TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwanese virtual reality production has won the top prize at the Venice Biennale Festival in the Venice Immersive Competition.
The 35-minute film “The Man Who Couldn’t Leave” (無法離開的人) is about Taiwan’s White Terror in the 1950s. It gives viewers an immersive and frightening look into a prison on Green Island during a decade of political violence.
“The Man Who Couldn’t Leave” was one of thirty virtual reality films contending for the top prize. When accepting the award at the festival, director Singsing Chen (陳芯宜) thanked Taiwan’s National Human Rights Museum which funded the project, reports UDN.
She said that the film is meant to honor those who bravely stood up for what they believed while resisting government tyranny. “I hope that through this work, their spirit will live on forever,” said Chen.
The content of the film was based on historical documents from the White Terror period which reveal the suffering that political dissidents faced at the Green Island prison. The story follows a former detainee who returns to the prison and steps back in time to reveal the conditions inmates dealt with.
The film’s entry page on the Venice Biennale’s website gives the following synopsis.
Within the walls of the former Green Island prison, political detainee A-Kuen, tells the stories of imprisonment and persecution happened in the 1950s in Taiwan. Among fellow inmates, frozen in time, he recounts his own experiences and those of his friend, A-Ching, who never made it out. Experience the time and place, and the waiting, in hope, for a chance to keep the stories alive. The Man Who Couldn’t Leave integrates the stories of numerous political victims of the White Terror and told through the form of an undelivered family letter. An immersive VR experience of hope, fear and camaraderie.
After hearing that the film took the top prize, Taiwan’s Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) issued a statement congratulating Chen and the film’s crew on their success. Lee noted that the film represents the sacrifices that many people made while fighting for democracy and human rights.
Lee expressed his hope that the National Human Rights Museum will continue to fund projects like this. He said that such projects reflect the important work of preserving memories of the country’s past, and further promoting human rights at home and abroad, per UDN.
The Man Who Couldn't Leave. (Walkers Films, Outland Film Production image)