Thank you to the Taiwan Ministry of Culture and the Taiwan Academy in Houston for making it possible for attendees to virtually cruise in a gay Taiwanese sauna from the comfort of home.

This short film is the secondary part of the in-person Spicy Sauna VR Activation, preceded by IN THE MIST. KISS was created in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspiring director Chou to make this experimental film influenced by the isolation of quarantining.

It is available to watch from June 24-28 virtually.

KISS / 霧中 dir. CHOU Tung-Yen / 周東彥

Taiwan | Experimental narrative w/ no dialogue and subtitles | 12 min

In the aftermath of never-ending disasters and epidemics, fewer and fewer people are still surviving. They said the apocalypse has come. 

K walks alone in the long-abandoned gay sauna. Human body contact has become an anecdote of the last century. The decadent and damp smell permeates, and only an old tree seems to have taken root here, stretching its withered branch, seemingly longing for something.

Dir. CHOU Tung-Yen uses a sci-fi fantasy to recount the loneliness of modern people trapped in times of epidemics and isolation and depicts the longings for others’ touches and the endless search for self in a near-future scenario.

Festivals & Awards:

2021 台灣 高雄電影節

2022 美國 舊金山同志影展

2022 比利時 安特衛普酷兒藝術節

2022 美國 西雅圖酷兒影展

2022 香港 InDPanda 熊貓國際電影節

2022 美國 印第安納波利斯同志影展

2022 巴西 MixBrasil同志影展

2022 澳洲 墨爾本酷兒影展

2023 加拿大 多倫多酷兒影展

2021 Taiwan - Kaohsiung Film Festival

2022 United States - Frameline Film Festival

2022 Belgium - Antwerp Queer Arts Festival

2022 United States - Seattle Queer Film Festival

2022 Hong Kong - InDPanda International Film Festival

2022 United States - Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival

2022 Brazil - MixBrasil LGBT Film Festival

2022 Australia - Melbourne Queer Film Festival

2023 Canada - Toronto Queer Film Festival