White Ant (白蟻)
Country Taiwan
Year 2016
Genre Drama
Format Color/ Scope / DCP
Runtime 95 min
Status Completed
Release Date Mar. 17, 2017 (Taiwan)
Director CHU Hsien-Che
Cast WU Kang-Jen, Aviis ZHONG, YU Tai-Yan
Festivals & Awards
53rd Golden Horse Awards –Best New Director Nomination
21st Busan International Film Festival – FIPRESCI Award
2017 Taipei Film Awards – Best Actor Award
41st Hong Kong International Film Festival – Indie Power
27th Singapore International Film Festival – Silver Screen Awards Asian Feature Film Competition
1st Malaysia Golden Global Awards – Best Film, Best New Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay Nominations
20st Shanghai International Film Festival –Taiwan Section
Trailer
Synopsis
Seemingly an ordinary youth from the outside, White Ant is in fact an underwear fetishist who cannot hold back from sneaking out and stealing female lingerie. One day, he receives a DVD containing footage of him stealing female underwear, shattering both his life and sense. While his fear of exposure eventually leads him to inevitable doom, it turns out that people around him also suffer from their dark side, which is like a gnawing “White Ant” within, and the turning point of their intertwined fate has secretly approached…
Director’s Statement
While we face changes of interpersonal relationships and our desire evolves within, fear gradually accumulates, gnawing our mind away like a white ant. Sometimes, it eventually transforms our desire; at other times, it releases itself as anger toward others. But in the end, most of us still choose to leave countless lies behind, struggling to live on under the norm of collective consciousness silently.
Crew
Director & Writer / CHU Hsien-Che
CHU Hsien-Che has worked as a documentary director for more than 20 years. His documentaries have won major awards from home and abroad. Among his acclaimed works is West Island, which was shown at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2001. That same year, West Island and Pick of the Litter-Stray Dogs in Taiwan were nominated at the Best Documentary section at the Golden Horse Film Festival. Pick of the Litter-Stray Dogs in Taiwan won the Best Documentary at the Golden Horse Film Festival, and was selected at the Busan International Film Festival. White Ant is his directorial feature film debut.
Filmography
2007 An Exposure of Affected Hospital (Documentary)
2001 Pick Of The Litter-stray dogs in Taiwan (Documentary)
2000 West Island (Documentary)
Cast
Wu Kang-Jen as Bai Yide (White Ant)
Wu enjoyed great success in TV dramas. In 2013, he garnered Best Actor at the Asian Television Award for his performance in Emerging Light, and was awarded Best Supporting Actor for the role he played in Wake Up at the Golden Bell Awards in 2015. Wu also won positive reviews for his acting in feature films including Miao Miao, Blowfish and The Bride.
Filmography
2015 The Bride
2011 Blowfish
2008 Miao Miao
2010 When Love Comes
Aviis ZHONG as Tang Junhong
Born in 1986, Zhong made a move from her modeling career to the TV and film industries, starring in Jay Chou’s acclaimed feature Secret in 2007. She played the lead actress in Hexagram 47-Aground, the closing film for the Urban Nomad Film Festival 2016.
Filmography
2016 Hexagram 47-Aground
2012 Ripples of Desire
2007 Secret
YU Tai-Yan as Ms. Lan, mother of White Ant
Yu is known as a famous singer in the Chinese-speaking region since the 1980s. She started her acting career since 2007, playing in television series and films including Yang Yang, Viva Baseball and Ameera.
Filmography
2014 Ameera
2012 Viva Baseball
2009 Yang Yan
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