INVISIBILE NATION: A Film Review
by Karen Pecota

Vanessa Hope | USA | Taiwan | 2023

Filmmaker Vanessa Hope is drawn to showcase the story of Taiwan’s sitting head of state, Tsai Ing-wen, in her documentary INVISIBLE NATION. Ing-wen strategically fights for the future of her nation with a heart of love for her people. The audience will see that Ing-wen is a visionary. This term has been defined as a combination of “a deep dissatisfaction with what is and a clear understanding of what could be.” When one has a vision, they believe that “It’s not over.” This vision illuminates hope.

As the first female president of Taiwan, Ing-wen, has a variety of hurdles to overcome. Vanessa investigates the election process of Ing-wen’s job, as well as the tightrope on which she walks. Hanging in the balance is the longing for her country to exist without fear, while such superpowers like the U.S. and China hover over them, while the Taiwanese are defining their place in their world, their freedoms, and their international relations.

Vanessa follows Ing-wen while at work and home, observing the ways in which she strives to protect her country and its citizens in order to live in peace and freedom and exercise their right to self-govern according to their way of life and culture. Ing-wen is in the right place, at the right time, to lead her people with integrity to be a nation that has the right to be visible.