(Photo: Hakka Public Communication Foundation)
LAFA, a monthly film and screenplay competition for filmmakers from around the world, is one of the highest-rated festivals on FilmFreeway, a website for movie makers to submit their films to international film festivals.
In collaboration with Taiwan’s top VR artist Huang Hsin-chien (黃心健) and director Chang Wen-chieh (張文杰), HPCF produced the Hakka VR short film “Childhood Revisited” inspired by an old photograph of the Hakka village Wugoshuei in Wanluan, Pingtung. HPCF President Chen Bang-jen (陳邦畛) said that, based on the image of the photo taken by local photographer Liu An-ming (劉安明) in the 1960s, the film reconstructed the scenes of everyday life in the past through the latest virtual reality technology to allow the audience to get a glimpse of the environment, buildings, landforms, natural landscapes at that time.
Dubbed in English in an attempt to present itself on the world stage, the 360-degree video offers a complete immersive experience. The audience only need to wear a VR headset or adjust the viewing angle on YouTube with the touch of a finger to get deeply involved in the scene constructed in the film. With the change of the perspectives in the video, the viewers will have the illusion that they move upward, downward, and forward quickly.
Noting that the Hakka VR film won the prize of Honorable Mention at the Tokyo International Short Film Festival in March, HPCF President Chen said that it’s the foundation’s mission to help the Taiwanese Hakka community garner a greater share of the international spotlight.