Taiwanese filmmaker Lu Po-shun’s short film “Wild Tides” won the Best Director award at the 2017 Taipei Film Awards and the Best Film award at the Tel Aviv International Airport International Competition. At the Student Film Festival, he will make his feature debut with Will You Still Be My Friend. The project was exhibited at the Far East In Progress section of the European Film Market, held concurrently with the Berlinale, earlier this year, and will be exhibited at the Hong Kong Asian Film Finance Forum (HAF) at the Hong Kong Filmart.
The coming-of-age drama, set in Yunlin County on Taiwan’s southwest coast, is an expansion of Lu’s earlier short story “When Henge Meets Crescent,” which was part of public broadcaster PTS’ pandemic anthology “Quarantini.”
After the coronavirus outbreak, Lu returned to his hometown of Jiahu, where he began developing a feature-length project.
The film interweaves young friendships with the social impact of solar energy development in rural areas. Based on field research and personal observations, this story examines the intersection of local politics, corporate interests, and environmental change as it explores issues of identity and self-discovery for its young characters.
“When I write characters, I often create someone who looks like me and someone who represents the person I want to be,” Lu said. “Through a dialogue between two sides: my real self and my ideal self, I am trying to construct a new story from my memories that connects me to the current landscape of my hometown.”
During the early stages of development, Lu brought the project to the Asia-Europe Collaborative Workshop. Producer David Hsu said the team’s main goal at HAF is to secure the final round of funding. The film is currently more than 80% complete and is aiming for a domestic release during the Golden Horse Awards season later this year.
The story touches on the expansion of renewable energy and preadolescent exploration of sexual identity, themes that may still elicit cautious reactions in parts of East Asia. “Gender equality and LGBTQ culture have been developing in Taiwan for more than 40 years,” Lu said. “We believe the audience and market are mature enough to address these topics.”
Ahead of FilMart, the project has attracted interest from festival programmers. Although the film does not yet have a global distribution partner, Su said the team hopes to see it exhibited on the international arthouse circuit and themed festivals in the future.
