Time Splits in the River is a collaborative movie project created by four artists and four families. The conception of the project originated from the artists’ involvement in a social movement. While taking part in Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement, the four artists realized that their families are quite hesitant about today’s social movements despite them being in agreement with Taiwan’s modern democratic progress. Furthermore, although their parents grew up in the 1980s when social movements flourished, they had never participated in any. The four artists then decided to use filmmaking to trace back to this period in time with their families and to use the opportunity to communicate with each other. They have created a screenplay by adapting a novel by writer and political prisoner SHIH Ming-Cheng, with dissidents from the martial law period portrayed by members of their families. As the plot advances, their families also begin to slowly become entangled in their own past, with the film capturing the recollection and introspection of their own lives. The process of the families’ interactions is then ultimately presented in the film.

The project employs film as a communication platform to subvert relations in life and to spark dialogues that have been avoided in the past amongst the artists’ families. On the one hand, through reenacting these social minority’s experiences, the film reintroduces conversations between the social majority and dissidents; on the other hand, it exposes the impossibility of internal family communication.

《錢江衍派》是一項由四名藝術家與四個家庭共同合作的電影計畫，這項計畫的發想源自於參與社會運動的經驗。四名藝術家在參與太陽花運動的過程中發現，家人雖然都肯定近代民主政治的發展，卻對於當今的社會運動有著諸多疑慮 ; 此外，即便父母成長於社運蓬勃發展的80年代，當年卻也都不曾親身參與其中。四名藝術家決定透過「拍電影」來和家人一同追溯這段過往，並藉此溝通彼此不同的想法，他們將監獄文學作家施明正的小說和生命經驗改編為劇本，而家人們則在片中飾演戒嚴時期的異議份子 ; 然而，家人們卻在電影的拍攝過程中漸漸地進入了自己的回憶，成了各自生命故事的回顧與反思，最後的電影則呈現了這段家人之間互動的過程。

這項計畫將電影作為翻轉現實關係的溝通平台，藉此在家庭內打開過往被閉鎖的話語。一方面，嘗試在「少數經驗」的重演中，重啟社會多數人與異己間的協商 ; 另一方面，則面對了家庭內部溝通的不可能性。

LIAO Xuan-Zhen, HUANG I-Chieh, LEE Chia-Hung, WANG Yu-Ping hold a BFA from Taipei National University of the Arts. Their art practice cross various media, including video, performance, installation and documentary. They have extensively exhibited at TheCube Project Space, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo, Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Fotoaura Institute of Photography, Absolute Space for the Arts, and Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts. Their works have been featured in the Taiwan International Documentary Festival, the Marseille International Film Festival, the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Chiayi International Art Doc Festival, and South Taiwan Film Festival. They are the finalist for the The 15th Taishin Arts Award (2017) and the Grand Prize recipient in the Taoyuan Contemporary Art Award (2016).

LIAO Xuan-Zhen, HUANG I-Chieh, LEE Chia-Hung, WANG Yu-Ping hold a BFA from Taipei National University of the Arts. Their art practice cross various media, including video, performance, installation and documentary. They have extensively exhibited at TheCube Project Space, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo, Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Fotoaura Institute of Photography, Absolute Space for the Arts, and Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts. Their works have been featured in the Taiwan International Documentary Festival, the Marseille International Film Festival, the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Chiayi International Art Doc Festival, and South Taiwan Film Festival. They are the finalist for the The 15th Taishin Arts Award (2017) and the Grand Prize recipient in the Taoyuan Contemporary Art Award (2016).