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Floating Isle

A sea turtle, black bear, sika deer, and white guardian move across a drifting island, holding land and faith, witnessing colonization, politics, ecology, species, and human rights; tides and wind speak the untold story.

  • MFX Films
    Producer
  • Chih Hao Shen
    Director
  • Chih Hao Shen
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Hybrid documentary, Experimental Docufiction, Historical Animated Testimony
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Taiwan
  • Language:
    English
  • 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

I was born on an island that has never stopped drifting. It has been colonized, renamed, divided, and healed—over and over again. I made this film not to retell history, but to ask what remains when the tide keeps pushing us forward.

The giant sea turtle, the black bear, the sika deer, and the white-clad guardian appear because they are more truthful than we are. They witness every shift of power, absorb every ecological wound, and continue living within the same mountains and waves while people quarrel over borders.

The riders of different eras represent the layers of our collective past. The collapse of a famed rock formation reminds me that no shape is permanent. The children standing in the sea wind embody a future we have yet to complete. I adopted a near-silent form because on this island, the most honest language has always been the wind and the sea.

This film is a letter to the land that raised me—and a quiet prayer for all who live on drifting ground.