A talk about VR film "The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters" by Wu Ming-Yi (Writer) and Singing Chen (Director).
Monday, March 9, 2026
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Bunche Hall 10383
Internationally acclaimed for The Man with the Compound Eyes and The Stolen Bicycle, Professor Wu Ming-Yi’s novels are celebrated globally for their profound literary and ecological depth. This creative vision recently expanded into new media with the VR film The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters. Directed by Singing Chen and adapted from Wu’s work, the film received prestigious recognition at the 2025 Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia), illustrating the transformative power of eco-literature in the digital age. This conversation explores the nuances of "visual translation," employing a comparative literature lens to examine how Wu’s narratives transcend media and underscore his global significance.
Film Synopsis
After his wife’s tragic death, Guan receives her unfinished novel—a story intertwining the endangered clouded leopard and the Rukai tribe’s sacred origin myth. Driven by grief and curiosity, he embarks on a surreal journey into the mountains and her subconscious, guided by her words and the ancestral echoes of the forest, in search of answers, healing, and connection.
Adapted by a story from acclaimed Taiwanese author Wu Ming-Yi, The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up is a single-user, free-roaming VR experience where the boundaries between memory, reality, and myth dissolve.
Singing Chen (陳芯宜) is a multidisciplinary filmmaker whose work spans fiction, documentary, and virtual reality. Her debut feature Bundled (2000) was selected for competition at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and God, Man, Dog (2007) screened at the Berlinale, VIFF, Hong Kong, Busan, and other major festivals. Her documentaries often explore artistic practices and environmental issues, while her VR works investigate space, movement, and memory through immersive storytelling.
Her acclaimed VR experience The Man Who Couldn't Leave (2022) won the “Best Immersive Experience” Prize at the Venice Immersive Competition of the 79th Venice International Film Festival, and she went on to serve as President of the Jury for the 80th edition. Her latest VR work, The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up (2025), received the Venice Immersive Grand Prize at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.
Wu Ming-Yi (吳明益) is a multidisciplinary Taiwanese artist, author, Professor of Sinophone literature at National Dong Hwa University and environmental activist. His ecological parable《複眼人》The Man with the Compound Eyes (2011) was published in English in 2013. His 2015 book《單車失竊記》The Stolen Bicycle has been described as a study of bicycles in Taiwan during World War II. An English translation was published in 2017, and in March 2018 the book was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize.
The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up
Production Country｜Taiwan, Germany
Year｜2025
Runtime｜5062 mins
Format｜6dof VR / Free-roaming (Single User)
Language｜English, Mandarin
Logline｜Guided by fragments of a lost voice, a man journeys through memory and myth to find what was left unsaid.
🏆 Award & Festival Selections
2026
● SXSW Festival - XR Experience Spotlight - Official Selection (North America Premiere / USA)
2025
● 82nd Venice International Film Festival - Venice Immersive Competition “Grand Prize” (World Premiere / Italy)
● Kaohsiung Film Festival - International XR Competition, “Golden Fireball Award” (Asia Premiere / Taiwan)
Sponsor(s): Center for Chinese Studies, Taiwan Academy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles