Gui Zhou (Stories of the Return)

American film director Yu Ge travels to Taipei, Taiwan, to shoot a script that her mother was never able to complete before her passing, in hopes of gaining a better understanding of her mother’s homeland and heritage. Two stories of searching are told in parallel—the present-day story of a director and the film within her film, set during the 1980s Taiwan economic boom. As generational, cultural, and geographical gaps are tested, Yu Ge’s tenuous relationships with her actors and her late mother are pushed to the brink.

Written and shot in Taipei, Taiwan in the summer of 2024. GuiZhou is a project that has been greatly supported by the University of Virginia, having received three significant grants: the University Undergraduate Award for Arts Project, the Miller Arts Rising 4th Year Award, and the Echols Ingrassia Research Fund.