Director: Kuo Liang-yin
Searching for the Zero Fighters documents a little-known chapter of taiwan history, particularly the psychological landscape of postwar Taiwan and the Japanese aircraft left behind on the island after World War II. Through ordinary people’s memories of the Zero fighter planes and the director’s own family footage, the film explores the turbulent period between the end of Japanese colonial rule and the takeover of Taiwan by the Nationalist government. It is the first Taiwanese documentary to examine how Japanese military aircraft were repurposed into everyday household items, and the first historical film to explore why, after the war, many Taiwanese people feared speaking openly about their memories.