Experiencing Interruptions?

The Void

After coming to terms with the quiet inevitability of loss, a man leaves without farewell and begins to circle the island of Taiwan.

The road unfolds along coastlines and mountain passes.
Gradually, the visible world loosens its certainty.
Vast animals appear at the edge of perception.
Landscapes expand beyond proportion.

Whether these presences belong to myth, memory, or the mind itself remains unresolved.

What begins as a physical journey becomes a passage through interior space—
an encounter with emptiness where reality and imagination breathe within the same horizon.

  • MFX Films
    Producer
  • Chih Hao Shen
    Director
  • Chih Hao Shen
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Hybrid documentary, Experimental Docufiction
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 10, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    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
  • 42th Asolo Art Film Festival
    Asolo
    Italy
    Official Selection
  • FANTASPORTO – Porto International Film Festival
    Porto
    Portugal
    Official Selection
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.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I made The Void while reflecting on how quietly life alters its shape.

There are no dramatic ruptures in this film—
only gradual realizations.

When one understands that nothing can be held permanently,
movement becomes inevitable.

The journey around Taiwan is not an escape.
It is an act of remaining—
remaining inside uncertainty, inside absence.

The gigantic animals that emerge throughout the film are not designed as metaphors.
They are presences that disturb proportion.
They question scale—between the human and the world,
between memory and the visible.

I was interested in how landscape absorbs emotion without explanation.
The sea does not react to grief.
Mountains do not answer longing.

In this indifference, something else becomes possible—
a fragile clarity.

The Void is a film about walking through emptiness
until emptiness begins to speak back.