Hu Tai-li (1950-2022) was a pioneering Taiwanese visual ethnographer, anthropologist, filmmaker, writer, and curator. A Distinguished Research Fellow and former Director at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Ethnology, she founded the Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival (TIEFF). Her award-winning documentaries employ multisensory strategies to interrogate ethnographic traditions and power relations, examining ethnic identities and the gendered lived experiences of rural, veteran, and Indigenous communities amid social change.
Songs of Pasta'ay
Songs of Pasta'ay
Songs of Pasta'ay
Synopsis
This film focuses on the 'Pasta'ay', a biennial ritual in the Saisiat people, highlighting the 1986 Great Ritual. It explores the Saisiat people's belief in legendary beings, their ambivalence toward tourism, and the clash between tradition and modernisation. Organised by Pasta'ay songs, the film depicts the dichotomy between 'the real' and 'the artificial.'
'In fact, the significance of the Pasta'ay cannot yet be fully grasped and my exploration is just a beginning. My perspective will probably be changed if more research is done. All I wanted was to capture Sai-hsia people's emotions and expressions and leave the audience more space for imagination.' * - HU Tai-li
(*Excerpt from the article "The Projection of Ethnographical Film: Visual Anthropology in Taiwan" by Hu, in The Review of Ethnography, Academia Sinica. Vol. 71, 1991.)
Festivals & Awards
1990 RAI Film Festival
1990 Gold Special Jury Award, Houston IFF
Director's Profile
HU Tai-li
Filmography
1984 The Return of Gods and Ancestors: Paiwan Five Year Ceremony
1988 Songs of Pasta'ay
1993 Voices of Orchid Island
1997 Passing Through My Mother-in-law's Village
2000 Sounds of Love and Sorrow
2003 Encountering Jean Rouch
2004 Stone Dream
2006 After Passing
2012 Returning Souls
2020 Dear Masks
Director's Profile
LEE Daw-ming
Educated at National Taiwan University and Temple University (MFA), Lee Daw-ming (b. 1953) is a Taiwanese filmmaker, scholar, and educator whose work spans documentary, fiction, animation, and television. His award-winning films bear witness to Taiwan’s ethnic communities and social transformations before and after martial law. A longtime advocate of documentary research and education, he received the TIDF Outstanding Contribution Award in 2022.
Filmography
1982 Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?
1982 In the Beginning
1983 Ayako and Joe
1984 Growing Up in the Promised Land
1984
1986 Beyond the Killing Fields: Refugees on the Thai-Cambodian Border
1988 The Suona Player
1988 Songs of Pasta'ay
1990 Beyond the Anti-DuPont Movement: Portraits of Some Social Activists
1991 Voice of the People
1993 The Austronesian Peoples of Taiwan
1994 Sakuliu
1994 《永遠的部落：雲豹民族的故鄉》
1995 《中國人的天文觀念與水運儀象臺》
1997 《小陶壺森林奇遇記》
1997 《尋根溯源話南島》
1997 《臺灣史前文化尋根之旅》
1997 Songs of the Mountain, Dances of the Ocean: Music and Dance of the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan
1999 The Last Chieftain
1999 Tamsui River
2000 「人民的聲音」系列
2000 《臺灣原住民從那裡來？》
2001 Tsuenu, the Way
2001 《亞洲放逐：拿生命搏一個未來》
2002 Rebuilding the Kuba: Tufuya
2002 Rebuilding the Kuba: Tapangu
2002 《文化南島之旅：臺灣原住民的文化與藝術》
2003 Shattered Dreams
Credit
Cinematographer｜CHANG Chao-tang
Sound｜LEE Daw-ming, JIANG Guan-ming
Editor｜LEE Daw-ming, HU Tai-li
Print Source
Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica｜ipttdir@gate.sinica.edu.tw