A scene from "Formosa Betrayed."

A new movie in limited release — and opening today locally at the Showcase Cinemas — has some deep roots in Ann Arbor.

“Formosa Betrayed” stars James Van Der Beek as an FBI agent investigating the muder of a Taiwanese-American professor. As the film’s publicity material describes it, “Agent Kelly follows the fleeing killers to Taiwan, where he finds himself on a collision course with the FBI, the State Department, the Chinese Mafia, and the Government of the Republic of China — in a land where the truth is not what it seems and the only people he can trust, cannot be trusted at all.”

The movie was partly inspired by the case of Wen-cheng Chen, a pro-Taiwanese activist in the U.S. who was killed during a visit to Taiwan in 1981 after being apprehended by authorities. An assistant professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, Wen-cheng Chen was a graduate of the University of Michigan, and protests against his death took place in Ann Arbor.

In addition, Will Tiao — the actor, writer and producer who initiated the “Formosa Betrayed” project — attended U-M himself, pursuing a double major in international politics and cello performance. Will Tiao will be in the area on Sunday and will speak at a Q-and-A session following the 7:05 p.m. screening of the movie on Sunday at Showcase. The theater is located at 4100 Carpenter Road, south of Ellsworth.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, critic John Anderson said “Formosa Betrayed” “is a sturdy entry in the paranoid-thriller genre, and raises some interesting issues.”

Watch a trailer for “Formosa Betrayed”: