Formosa Betrayed | |
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Directed by | Adam Kane |
Produced by |
Will Tiao Adam Kane David Cluck |
Written by | Will Tiao Katie Swain Charlie Stratton Yann Samuell Brian Askew Nathaniel Goodman |
Starring |
James Van Der Beek Wendy Crewson John Heard Will Tiao Tzi Ma Leslie Hope Kenneth Tsang |
Music by | Jeff Danna |
Cinematography | Irek Hartowicz |
Edited by | Howard E. Smith |
Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $6 million |
Formosa Betrayed is a 2009 American political thriller film directed by Adam Kane, written by Charlie Stratton, Yann Samuell, Brian Askew, and Nathaniel Goodman, with a story by Will Tiao and Katie Swain, and starring James Van Der Beek. Set in Chicago and Taiwan in the 1980s, the story follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent investigating the murder of a Taiwanese professor at a Midwestern college. The search for the killers takes the agent to Taiwan, where he discovers there is more involved in this murder than he ever anticipated. Although Formosa Betrayed has been regarded as a "pan-green movie", its writers say they did not take sides over the Pan-Blue/Pan-Green political divide.
Formosa Betrayed opened in four cities the weekend of February 28, 2010: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. Eventually, it was released in 20-25 cities across North America. It is now available in over 40 countries around the world.
Inspired by two actual events, one surrounding the death of Professor Chen Wen-chen () of Carnegie Mellon University in 1981, and the other the 1984 assassination of journalist Henry Liu in California by Chen Chi-li and his fellow Bamboo Union members, Formosa Betrayed is the story of FBI Agent Jake Kelly's (James Van Der Beek) investigation of the murder of Henry Wen (Joseph Foronda), a Taiwanese professor in Chicago. With the help of his partner Tom Braxton (John Heard) and a sharp Chicago police detective (Leslie Hope), Agent Kelly discovers that the murderers have fled to Taipei, capital of Republic of China (Taiwan).