Podujatia

US-Taiwanese Film director Leo Chiang: “Kinmen is one of the few exceptions where the marks of the military conflict dot the landscape and is on people’s mind daily. That prompted me to start exploring this project.”

Film Screenings of his Island in Between and Our Time Machine at the Taiwan Studies Center at Comenius University in Bratislava on April 14-15, 2026

The Taiwan Studies Center in Bratislava and the Department of East Asian Studies at Comenius University hosted the Taiwanese-US-American film director Leo Chiang 江松⾧ for two screenings, the documentary “Island in Between 金門“ (2023) and the earlier "Our TIme Machine 時光機“ (2018) and interactions with students at the Department of East Asian Studies and guests.

Island in Between is structured as a series of vignettes that explore how people living on the island of Kinmen—and those who visit it—perceive this unique and historically charged place. Kinmen, located only a few kilometers off the coast of mainland China, once served as a crucial bridgehead in Chiang Kai‑shek’s efforts to reconquer the mainland. Its landscape still bears the traces of this militarized past: bunkers, fortifications, and remnants of Cold War tensions.

Today, Kinmen occupies an unusual position. It remains a site of military presence, yet it has also become a destination for tourism, with visitors drawn to its layered history, its proximity to China, and its distinctive local culture. Chiang’s film captures these contrasts with sensitivity, weaving together personal stories, observations, and reflections on identity, belonging, and geopolitical liminality.

The screening aimed to introduce students and the interested public to contemporary documentary approaches to contested spaces and identities, and to encourage critical engagement with the cultural and political complexities of Taiwan and its outlying islands. It offers a valuable window into the evolving relationship between Taiwan what officially is still called the “Republic of China” and Mainland China ruled by the “People’s Republic of China”. The film’s intimate style and its focus on everyday life in a historically militarized zone make it a rich resource for discussions on memory, identity, and the shifting meanings of borders.

Q:⁠ ⁠Was there a particular moment, encounter, or personal connection that sparked your interest in this island?

Because of its unique role during the Cold War, Kinmen almost has a mythical place in the Taiwanese psyche. Most of us have not been there, but have grew up with stories from the islands, either in the news through our fathers and uncles who did their mandatory military service there. Because my father did his military service in Kinmen, that was my personal connection. I also have been looking for a way to visually capture Taiwan’s current dilemma, but in most part of Taiwan, one simply cannot see the tension in the lived space/landscape the way regular people carry on their daily life. Kinmen is one of the few exceptions where the marks of the military conflict dot the landscape and is on people’s mind daily. That prompted me to start exploring this project.

Q:⁠ ⁠Are there aspects of Kinmen identity that you found especially surprising or revealing while filming?

The most surprising moment for me is when a resident told me that she thought if there were ever going to be military action from China, Kinmen is actually the safest place. This is of course contrary to common understanding that Kinmen is the most tenuous place because its physical distance. Her logic is that the war technology is such that China would just directly go towards cutting off the sea and air access and Taiwan and have direct military action against where the central government is in Taipei. Kinmen has been so culturally and emotionally close to Xiamen, China would not want to violate that good will and will leave Kinmen alone. I am not certain that I agree with this opinion fully, but certainly can see the logic, and though the insight that many locals have found reason for them to stay and continuing their lives because they have narratives they tell themselves that allow them to do so.

Q:⁠ ⁠Kinmen is often described as being “in between” politically, geographically, and emotionally. How did you translate this sense of liminality into your visual and narrative choices?

Liminal feels like the right word for what I'm reaching for. Narratively, the film is about Kinmen, but it's also about the liminality of Taiwanese existence more broadly — told through the personal thread of my family history & my own transnational identity. Visually, I'm trying to project a sense of longing, particularly in the moments when the camera gazes across that narrow strip of water toward Xiamen. The abandoned tank on the beach and the broadcast wall function almost as supporting characters — returning throughout the film, but shot differently each time, so that their meaning shifts as the film evolves.

Second Screening: Our Time Machine at Kino Lumière

On the same day, the Taiwan Studies Center and the Department of East Asian Studies also organized a screening of Leo Chiang and Yang Sun’s award‑winning documentary Our Time Machine at Kino Lumière, an arthouse cinema in the center of Bratislava. This film follows the artist Maleonn as he creates an elaborate mechanical puppet theatre piece to communicate with his father, a celebrated stage director suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Q: How did you begin working on this film, and what initially drew you to Maleonn’s story?

