China, Taiwan, And The ‘Island In Between’: Perilous Outpost Explored In Oscar-Nominated Short
deadline.comAt their nearest point, Taiwan and mainland China are less than a hundred miles apart. But historically and politically – for over 70 years – a broad gulf has separated them.
In the case of the Kinmen Islands, part of Taiwan, the paradox between geography and history is even more stark: the islands sit but a few miles from the mainland city of Xiamen, in the increasingly fraught waters of the Taiwan Strait.
The opening frames of the Oscar-nominated short film Island in Between, directed by S. Leo Chiang, show an old tank moored on a sandy beach of Kinmen, its rusted barrel aimed out to sea.
The image makes for a startling reminder of the uneasy co-existence between the two countries — independent countries, that is, from Taiwan’s point of view; the Chinese government considers Taiwan simply another province of the People’s Republic. “Growing up in Taiwan, I heard a lot about Kinmen,” Chiang says in voiceover. “I knew that Kinmen had been the frontline for Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War.
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