At their nearest point, Taiwan and mainland China are less than a hundred miles apart. But historically and politically – for over 70 years – a broad gulf has separated them. In the case of the Kinmen Islands, part of Taiwan, the paradox between geography and history is even more stark: the islands sit but a few miles from the mainland city of Xiamen, in the increasingly fraught waters of the Taiwan Strait.

The opening frames of the Oscar-nominated short film Island in Between, directed by S. Leo Chiang, show an old tank moored on a sandy beach of Kinmen, its rusted barrel aimed out to sea. The image makes for a startling reminder of the uneasy co-existence between the two countries — independent countries, that is, from Taiwan’s point of view; the Chinese government considers Taiwan simply another province of the People’s Republic.

The strait between Kinman Island in Taiwan and mainland China.