My collaborator Yang Sun first came across Maleonn's story. Yang was a young filmmaker working on his first feature-length documentary, and he wanted to collaborate because he recognized that my being the same age as Maleonn would bring a needed perspective to the film. I was immediately mesmerized by Maleonn's puppetry and his broader body of work — and the father-son story at the center of it gave the whole thing a beating heart.

Q: Could you describe the collaboration process with your co‑director and the artistic team?

My directing and producing collaborator Yang lives in Shanghai and works as a cameraman, so he shot the bulk of the film. I joined him for the larger events — the performances and so on — and then took the lead in post-production, working alongside our editor Bob. Since the three of us were based in different cities, we developed a rhythm of "edit camps" — spending two to three weeks together in a shared Airbnb in Shanghai, Beijing, or Xiamen, doing nothing but editing and sleeping. It was intense, but also genuinely joyful.

Q:⁠ ⁠Were you ever told that certain topics or scenes could not be included in the film?

Getting the film approved for official distribution in China — what's known as "the dragon label" — proved to be a tricky process. The censorship board raised concerns about a short sequence touching on Maleonn's parents' experiences during the Cultural Revolution, which required several rounds of back-and-forth before we were able to reach a resolution.

Q:⁠ ⁠Based on your experience, how did censorship and self-censorhip operate in relation to this project that was produced for screening in China and abroad?

From my experience, and from watching colleagues navigate the same terrain, there's often a fundamental decision to be made: do you want your film to be seen inside China? Many filmmakers choose to make the work they want without compromise, accepting that Chinese distribution is off the table and orienting the film toward international audiences instead. But when reaching a Chinese domestic audience matters — as it did for us — then engaging with the approval process becomes necessary, and some degree of accommodation tends to come with that.

Highlighting completely in different locations and different political systems, what do these films have in common?

Where Island in Between examines geopolitical liminality, Our Time Machine turns inward, exploring memory, loss, and the emotional labor of caring for a parent whose identity is slowly fading. The film’s blend of artistic process, family narrative, and cultural reflection offered students a complementary perspective on Chiang’s documentary practice—one that highlights his ability to navigate both intimate personal stories and broader social themes. Chiang’s two films also resonate with one another on a thematic level. In Island in Between, he visits Kinmen—the external landscape where his father once served during his military years. Chiang’s parents accompany him on this visit and briefly appear in the film, linking personal family history to the island’s geopolitical past.

In Our Time Machine, by contrast, he turns inward, exploring the emotional terrain of a father–son relationship within a Chinese cultural context in mainland China. Together, the two films trace a movement from external spaces of memory and conflict to the intimate, internal spaces of familial connection and loss. Given the film’s relevance to current debates on identity, memory, and cross‑Strait relations, it serves as an accessible and insightful introduction to the complexities of the Taiwan Strait.

Event: Film screening of the 2024 Oscar nominated documentary and film op-ed “Island in Between”  and following Q & A with the film director Leo Chiang.
Date and time: Wednesday, 15th April, 9.45-11.00 a.m., Comenius University, FiF N 319
Description: The rural Taiwanese outer islands of Kinmen 金門  sit merely 2 miles off the coast of China. Kinmen attracts tourists for its remains from the 1949 Chinese Civil War. It also marks the frontline for Taiwan in its escalating tension with China.
S. Leo Chiang weaves lyrical vignettes of tourist visits and local life with his own narrative as someone negotiating ambivalent personal bonds to Taiwan, China, and the US.  ISLAND IN BETWEEN explores the uneasy peace in these islands, and contemplates Taiwan’s uncertain future.

Leo Chiang: “I was born in Taiwan, grew up in the United States, worked extensively in China and now live in Taipei. This mix of experiences has given me a front-row seat to the complex, decades-long dance between these nations. Lately, the world is paying considerably more attention to my homeland, especially after the former U.S. House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, visited in August 2022. Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed by Taiwan that were the front lines of the first and second Taiwan Straits Crises decades ago. They lie just a few miles from mainland China, and these days, locals are unsure what escalating tensions mean for the future. Taiwanese voices are often drowned out by Chinese and American narratives, overshadowed by the global power plays going on around us. Few people outside the region understand what life is actually like for the Taiwanese people caught in between two superpowers. I made this documentary to show life in Taiwan through the eyes of the people who live there, including me. At this moment, as we struggle to make sense of the horrors of war, I hope this documentary can play a small part in advocating for peace.“

Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/DefVP0mkHZY?si=BzhaOS1Qo1BwSGOo

