120 East 65th Street,
New York, NY 10065
Join ZHANG Xu Zhan (ACC 2023) for a screening and creator Q&A of his short film Compund Eyes of Tropical, which qualified for the Oscar animated short film category, at Alisan Fine Arts in New York City.
Compound Eyes of Tropical (‘Animal Story’ series) explores the interplay between local Taiwanese culture and global influences. Inspired by Taiwan’s ‘Yi zhen’ folk dance and Southeast Asian folk tale ‘The Mousedeer Crosses the River’, the animation features a half-mousedeer, half-fox shaman puppet dancer. It weaves similar narratives from various cultures, reflecting on global mobility, identity and connections btween the universal and local. The story, seen through a fly’s compound eyes, traverses interlinked narratives, illustrating how cultural meanings are transported and transform across regions.