Filmmaking is a freeing process, says screenwriter and director Cheng-Chui Kuo. The Vancouver International Film Festival will screen his full-length feature, Last Night in Taipei, on Oct. 8 at Fifth Avenue Cinema and Oct. 9 at International Village Cinemas.  The film grapples with questions of staying or leaving one’s home country. 

“Making Last Night in Taipei is really the first time I dared to put a camera in Taipei city,” says Kuo, who grew up in Taiwan but now lives in France. “Since I made peace with myself, I know the city better, [and] finally, I can find a lot of elements I ignored about myself and the city.” 

More than a tourist 

The film was inspired by Kuo’s five month stay in Taipei in 2024. It was his longest stay in Taiwan since he moved to France 20 years ago. 

While previous visits to Taiwan had him feeling like “a tourist,” this experience opened his eyes to the sentiments of the younger Taiwanese generation. 

“The co-existence of old and new always made me feel weird,” Kuo shares of his previous impressions of Taipei. “I’ve always felt like ‘oh, it’s not my place, I need to go to a better place.’” 

While attending university in Taipei, he felt puzzled by its dichotomies—the mix of traditional with modern buildings and temples near residences. The construction of the subway system at the time also gave the director a sense of a city being “cut into different pieces.”  

In recent years, his trips to Taiwan have highlighted Taipei’s evolution. There are more neighbourhood gardens and more international influences. The director also attributes this changing perspective to an acceptance of his Taiwanese identity. 

“When I was younger, I’ve always felt like the better life is elsewhere, [and] now that I am elsewhere, I know what [that life] is,” he reflects. “I don’t have to throw away all of my past to have a so-called ‘better life’ elsewhere.” 

The four characters of his film—Blanche, Jake, Mao Mao and Axin—each represent a different “feeling” of Taipei. The main character, Blanche, has always lived in Taipei, trying to find success in the capital city. 

“It’s a place where you can dream to be successful, to earn lots of money, to get somewhere,” the director shares. “She represents how a lot of young people try to chase their dreams in a city where everything is possible.” 

Kuo sees many of his friends’ sentiments represented by Blanche. In contrast, the director himself is represented by the character Jake, who returns to Taiwan after living in France for six years.  

“If he had stayed, could he have had a different life?” the director shares of questions invoked by this character. “He started to have a different angle about the place he used to live, just like he has a different feeling about the people he used to know.”

Exploring feelings of “foreignness”

For Kuo, Last Night in Taipei—particularly through the character Jake—reflects his own journey of coming to terms with his cultural identity. The film engages with the many conflicting experiences of leaving his birth country. 

These experiences include feeling at home, but also not feeling at home in Taiwan. It also encompasses feeling like a foreigner in both Taiwan and France. 

“There are different ways to be Taiwanese, you don’t have to live there one hundred percent [of the time] to be Taiwanese,” Kuo reflects. “When you have history with [the place], you are already Taiwanese.”

The director also made a point to film the “place where people live,” rather than touristy locations. Food also features heavily in Last Night in Taipei. Kuo hopes it serves as a way to understand Taiwanese culture. 

 “I’m very excited that this film can be in Vancouver, because I know there are lots of different cultures [here],” he adds.

One of Kuo’s favourite scenes occurs near the end of the film, where the four characters meet at a bridge connecting Taipei to the suburbs. The director sees this setting as emphasizing an “in-betweenness”: they can see both what is within and beyond the city. 

He adds that there was a highway with lots of traffic underneath the bridge—creating a “surreal” feeling of disorientation but also beauty.  

“It’s a time that I could feel I was very close to my characters,” Kuo shares. “When we shot the scene there, it was very freeing to feel like we are at the edge of something.” 

Vancouver International Film Festival runs from now until Oct. 12, showcasing over 170 films, 80 shorts and other special events. 

For more information, see https://viff.org/whats-on/viff25-last-night-in-taipei/.