Taiwanese Director Debuts Immersive VR Tale of Grief at Venice Market

At Venice’s 13th Production Bridge Gap-Financing Market, Taiwanese animation director Hsin Hsuan Yeh will present “The River Within You,” an immersive VR experience that delves into loss, memory, and letting go. The narrative follows a newly deceased grandmother whose soul is guided by a butterfly toward an ocean of tears, only to be drawn back into a fading realm of shared recollections when her grieving granddaughter’s tear lands on her.

Drawing on a Taiwanese folk notion that a living person’s tears can hinder a soul’s rest, the work asks whether revisiting happy moments can serve as a farewell. Yeh’s personal memories of her own grandmother shape the 30-minute, solo, seated experience, which uses hand-tracking puzzles to let users physically engage with the story. Visuals combine photogrammetry-captured clay models with CGI to retain a handcrafted feel, while producer Hsia Hsien Chao emphasizes the universal resonance of the emotions portrayed.