Singing Chen (born in 1974) is a Taiwanese film director, documentary filmmaker, and music composer. She graduated from Advertising in the Department of Mass Communication at Fu Jen Catholic University in 1997. Her works primarily focus on topics related to humanities and arts and culture, and she uses a magical realism approach to establish her visual style. She has received numerous international and domestic awards nominations for her work.
Career Chen joined Huang Ming-chuan's workshop as an intern in her university time. After procuring short film production subsidy from the Taiwanese government, Chen start her life as a director. Her first 16mm feature film, Bundled, released in 2000, was the winner of Best Drama and Most Promising Director of the Year at Taipei Film Festival, and was nominated for Best New Performer and Best Original Film Song at Golden Horse Award in 2000. In this film, Chen worked as the director, script writer and helped with the film score. The film depicts the lives and psychological states of a group of homeless people. Although their reasons for becoming homeless are different, they all resist the norms of family and society and insist on living on the margins of life. The film won the Best Film award at the Taipei Film Festival in 2000.
In the same year, Chen made Who is Fishing (2000), a documentary that uses a newsreel style with animation and documentary footage to explore various aspects of the Diaoyu Islands dispute.
In 2007, Chen’s feature film God, Man, Dog was selected in The Forum at the Berlin International Film Festival and was invited to more than 30 film festivals, including Busan International Film Festival. The film explores the relationships between class, religion, and people in a consumer society through three different characters and their life stories. The film was selected in The Forum at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award.
In addition to feature films, documentaries, and short films, Chen has also ventured into the VR field. In 2018, she was invited by the Kaohsiung Film Festival VR Film Lab to present her first VR experimental work, Afterimage of Tomorrow. She co-created with choreographer Chou Shu-yi and featured 11 dancers, who used body language to express sensory memories of life that are difficult to describe in words. The 18-minute experimental work explores how VR technology creates overlaps between vision and perception and expresses emotions towards things that are fading away.
In 2021, Chen co-wrote the script of Goddamned ASURA (2021), directed by Lou Yi-An, who was Chen's university classmate. The film was nominated three awards in Golden Horse Award and won the Best Screenplay in Taipei Film Festival. Then, Chen served as the editor, director, producer, and editor for the drama series Heaven on the Fourth Floor. The series received widespread acclaim in Taiwan and was praised for its healing and slow-paced style. At the 57th Golden Bell Awards in 2022, it was nominated for five awards in the drama category, including Best Writing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Program Editing. The female leading actor Hsieh Ying-xuan won Best Actress.
In September 2022, Chen released her second VR short film, The Man Who Couldn’t Leave, which won the Best Experience award in the Venice Immersive Competition section at the 79th Venice Film Festival, which is the highest honor in that section. The film was supported by National Human Rights Museum, integrating the firsthand experiences of many victims of the White Terror era in Taiwan and uses an undelivered letter as its theme to recreate the elegy of the era under authoritarian rule.
As of 2023, Chen is preparing for her fantasy feature, Shu Jen (樹人; Tree Man), which explores ecological and environmental issues. The script has been nominated for the Excellent Screenplay Award at the 40th Golden Harvest Awards.
Filmography +Feature FilmYearChinese titleEnglish titleNoteRef.1995微醺No official English tile, literal meaning: ‘slightly drunk’阿春No official English tile, literal meaning: ‘A-chun’2000我叫阿銘啦Bundled2001空中花園A Garden in the Sky2003終身大事Great Thing in One’s Life2008流浪神狗人God Man Dog2021該死的阿修羅Goddamned ASURAco-wrote the script with Lou Yi-an +DocumentaryYearChinese titleEnglish titleNoteRef.1997李伯大夢No official English tile, literal meaning: ‘uncle Lee’s dream’2000誰來釣魚？Who is Fishing?2008穴居人No official English tile, literal meaning: ‘Men who live in caves’2009如果耳朵有開關Ears Switched off and on2014行者The Walkers 2016山靈Mountain Spirits 2018大帳篷-想像力的避難所The Moving Tent 恍惚與凝視的練習In Trance We Gaze +Short FilmYearChinese titleEnglish titleNote2007水岸麗景Waterfront Villa Bonita2012昨日的記憶：阿霞的掛鐘When Yesterday Comes: The Clock2013台北工廠I：豬Taipei Factory I: The Pig2015好好吃飯A Real Meal來得及說再見Ways into Love +VR FilmYearChinese titleEnglish titleNoteRef.2018留給未來的殘影Afterimage of Tomorrow2022無法離開的人The Man Who Couldn’t Leave +TV seriesYearChinese titleEnglish titleNote2021四樓的天堂Heaven on the 4th Floor
Awards and honors +YearAwardCategoryWorkOutcomeRef.2000Taipei Film FestivalBest Drama BundledMost Promising Director of the Year2007Golden Horse AwardsBest Original ScreenplayGod Man DogBest Film Editing2012Kaohsiung Film FestivalBest Selection for International Short Film CompetitionThe Clock2013Kaohsiung Film FestivalBest Selection for International Short Film CompetitionThe Pig2014Taiwan International Documentary FestivalAudience AwardThe WalkersGolden Horse AwardsBest Documentary2021Golden Horse AwardsBest Original ScreenplayGoddamned ASURA2022Taipei Film FestivalBest ScreenplayBest MusicGolden Bell AwardsBest Editing for a Drama SeriesHeaven on the 4th FloorBest Writing for a Television SeriesVenice Film FestivalBest Experience for Venice Immersive CompetitionThe Man Who Couldn’t Leave2023NewImages FestivalSpecial Cinematographic Distinction
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