Scott Weatherall makes Taiwan sound like Casablanca. Or, even better: “Greenwich Village in the ‘60s”.

“The great thing about Taiwan is that there are a lot of people from all over the world who are landing there for all sorts of reasons,” he tells the Straight in a call from Toronto. “I found so many great artists, writers, musicians, painters, photographers—they’re all doing stuff there. It’s good energy. The government is supportive, too.”

The Toronto-raised filmmaker is touring with TAIWANfest, bringing his debut feature, Formosa Boulevard, for a hometown premiere before arriving in Vancouver on Saturday (September 5) for a screening at the Vancity theatre. Then it’s back to Asia where Weatherall envisions bigger things still.

“I planned to stay there for six months and it turned into seven years,” he says with a chuckle. “I love the lifestyle, the weather’s always warm, but then I also saw an opportunity to do film. Not to necessarily get work, but to find my voice, work on writing, and not worry about making tons of money. I could focus more on the art.”

More practically, Weatherall found himself making a series of web ads for local businesses in Taichung and a documentary about the first Chinese team to attempt the 24 hour race at Le Mans. He also held his nose long enough to make a commercial for an oil company and then sunk the money into the three-year project that became Formosa Boulevard.

“My expectations making this movie were very, very low. But as it went on it just got bigger and bigger,” he explains. “My expectations just keep getting surpassed. It was kinda spiralling out of control, but it was also going in a good direction.”

As cheerful as it is violent, Formosa Boulevard concerns an alcoholic-in-exile named Otis, a runaway groom from California, and a bag of money belonging to Taipei’s most ruthless gang boss. Lots of boozing, bowling, and bathroom sex ensue alongside the beatdowns and stabbings.

“I’ve met a lot of people like Otis,” Weatherall remarks. Indeed, a title card claims that Formosa Boulevard is based on a true story. “There’s a lot of truth in it,” he says, maybe a little cagily. “What I say is that the two main characters represent my inner battle. I wanna please people, I wanna make people proud of me, but on the other hand I see myself as a 50-year-old guy in a bar with a great tan but no friends. Which way do I really wanna go?”

The truth is that Weatherall wants to continue making movies, and in Taiwan he sees fertile ground for something situated between micro-budget mumblecore and Roger Corman’s cheap and fast adventures in the Philippines in the '70s. It sounds like Taiwan is game. “You can shoot anywhere you want,” he says, recalling a night of guerilla-style filming in Taipei and the subsequent curiosity of the police. Weatherall told them he had no permit. “’Neat’,” they said. ‘Can we watch?’”