Experiencing Interruptions?

The Residual Velocity

Born in Taiwan, I explore the collective embers forgotten by civilization through a series of advancing shots. With a rigorous non-fictional aesthetic, this film stitches together the 1945 Great Air Raid of Taipei, the Holocaust in Europe, the Nanjing Massacre, and the dawn of the nuclear age. From ruins and fire to scorched earth, the camera moves through history’s remnants, confronting past trauma with reflection. We destroy, we mourn, we rebuild—and again we destroy. History never leaves; it waits in the shadows ahead.

  • Chih Hao Shen
    Director
  • Chih Hao Shen
    Writer
  • MFX Films
    Producer
  • LI HUNG WANG
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Hybrid documentary
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 9, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    Spain
  • Country of Filming:
    Spain, Taiwan
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    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 is a radical cinematic experiment exploring the inertia of history. Through an uninterrupted and irreversible forward trajectory, the lens functions as a spectral scanner traversing time and space. Beginning with the blinding silence of the atomic aftermath, it moves through the barracks of European concentration camps, the ruins of Nanjing, and the scorched temples of colonial-era Taipei. In a desaturated palette of ash, Qing dynasty shadows, modern urban voids, and the skeletal remains of war machines coalesce. Stripping away all lateral observation, this hybrid non-fiction uses pure kinetic momentum to confront the "residual velocity" of civilization, questioning if we are inevitably colliding with a past that refuses to fade.