A Taiwanese virtual reality (VR) film has won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival’s Venice Immersive event.
The Man Who Couldn’t Leave (無法離開的人) explores the White Terror era during the 1950s, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency said on Sunday.
There were 30 entrants in the competition section of Venice Immersive, the extended-reality section of the festival. Judging took place from Aug. 31 to Saturday.
Photo: Screen grab from YouTube
Director Singing Chen (陳芯宜) said that the film was made to honor those who sacrificed their lives for freedom during the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s suppression of political rights in Taiwan.
Chen thanked the National Human Rights Museum for commissioning the film, saying it took two years of hard work to complete the movie.
Chen has said the subject matter gave weight to her film, with the period’s bleak violence all the more palpable through the use of immersive presentation.
Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) congratulated Chen on winning the award.
Chen’s win marks the second time that a Taiwanese film has won a prize at Venice Immersive, following the Best Experience Award for director Huang Hsin-chien (黃心健) and artist Laurie Anderson’s La Camera Insabbiata in 2017.
Two other Taiwanese films also competed in this year’s event: Red Tail (紅尾巴) by Golden Horse-winning animator Fish Wang (王登鈺), and multimedia artist Craig Quintero’s All That Remains (遺留).
All three Taiwanese films received positive responses from jury members May Abdalla, David Adler and Blanca Li, and were in contention for the Grand Jury Prize, Special Jury Prize and the top prize for Best Experience, the agency said.
The White Terror era refers to the period of repression following the imposition of martial law in Taiwan by the KMT in 1949, which lasted until 1987.
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