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Negative of Light

This charcoal-animated film reflects on what remains after violence has passed.
Rather than depicting events, it observes their traces—erased bodies, emptied spaces, and the fragile persistence of memory.

Through the continuous act of drawing and erasing, images emerge only to dissolve, suggesting that history is not only recorded, but also gradually undone.
Between presence and absence, the film lingers on displacement, loss, and the quiet afterlives of human experience.

  • Chih Hao Shen
    Director
  • Chih Hao Shen
    Writer
  • MFX Films
    Producer
  • Chih Hao Shen
    Animator
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Documentary
  • Genres:
    Charcoal drawing, Hand-drawn animation
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Taiwan
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Chih Hao Shen

Chih Hao Shen is an animation and documentary filmmaker whose work explores human existence, memory, and time through restrained visual storytelling.

His debut work received recognition from Rhode Island IFF. His short film 10 Seconds was selected by In The Palace, Fantasporto, and Asolo Art Film Festival (2026). His documentary YinYang Sea won the Grand Prix at Asolo Art Film Festival (2026).

His projects have been presented in international industry contexts, including Clermont-Ferrand, Visions du Réel, Cannes Short Film Corner, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, and Oberhausen.

Beyond filmmaking, he has worked in visual design and digital product development, including licensed merchandise design for The Lord of the Rings franchise in the Chinese-language market, visual work at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and founded and leads a software development company developing animation and visual effects tools within the Apple ecosystem.

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Director Statement

This film began not with war, but with the act of erasing.

Working with charcoal, I became increasingly aware that every image I created carried within it the possibility of disappearance. Drawing was never only about making something visible—it was also about confronting how easily it could be undone.

I was not interested in reconstructing historical events, but in observing how violence continues to exist beyond its visible form: in absence, in silence, and in the spaces where something—or someone—used to be.

The film reflects on the fragile condition of memory, and on the ways human lives can be reduced to traces. In this sense, Negative of Light is not about a specific place or time, but about how images—and histories—are allowed to remain, or be erased.