Official selection
Singapore International Film Festival 2022
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023
CinemaAsia 2023
Udine Far East Film Festival Competition 2023
New York Asian Film Festival 2023
Director
Tseng Ying-Ting
Executive Producer
Ning CHANG, Tsai-Yang TANG
Writer
Lin Pin-Chun, Hsu Shih-Hui, Yang Yi-Chien, Tseng Ying-Ting
Cast
Janine Chang, Ethan Juan
Cinematographer
Chen-Wei LIU, Stanley LIU
Sound Designer
R.T KAO
Composer
Wan-Qian YANG
Editor
Chun Hong LEE, Ching-Song LIAO
contact
Renaissance Films Limited
It’s New Year’s Eve. Illuminated by a deluge of fireworks, a grieving Wu Jie (Janine Chang) sits alone in her car, holding a gun to her chin. But before she can bring herself to pull the trigger, a scream tears through the night… and her detective instinct kicks in. A woman has been murdered — her heart and a finger missing — and it’s soon discovered that she’s not the first, nor the last, of a string of foreign workers whose mutilated bodies are found in desolate places around the city. Driven by a dutiful urge to bring justice to those nameless women, Wu Jie chooses to push aside her own inner demons and sets off on the killer’s trail with the help of her newly appointed rookie partner (Chloe Xiang). Along the way, they meet You-Sheng (Ethan Juan), a man torn between the need to protect his job as an illicit employment broker and a desperation to find his missing girlfriend… Could he possibly be involved with the killings?
Fans of emotional neo-noir dramas like Bong Joon-ho’s MEMORIES OF MURDER, or atmospheric police procedural series such as TRUE DETECTIVE and MARE OF EASTTOWN, will find familiar thrills in THE ABANDONED’s riveting narrative. Co-written and directed by decorated filmmaker Tseng Ying-Ting, this slow-burn mystery uncovers a pernicious truth about Taiwan’s considerable Southeast Asian migrant worker population. Historically marginalized and even demonized despite their crucial contributions to the country’s economy and social fabric, these men and women (an estimated 50,000 of which are undocumented) consequently became easy victims to predators and exploiters of all kinds. Through the eyes of its beautifully complex protagonist, THE ABANDONED provides insight on this tragic human issue, while also weaving a powerful ode to courage and empathy. – Alyssia Duval-Nguon