Grandpa is looking for his talisman again, the one with a red rope. He listens to his old radio, claiming that he is hearing news about missing people; he hides things away in the attic, and once, on the street, he stares at a woman and her child, and gets lost in the traffic. Nobody knows much about Grandpa Old Chiu’s past, the world that he’s living in right now. A red talisman, some candies, the radio, and a piece of cloth, turn out to be items that bond him with his long-lost mother. Grandpa doesn’t recognize the rest of his family anymore, he’s starting to forget more things, and as his memories fade, that red talisman remains around his neck….

With portrait-like drawings and contrasts of colors, lights and shadows, My Grandpa Old Chiu is a compassionate introduction to displacement and the realities of dementia, a delicate story that recounts the loss of family, trauma from war, and things that are cherished because of the memories. Textures of the cherished items are drawn in detail, thread by thread, facial expressions are amplified by distinct hues of colors, along with a slow-paced, quiet language, the story takes us back to Grandpa Old Chiu’s past that has never been fully recounted.