Fifteen bookstores, countless souls hiding between the shelves—this is where Taiwan's heartbeat lives.
Each bookstore forms its own poetic landscape: gentle hands restoring old books, a bookstore owner guiding customers on herbal hikes, an eco-activist protecting mountains through reading, and a woman from a fishing community preserving local memories. Director Hou Chi-jan captures these intimate narratives through lyrical imagery, portraying 15 independent Taiwanese bookstores and preserving fading stories and quiet cultural resilience.
Cinematography
Lyrical long takes that make dust motes look sacred.
Direction
Hou Chi-jan's patient observation reveals entire worlds in stillness.
Director
Hou Chi-jan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Taiwan's independent bookstore movement emerged as political resistance against chain homogenization and mainland cultural influence.
Director Hou Chi-jan previously explored Taiwan's vanishing spaces in feature narratives; this documentary marks his return to roots both literal and cinematic.
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