Private Project

Positive Control

What are the controlling relationships between humans and animals? Is human playing God as modern technology develops? Being a biologist at the lab at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, Tiffany Chang struggles to balance her personal life and bioethical conflicts.
This documentary explores the rights of controlling the lives of humans and animals from researchers’ perspectives. It reveals a researcher’s true identity inside and outside of work. In addition to that, the film reflects humans’ misunderstanding of issues due to their predisposed biases.

  • Wei-Chen Chen
    Director
  • Wei-Chen Chen
    Writer
  • Wei-Chen Chen
    Producer
  • Jimmy Su
    Producer
  • P.H. Huang
    Producer
  • Tiffany Chang
    Key Cast
    "Tiffany Chang"
  • Silvia Fontana
    Key Cast
    "Silvia Fontana"
  • Bridget Chu
    Key Cast
    "Bridget Chu"
  • Ming-Kun Chen
    Key Cast
    "Wei-Chen's Father"
  • Li-Hsueh Wu
    Executive Producer
  • P.H. Huang
    Assistant Director
  • Jimmy Su
    Director of Cinematographer
  • Wei-Chen Chen
    Editor
  • Aviec Hsia
    Sound Mixer
  • Omar Akram
    Musician
  • Mason Jiang
    Composer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    控制對ㄇㄚˇ
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    documentary, science, student short
  • Runtime:
    27 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 30, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Taiwan
  • Language:
    Chinese, English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Wei-Chen Chen

Wei-Chen Chen obtained his Master of Arts degree at the Department of Motion Picture of the National Taiwan University of Arts. His professional training background also includes Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy and Theatre Arts from the Pasadena City College in Los Angeles, California. As an artist, he crosses art fields and has directed a music theater piece—Coming-of-Age (2019). His documentary short film Positive Control (2018) is acknowledged by the awards of the Honorable Mention at California International Film Festival, and the Official Selection at FICMA.

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Director Statement

Positive Control is my first documentary film. The experience of making it has been pretty unique. It is so much different than making fiction films. As a student, I took the opportunity to challenge myself by making an experimental documentary because I believe we should enjoy the freedom of trying new things. So, there are a lot of unexpected changes which occurred and rerouted the development of this film.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting that I would discuss my personal life in the story, but in order to make a complete picture I think it was the right move to not hide myself. In the beginning, it was a project that we wanted to uncover the secrets of mutant experiments. However, it later turned into a real Positive Control that made me struggle and compare my life with Tiffany’s. In all, I was amazed by the fact that I realize I can use the power of a film to communicate with my loved ones. Personally, I planted some very subtle messages in the film. They are words and images that I really want to convey.