You can also watch the complete film online, but you will definitely miss the discussion with Leo Chiang, who will be there in person. https://youtu.be/DefVP0mkHZY?si=jKglatTOfYDIWUbc

The Taiwan Studies Center in Bratislava invites you to the Workshop Challenging legacies in Taiwan, Comenius University in Bratislava, Tuesday, January 7th, 2025, 9.30-5 p.m. Room: N316, Main building of  Comenius University, Šafárikovo nám. 6, 841 99 Bratislava 1

Organiser: Doc. Dr. Sascha Klotzbücher, Department of East Asian Studies, Comenius University, Sascha.klotzbucheruniba.sk

Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MjU2NjUzZjctOGU0Zi00MmZiLTkzNGMtNDU2NWYzYzhjMjU3%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22ce31478d-6e7a-4ce7-8670-a5b9d51884f9%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%222f57fcad-da86-46ed-ab9d-c20cc28458e9%22%7d

Speakers
Dr. Jens Damm, European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan, University of Tübingen
Prof. Fen-Fang Tsai 蔡芬芳, Department of Hakka Languages and Social Sciences, National Central University
Prof. Ann Heylen, Department of Taiwan Culture, National Taiwan Normal University
Prof. Yu-An Hsu 徐育安, College of Law, National Taipei University
Dr. Astrid Lipinsky, Vienna Taiwan Studies Center/Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna
Prof. Nai-Yi Sun 孫迺翊,  College of Law, National Taiwan University

Program
9.30-9.45
Introduction
Sascha Klotzbücher, Department of East Asian Studies, Comenius University

Welcome Note
Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Dr.

Panel 1: Historical challenges
Chair: Mgr. Gabriela Pleschová, MSc. PhD., Faculty of Arts, Comenius University

9.45-10.30
Ann Heylen, Department of Taiwan Culture, National Taiwan Normal University
The European Heritage in Formosa Across Centuries

10.30-10.50
Coffee break

10.50-11.35
Prof. Yu-An Hsu 徐育安, College of Law, National Taipei University
Death penalty in Taiwan

11.35-12.20
Dr. Astrid Lipinsky, Vienna Taiwan Studies Center/Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna
From Traditional Obedience to Female Presidency: Gender Equality in Taiwan.

12.20-14.00
Lunch in the canteen of the Faculty of Arts, Gondova, Ground Floor


Panel 2: Challenging legacies  
Chair: Igor Hron, PhD, Faculty of Law, Comenius University

14-14.45
Prof. Nai-Yi Sun 孫迺翊,  College of Law, National Taiwan University
Democratic rolling back? The challenge of the constitutional court from the Parliament in Taiwan

14.45-15.20
Coffee break

15.20-16.05
Dr. Jens Damm, European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan, University of Tübingen
Making sense of Taiwan: EU Perspectives in Contention

16.05-16.50
Prof. Fen-Fang Tsai 蔡芬芳, Department of Hakka Languages and Social Sciences, National Central University
Bringing ethnicity and religion in: Rethinking cross-border marriages between Taiwan and Indonesian Hakka

16.50
Closure
Informal coming together

Date: 30.10.2024

Presenter: Dr. Ute Wallenböck,  

Contact: uwallenbuni-bonn.de 

Affiliation: Department of Tibetan and Mongolian Studies, University of Bonn, Germany

Food plays a significant role in both identity formation and social life. For diasporic communities in particular, it carries not only memories and traditions but also their culinary practices. The preparation, serving, and consumption of ‘traditional’ foods become a vital means of preserving cultural identity in a foreign setting. Drawing on findings from my ethnographic fieldwork in Taiwan in early 2024, I examine the complex relationship between food, identity, and representation within the Tibetan diasporic community in Taiwan. I focus on how culinary practices, especially in the context of ethnic businesses, play a key role in preserving cultural heritage and negotiating identity, with an emphasis on Tibetan restaurants in Taiwan.

Bio of presenter: Ute Wallenböck is a research associate at the Department of Mongolian and Tibetan Studies at the University of Bonn. She has an academic background in Sinology and Tibetology, holding a PhD in Chinese Studies from the University of Vienna. Following her doctoral studies, she contributed to the Sinophone Borderlands project at Palacký University Olomouc and later worked in the Department of Chinese Studies at Masaryk University in Brno. Her research centers on the Sinophone and Tibetophone borderlands, along with the Tibetan diaspora in Asia and Europe, exploring topis of identity, memory, cultural encounters, and the significance of food in the context of cultural transmission.