Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus

A Holy Family

Year
2022
Country
Taiwan, France
Duration
88’
Director
Elvis A-Liang Lu

After 24 years of absence, director A-Liang Elvis Lu returns home to his family in a rural area of southwestern Taiwan. His elder brother is a psychic who communicates career advice from Taoist deities to the villagers but repeatedly fails in his own entrepreneurial ventures in agriculture. Their father, an underground lottery gambler, reads everything as a sign of lucky numbers. What holds the indebted family together is the mother, who, embittered in mind and increasingly enfeebled, finds her only consolation in their Taoist altar at home and the continuous stream of religious rituals performed there.


The previously estranged family, where love and grudges always intertwine and interchangeably surface, slowly moves closer together through A-Liang’s lens. It is an intimate journey of homecoming, a portrait of rekindled family bonding despite differences in religious beliefs, and an unflinching tale of self-discovery through filmmaking.

CREW:
Director: Elvis A-Liang Lu
Producer: Stefano Centini (Volos Films, Taiwan) — producer; Jean-Laurent Csinidis (Films de Force Majeure, France) — co-producer
Cinematographer: CK Chen, Wen-Chin Chou, Elvis A-Liang Lu
Sound: Damien Guillame, Gilles Benardeau, Wu Yu-Hsien
Production
Volos Films in co-production with Films de Force Majeure
Sales:
Film Harbour
Awards
Best Edit, Best Documentary, Audience Choice Award and the Grand Prize of the Festival at Taipei IFF 2022, Taiwan, Prix Ciné+ at Fipadoc Biarritz 2023, France
Director
Elvis A-Liang Lu

Elvis A-Liang Lu was born in 1976 in Minxiong (Chiayi County, Taiwan). He is a Taiwanese documentary director. After graduating from the National Taiwan University of the Arts (NTUA), he worked as a director and cameraman on several commercial and independent Taiwanese documentaries. In 2017 he released his first feature-length documentary, The Shepherds, revolving around the story of Taiwan’s first LGBT-friendly church. The film competed in the documentary section of the Taipei International Film Festival and was shown at the Sydney World Film Festival and the Czech Euro Kino Independent Film Festival. It was also selected as the closing film for Taiwan’s first Queer Film Festival. A Holy Family is his second feature documentary.

Selected Filmography
The Shepherds (2017)
Hall «KINOMAN»
Zhovten cinema
Kostiantynivska St, 26
Q&A
Original language with Ukrainian and English subtitles
By tickets
Adapted subtitles
Saturday
01 June 2024
15:10
Hall «ANSHLAG»
Zhovten cinema
Kostiantynivska St, 26
Original language with Ukrainian and English subtitles
By tickets
Adapted subtitles
Monday
03 June 2024
16:00
22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
The Catch
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
The Catch
Year
2021
Country
Taiwan, Japan, South Korea
Director
Hsu Che-Chia
Duration
60’
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
In Their Teens
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
In Their Teens
Year
2021
Country
Taiwan
Director
Yu-En LIN
Duration
40’
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
Taste of Wild Tomato
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
Taste of Wild Tomato
Year
2021
Country
Taiwan
Director
LAU Kek-Huat
Duration
123’
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
And Miles to Go Before I Sleep
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
And Miles to Go Before I Sleep
Year
2022
Country
Taiwan
Director
Tsai Tsung-Lung
Duration
90’
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
A Performance in the Church
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus
A Performance in the Church
Year
2024
Country
Taiwan
Director
HSU Chia-wei
Duration
78’
Prism of Society: Taiwanese Documentaries in Focus