In Sun Chieh-heng’s 16-minute Taiwanese short film, adapted from Wu Ming-yi’s The Man with the Compound Eyes, Mayores journeys through a mist-shrouded world where isolation, identity, and the uncertain future of the sea converge.
Words Nanzi Sofia Sernadilla
Photos courtesy of Sun Chieh-heng
November 10, 2026
Filipino actor Jeremy Mayores steps into a world where myth, survival, and the uncertain future of the sea converge in ATILE’I, a 16-minute Taiwanese short film directed by Sun Chieh-heng and adapted from Wu Ming-yi’s acclaimed novel The Man with the Compound Eyes.
The film introduces a mysterious landscape shaped by sea, rain, and fog, where the line between the real and imagined grows uncertain. At the story’s center is Atile’i, a “Second Son” whose journey connects personal isolation with the fate of his island and the ocean surrounding it.
Selected for the Kaohsiung Film Festival’s “Kaohsiung Focus: Next Images” program, ATILE’I brings Mayores into a cross-cultural production that joins Taiwanese filmmaking with Filipino talent. Through its literary source, immersive world, and physically demanding performance, the short film invites viewers to look beyond the horizon and consider the ties between identity, community, and the changing sea.
