Heat Sun

Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, Taiwanese men were mobilised as guards in prisoner-of-war camps in northern Borneo. Tried and punished after the war, survivors carried stigma, imprisonment, and lasting trauma. Through conversations and images, the film traces fading lives shaped by displacement, identity loss, and the enduring violence of wartime systems.

Chen Chih-ho: 'My intention was to record Taiwan's history, as so much continues to disappear, including the lives of these elders. By documenting them, we leave traces that may one day help others understand the past.

Having lived through the transition from Japanese colonial rule to the Republic of China, and later labelled as war criminals for deeply complex reasons, they belong to a generation sandwiched between identities. Through their lives, we glimpse the historical condition in which Taiwanese people have been situated, and the roles these elders played at a crucial moment of change. These, I believe, must be recorded.In the face of an unresolved national identity, we must develop our own perspective on history and the land, and the strength to hold it.’

— Excerpted and translated from 'An Interview with Director Chen Chih-ho on Heat Sun', Taipei Documentary Filmmakers' Union Online Journal, Issue 10, July 2009.