Somewhere Unknown in Indochina VR 中南半島未知某處
2024 – Taiwan – 38 min

Directed by Asio Liu Chisiung & Tsou Feng-Ting
Cast | Chang Chang-Men, Genn Lau, Autumn Nguyễn, Lily Su
Motion capture actors | Chang Min-Chun, Huang Kuan-Cha
Screenplay | Asio Liu Chisiung, Tsou Feng-Ting, Chang Wen Chi
Cinematography & CG Supervisor | Tsou Feng-Ting
Music | Tôn Thất An
Sound | Kao Chin-Lun
Light | Awei Liu
Production designer | Chen Yi-Chu
Costumes | Lee Hsiang-Ying
Producer | Asio Liu Chisiung
Presenters | Mimeo Films Ldt & Sequels Production

Premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival, “Venice Immersive” section
Asian premiere at the Kaohsiung Film Festival, competition in the XR Dreamland section – October 2024

“Somewhere Unknown in Indochina” tells about the journey of boat people fleeing Vietnam after 1975. While most of them went south to Malaysia, many boats drifted northwards and some ended on Penghu island in Taiwan.
In a situation where fiction meets reality, director Asio Liu was twice visited in his dream by a young woman, who told him about the Penghu refugee camp. And that was precisely where he was doing his military service at that time (in the mid 90s). She asked him to investigate more about that little known fact in history. And investigate he did, as it became the theme of his work as a filmmaker. For two decades, Asio Liu has devoted his energy to make documentaries and short films about that refugee camp.
One day, a woman contacted him after she saw a post of a mural painting depicting people on a boat. She was Vietnamese and now living in Belgium with her family. The mural had been painted on one of the walls of the camp, and she told him that she was one of the persons pictured on the boat!
When Asio Liu approached me to compose the music, I was already quite busy with many other film projects. However, when he told me what the subject was, I found it impossible to refuse: as a Vietnamese, given my own history it was almost my duty to compose the music for that project! We had little time, but inspiration came very quickly.
My long time musical companion Emily Chang provided her beautiful and poignant cello playing on two pieces that were thought of as two musical poems. 

Listen to the soundtrack (click image to open)