Private Project

Beauty of Taiwan

Although the land only encompasses 0.027% of the world. It comprises upwards of 3.8% of the total species in the world. It is abundantly adorned with over 200 mountains, with peaks over 3,000 meters high, as well as seas that drop to a depth of 4,000 meters. It consists of cold landscapes similar to the Arctic.and tropical coastal forests with equator-like weather. Over its limited time, this complex compressed space evolved. to become a unique ecological environment filled with exclusive natural resources. Like a multidimensional diamond that glistens and shines through, this is our Taiwan, a world class “Island of Diverse Ecological Life.”

  • Yu-Chiou Tchen
    Writer
  • Chia-Hui Lu
    Producer
  • Chia-Hui Lu
    Director
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Chinese
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Other
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 42 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 8, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Taiwan
  • Language:
    Mandarin Chinese
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Ars Electronica
    Linz
    Austria
Director Biography - Chia-Hui Lu

Chia-Hui Lu is a passionate artist and an active participant in Taiwan’s art world. She is a pioneer in Taiwan’s cross art scene, a composer, a music director, and a renowned concert pianist. As a Chairwoman of the Egret Foundation, Ms. Lu continues on the organization’s 28 year tradition in promoting music and culture in Taiwan. Ms. Lu published per piano albums “Enchanted” in 2013 and “Amore” in 2016. In cross arts, She was the Executive Music Director for “Sayion I” in 2015 and “Sayion II” in 2018, where she composed music that was used in the Interactive New Media Theater. In these two productions, she worked with 720-degree VR positioning and 3D real-time motion-capture systems. In 2016, she was also the Executive Music Director for the Interactive Children’s Theater’s “Milly and the Butterfly Fish’s Fantasy Journey”. In 2017, She performed a piano recital, “Water on Fire”, combining western classical music with eastern poetry from a Taiwan poet, Goya Lan. In 2019, She curated “Impression of Taiwan” for Art Taipei. It featured ceramic artworks, creative and cultural products, publications, New Media Interactive Theater presentations and music/visual performances. She also produced and debuted XR “Obsession” at Art Taipei, which combines live performance with music and dance in an extended reality 4DViews volumetric capture new media experience. As the producer and art director for “Amore”, a classical repertoire, She used Paul Chiang’s paintings, transforming it into an animated 3D visual that was synched precisely to her music. She was invited to perform a multimedia version of “Butterfly Orchid” at the opening ceremony of Art Taipei and Diversonics. Ms. Lu curated the Sacred Garden as a partner of the international Ars Electronica Festival 2021.

Regarding awards and mentions, in 2021, "XR Obsession" won a DNA Paris Design award and a Muse Creative Awards. "Impression of Taiwan" received an honorary mention at the DNA Paris Design, won a German Innovative Architecture Iconic Award in the Communication category and a Muse Design Awards in Exhibition & Events. “Amore” received the Muse Creative Awards in Concept Design. "Butterfly Orchid” won DNA Paris Design and Muse Creative Awards in Media & Music Design.

Ms. Lu is an associate professor at the National Taiwan University of Arts and also teaches at her alma mater, the High School of National Taiwan Normal University. She is an accomplished book author and a magazine music critic. Ms. Lu is an alumna of the Manhattan School of Music and has studied with world renowned maestros throughout the world. Ms. Lu is known for her inspirational and deeply emotional performances. She is also a first prize winner of Taipei City Piano Competition and winner of Artists International’s Young Artists Award in New York City. Notable concerts that Ms. Lu performed at include: Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and Taiwan National Concert Hall, among others.

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Director Statement

Bounded to the North by the East Sea, to the West by the Pacific Ocean, to the South by the Bashi Channel and to the East by the Strait, Taiwan stands out from the bodies of water like a hidden emerald, rich and brilliant like a diamond. Once it was called Formosa by the Portuguese sailors (1542) meaning beautiful island. Through the centuries, foreign colonialism has had its influence in nurturing the island, creating the characteristics of Taiwan today. Unlike other advanced countries that evolved over hundreds of years, Taiwan’s natural and cultural development can be described as transpiring over a compressed space and time.

Compressed space refers to the dramatic limited landscape of Taiwan, where vast differences in weather may be observed from the mountains, to the forests and to the sea. Between and around the flat lands and the high mountains, complex ecosystems are born to accommodate diverse biological species. Compressed time reflects Taiwan’s leap to a modern civilization in just over a 100 years. Taiwan’s transformation from an

agricultural society at the end of the 19th century to the world’s most advanced high tech producer by the end of the 20th century is an amazing feat.

Through Eastern, Western, and Austronesian multi-cultural experiences and hardship, and through the constant endurance of the county’s harsh elements of extreme heat, typhoons, earthquakes and landslides, Taiwan’s tenacity, flexibility, courageousness, grit, and spirited enthusiasm are formed.