Bridging the Strait tells the story of ten Chinese and Taiwanese students who participated in a workshop from 2009 to 2010. This workshop, called “Cross-Strait Dialogue on Cinema” (Dialogue sino-taïwanais autour du cinema), was organized by Samia Ferhat as part of her research activities within the Centre for Studies on Modern and Contemporary China (EHESS – UMR 8173). The workshop’s goal was to initiate a dialogue between young people from two societies separated by decades of political antagonism and threatened by the risk of military escalation. After 6 months of meetings and discussions, the students wished to continue their exchange by producing a documentary, which allowed them to present this exercise in dialogue, and to continue their debate.

This film reviews the history of the relations between China and Taiwan, by means of archive images and original illustrations, while also allowing the students to voice, openly and without taboo, the problems of identity, politics and memory inherent in the dynamics of these relations. It also raises the question of the efficiency of dialogue, which can create a common space for exchange and interaction, despite often involving misunderstandings and tensions.