2021

Tales of the Rainbow

In the Atayal mythology, the souls of the deceased arrive in Heaven by way of the rainbow, yet only the ones who have the traditional face tattoo would be welcomed by the Ancestral Spirits. Seeing the decline of this Atayal tradition, the filmmaker interviews tattooed tribal elders, capturing their longing for lost family, friends and homelands, as well as their feelings about their impending return to the rainbow.

And Deliver Us from Evil

According to the Tao people’s traditional beliefs, illness was a sign of supernatural possession by evil spirits. Many patients thus became isolated, unable to receive any medical care. A native of the Orchid Island (Lanyu) where she worked as a nurse, the filmmaker initiated a program in 1997, recruiting some 40 volunteers to visit and care for homebound elderly patients against considerable social pressure. This documentary captures the powerful dilemma when traditional values clash with compassion.

Solidarity

Combining political awareness, a unique aesthetics, and a sense of humour, Solidarity is a film on the strike at the Dare Cookie factory in the early 1970s, with an organiser's speech on the labour situation serving as the soundtrack. Hundreds of feet and legs are seen marching and picketing, with the word 'solidarity' superimposed on the screen.

A Mu Yi

The film follows the story of A Mu Yi, who grew up in an indigenous community in Tai'an Township, Miaoli. She was arranged by her parents to marry a man twenty years older when she was just fourteen. For years, she suffered from domestic violence and alcohol addiction, eventually fleeing back to her hometown. Armoured with her faith, A Mu Yi rediscovered her inner strength to walk out of the darkness and began to help more indigenous women falling to similar fates.

The Mysterious Lanyu

In the 1970s, the wave of modernisation hit the Orchid Island (Lanyu). Warship Rock, Double Lion Rock, Lover’s Cave, the wisely and artistically designed tatala (traditional fishing boat), along with the Tao people’s amazing fishing skills were well-known by the public through the growing tourism, yet the small island of Lanyu and Tao people’s indigenous ways of life still remained a ‘spectacle’. When the documentary film crew arrived with curiosity and good intentions, what stories would they tell together?

The Homecoming Pilgrimage of Dajia Mazu (Digital Restoration)

The first episode of Fragrant Formosa takes viewers through one of the most famous annual religious events in Taiwan. Believers used to spend eight days accompanying the sea goddess Mazu from Dajia (of Taichung City) to Beigang (of Yunlin County) on foot, before escorting her back to Dajia with rituals and celebrations. In this digitally restored version, the film is reunited with its original audio track in Taiwanese, which was banned on release due to the KMT government's Mandarin policy.

Too Young

An indigenous couple married young with a child when they were only 16 and 19 years old. The financial burden and challenges in life were so heavy for them that quarrels were unavoidable. As their former elementary school teacher, the filmmaker recorded the young couple’s daily life, while trying to give them a hand in their time of need.

The Kavalan: Past and Present

In the 1920s, a Kavalan family took refuge in Hualien. 70 years later, the filmmaker, a third-generation member of the family, embarked on a self-searching journey to recover his lost identity, producing the first documentary ever made by a Pingpu descendant. Through depiction of traditional Kavalan ceremonies and collective memories, the film asks us to recognise Pingpu peoples’ place in Taiwanese history, as well as their suffering and feelings of inferiority during years of forced migration.

The Forgotten Hunting Dance

In a Truku community in Hualien, students of a local elementary school were rehearsing for the upcoming sports day. The most challenging show––the 'Hunting Dance'––fell on the shoulders of grade one and grade two students. The ancient tunes and dance moves were passed down from elderly women of the community. Filmmaker and school teacher YANG Ming-hui (Umin Howa) captured the practices along with his regrets at how many of the Truku traditions were being forgotten.

Dripping Water

'I can imagine only St. Francis looking at a water plate and water dripping so lovingly, so respectfully, so serenely. [WIELAND's then-husband Michael] SNOW and WIELAND's film uplifts the object, and leaves the viewer with a finer attitude toward the world around [them].' – Jonas MEKAS, New York Times, 1969

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