Country / Region | Taiwan
Year |  2025
Format  | DCP
Length  |  90 min
Rating | 0+ 

Synopsis

Poetries from the Bookstores - Somewhere I Belong captures, through its lens, the enduring charm of Taiwan’s old bookstores and the vibrant diversity of a new generation of bookstores and their visions for living. From urban street corners to remote mountains and coastlines, these independently run bookstores are more than places that sell books — they are spaces for cultural exchange, social dialogue, and spiritual refuge. Each bookstore is like a parallel universe, where time softens, inviting visitors to pause and rediscover themselves. As the world accelerates forward, bookstores choose to exist with slow, steadfast grace. This film contemplates, through a poetic perspective, the profound connection between books and people, bookstores and everyday life. Through the stories of bookstore owners and readers, we witness how books continue to shine in the digital age, how bookstores gently resist forgetting and loneliness, and how reading and ways of living become a response to a fast-changing world — a path back to inner freedom and peace.

Director

HOU Chi-jan

Producer

inch LIN

Production Company

Dreamland Image

HOU CHI JAN is a film director and screenwriter based in Taipei, his works are known for its poetic quality with the recurrent themes of time and memory.
HOU made his firs documentary short, My 747, in 2004. It won Asian New Force Grand Prix at IFVA, Hong Kong. His feature debut, One Day, premiered at the 2010 Berlinale Forum. Ode to Time, Hou’s latest feature documentary, competed in the Asian Future at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival.