all to reach the adjacent British ‘haven’ of Hong Kong; yet what they find there is a far cry from their dreams of liberty.

The Woman of Wrath

A woman resorts to prostitution out of hunger and commits suicide shortly after, leaving her daughter to embark on an equally cruel path.

Experiment 002

In 1994 HUANG Hua-cheng showed his 8mm film Experiment 002 during a seminar titled ‘Theater Quarterly and Me’ at the Chinese Taipei Film Archive. This film is a recording of the seminar, documenting how the film was played and the seminar proceedings. HUANG passed away in 1996, and his earlier films have been lost.

逆旅與幻象

Early collaboration between Chang Chan-tang and Christopher Doyle documenting the friendship of their inner circle in Taiwan during the early 80s.

Songs of Pasta'ay

The Pasta’ay, which means "the festival of the legendary little people," is a significant ritual held every other year in the Saisiat aborigine group in Taiwan. Every ten years, they hold the Great Ritual. This film focuses on the Great Ritual in 1986. It tries to convey the Saisiat people’s affection for and belief in the legendary little people. At the same time, the film brings into light Saisiat people’s ambivalence towards tourist invasion, and their dilemma of being caught between tradition and modernization. Structured by the Pasta’ay songs’ movements, the film breaks down to 15 chapters. It carefully juxtaposes the visual with the aural elements, which are conveyed in the conceptual dichotomy between “the real” and “the artificial.”

Modern Poetry Exhibition/1966

Artists contributing to the 1966 Modern Poetry Exhibition included HUANG Hua-cheng, LONG Sih-liang, HUANG Yong-song, and CHANG Chao-tang; each artist chose their favorite modern poems and transformed them into imagery. This film is a time capsule capturing some of the exhibits, as well as the young artists.

The Instant of Gaze: Portraits by Chang Chao-Tang

A biographical documentary filmed in 1999 on the occasion of Chang Chao-tang (張照堂) receiving the National Award for Arts (國家文藝獎) in the Fine Arts category (美術類). In the film he is credited as both director and editor under the pseudonym “Gao Shang-tu” (高尚土)—a name derived by decomposing the character “tang” (堂) into its constituent elements “gao” (高), “shang” (尚), and “tu” (土). Semantically, the pseudonym implies a counter-reference to the notion of temple-like, institutional “high culture,” redirecting emphasis instead toward the vernacular and the earthy—suggesting that what is truly “noble” lies in the force emerging from the “soil” (土) of the people. For this reason, the film may also be understood as a semi-autobiographical documentary that carries an element of self-writing within its particular historical context.

V-10「女展」剪影

A short documentary directed by Chang Chao-Tang (張照堂) while working as a cameraman at China Television Company (中國電視公司), produced for the television program News Highlights (新聞集錦). The film documents the group exhibition “Womangraphy” (「女展」), organized by V-10 (Group Visual-10).

Regarding Huang Hua-Cheng

An in-depth documentary on the reclusive Taiwanese artist Huang Hua-Cheng and his avant-garde legacy. Commissioned by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum for the retrospective exhibition: “An Open Ending: Huang Hua-Cheng” (2020).

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).

Wild Cursive

"Wild Cursive" is the third piece of Taiwanese dancer and choreographer Lin Hwai-min's Cursive trilogy, a captivating series translating the development of the fascinating art form of Chinese calligraphy into dance. As Lin says himself, the final part marks the climax of the trilogy, because it corresponds to the completely detached, free and highly abstract forms of “spontaneous” calligraphy. The performance contains elements of Tai Chi and is musically accompanied by compositions by Jim Shum and Liang Chun-mei. The performance was recorded in 2009 at the National Theater in Taipei, Taiwan.

Carving, Lin Yuan

Documenting outsider artist Lin Yuan (林淵, 1913-1992), a self-taught folk artist from Nantou (南投), and his stone sculptures—works marked by simplicity, naturalness, and a vital rural vernacular spirit.

The Homecoming Pilgrimage of Dajia Mazu

Viewers are transported back in time to 1974 to see the annual Taoist celebration of the Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage. Thousands of participants accompany a statue of the goddess Mazu, who protects seafarers, on a 9-day, 8-night procession, stopping at several prominent temples along the way. The religious pilgrimage is a round-way journey from the Zhenlan Temple in Dajia, Taichung City to Fengtian Temple in Xingang of Chiayi County on the Western plains of Taiwan. The mesmerising festival takes place every year during the third lunar month and still attracts large masses to this day. The audio track of the film was once banned under the Kuomintang (KMT) due to the film’s inclusion of spoken Hokkien (Taiwanese), giving viewers at the time an altered and suppressed understanding of the event and its cultural significance in Taiwan. Viewers now can revel in the beauty of the Taiwanese language and see the film for the true spirit that it captures.

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.

芬芳寶島系列精選

The Dragon Boat Festival

The riverbanks are dotted with food stalls and buzzing with the parasol-holding crowd. Everyone is here to watch the exciting dragon boat race. Voice-over narration in melodic Taiwanese describes pre-festival preparation, and the celebrations and rituals in various parts of Taiwan. Through carefully-crafted script and well-executed camerawork, this documentary gives a vibrant portrait of ordinary people’s lives in a festive atmosphere.