Hou Chi-jan
Hou CHI-JAN (Taiwan) is a director and writer whose work is often lyrical and experimental, exploring themes of time and memory. His first short Stardust 15749001 (2003) won first prize at the Taipei Film Festival. His documentary Taiwan Black Movies (2005) was selected for IFFR 2006 and the Tokyo International Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary. In 2009, his script for When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep won the top prize in the Taipei Film Commission’s first screenwriting competition. His latest documentary, Poetries from the Bookstores: Somewhere I Belong (2025), continues his series on Taiwan’s bookstores and premieres at IFFR 2026.
Filmography
Stardust 15749001 (2003, short), My 747 (2005, short), Taiwan Black Movies (2005, doc), Shopping Cart Boy (2007, short), Upper (2008), One Day (2010), When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep (2012), Poetries from the Bookstores (2014, doc), Thriller (2014, short), Rose Boy (2015, doc), Forty Years (2016, doc), Poetries from the Bookstores (2025, doc)
Hou Chi-jan at IFFR
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Poetries from the Bookstores: Somewhere I Belong
Hou Chi-jan | 90' | Taiwan | European premiere
Little wonders and surprising stories come alive in this warm portrait of Taiwan’s independent bookstores. -
Taiwan Black Movies
Hou Chi-jan | 60' | Taiwan | European première
A prickling documentary that brings back to life a Taiwanese film genre that was given up for dead. In a time of strict political censorship,…