Thé Lumière

Two journeys take place in two different periods. One is a train journey across two continents. The other follows an old family photograph back to life during wartime. The rhythmic swaying of the train reveals a forgotten memory.

“What were you doing last year, when I took this photo from a train passing by your house?”

Eighty years ago, Weng Nao, a Taiwanese young man wrote essays and novels, documenting his life in Koenji, Tokyo. He dies on the eve of the Pacific War, and his death remains a mystery. Eighty years later, the directors come to Koenji to look for the forgotten truth.

YOSHIKAWA Hayao (1890-1959), pioneer of amateur cinema in Asia, authored over 160 books to share his passion during the 1930s. Years later, he rediscovered a forgotten dream from his youth: to create a sci-fi film set on the Moon.

Sculptor Tu-shui Huang (1895-1930) was way ahead of his time, combining traditional Chinese themes with Western influences that he learned while studying at the art academy in Tokyo. This earned him a reputation as the “founder of modern Taiwanese sculpture,” but he also drew criticism.

Daughter of Nectar, a gracefully carved marble nude from 1921 by Huang Tu-shui, Taiwan's inaugural modern sculptor, encapsulates a complex century of Taiwanese history, spanning from Japanese colonisation to Chiang Kai-shek's authoritarian rule and the White Terror era. This sculpture, both delicate and resilient, stands as a silent sentinel, mirroring the enduring struggles, suppressed voices, and profound cultural transformations of its homeland.