In 1915, Bronislaw Malinowski set out to document the ‘exotic’ practices of a small group of islanders off the coast of Papua New Guinea. With extensive data on sex, magic and spirits of the dead, his work would set the stage for anthropologists for decades to come and bring him fame as one of the founding fathers of anthropology. Four…
Scars on Memory is Taiwanese queer documantarian Mickey Chen’s soothing and melancholy epilogue to his queer trilogy, which includes the famous Boys for Beauty (1999) and the controversial documentary on lesbian relationships Memorandum on Happiness(2003).
In Scars on Memory, Mickey Chen parallels and interweaves two gay love stories in a pretty diaspora and literaryway. Continuing his thematic focus on constructing…
Seasons of Migration is a dance about culture shock, and the film combines the performance with the choreographer’s and dancer’s commentary, and stories of the troubles and triumphs of Cambodians who emigrated to Long Beach, California. Sophiline Cheam Shapiro grew up in Pol Pot’s camps; as a teenager she trained as a Cambodian classical dancer, later emigrating to the United…
The field of anthropology goes under the magnifying glass in this fiery investigation of the seminal research on Yanomamö Indians. In the 1960s and ’70s, a steady stream of anthropologists filed into the Amazon Basin to observe this “virgin” society untouched by modern life. Thirty years later, the events surrounding this infiltration have become a scandalous tale of academic ethics…
For the ALS patients, the internet is the best tool to extend their mind and body. Right now, Hsieh Shih-yu lives at the Motor Neuron Disease Center. Although he cannot move and speak, Hsieh Shih-yu can communicate with his son who studies in the United States via e-mail and webcam. Mr. and Mrs. Hsieh have created an incredibly well-communicated and…
This documentary is about a rural family with two teenage children, whose eldest child helps them a lot in life, but continues to face difficulties and obstacles…..
There are more than 150,000 migrant workers from Thailand legally hired in Taiwan. To these migrant workers, working abroad in Taiwan is a risky gamble. If things go well, they can pay back large amounts of brokerage fees and earn some money to support their families.
The three Thai workers from northeastern Thailand in this film, however, weren’t so lucky.…
Qiu-yan lives in Tainan Guantian Village’s Fanzaitian town. Alizu is a spirit of that place. Qiu-yan must watch over of a whole family’s livelihood, while Alizu must protect the whole settlement’s peace and prosperity.
Qiu-yan complains that she was never able to study enough as her marriage was determined by Alizu at the age of eight, and marrying very early…
The protagonist of this film, Shei-Ting, is a Hakka woman from Songkou Township, Meichow City, in mainland China. When she was 27, she met Mr. Chen, from Meinong, who was visiting China to look over prospective brides.Despite her entire family’s disagreement, Shei-Ting decided to marry him and emigrate to Taiwan.
This film aims to demonstrate the fighting spirit and the…
I am Si Yabosokanen, nurse of Lanyu health center. In recent years, I have tried to feel how the tribes people confronted one’s aging, disease and death. I suddenly found a great difference between the phenomenon and the western medical concepts familiar to me. I began to realize tranquilly those maternal cultures totally unknown to me. At the moment, I…
In year 2000, American cellist David Darling came to the far mountains in southern Taiwan. He was stunned when he first heard the pure voices of Bunu children. “That day,” he said,” my cello became silent.” Two years later, he returned to the aborigine village with an unprecedented music plan-using his cello and the Bunu voice to start a music…
An ethnographic performative documentary about the Edinburgh-based exiled Kurdish composer Mohamed Abbas Bharam – one of many prominent Kurdish musicians residing in western Europe since the mid-1970s. In 1976, M. A. Bharam was sacked from his Baghdad position in Iraqi radio and television for refusing to perform at a Ba’thist Party convention, celebrating the leadership of Sadam Hussein. The title…
This film documents the inspiring and spirited journey of a group of aboriginal kids who found their confidence through singing. Bukut is the principal of a primary school located in Tong-Pu, an aboriginal village in central Taiwan. With a background in sports curriculum, Bukut is the least likely candidate for directing a choir, but that is just what Bukut did:…
Kyrgyzstan Tokon, a retired teacher from south of Kyrgyzstan writes poetry during his spare time. Every summer his daughter Gulzat comes from Russia to visit him and help him out on the farm. This year’s misfortunes make Tokon focus more than usually on his daughter’s departure. With the dismissal of his assistant and the absence of his wife, his world…
Small Small Thing begins at JFK Hospital in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Olivia Zinnah is 9 years old, and suffering from a life threatening condition. Believing her injuries to be the result of witchcraft, Olivia’s mother had been hiding her for years. The doctors conclude her condition is the result of a brutal rape that took place when Olivia…
Ye Cai was born in 1946. When still quite young, he signed with Eastman Kodak Company as a professional photographer. For seven years, Ye traveled around the world to capture the beauty of all cultures. However, when he saw that people in Europe were very conscious of their own cultures and histories, he gave up on this prestigious job and…
Hebron, only a dot on the world map, but a place that is known and recognized worldwide as the center of many conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians. It is also the place where patriarch Abraham has his tomb. Esther Hertog, a young Israeli – Dutch filmmaker spent three years in Hebron. She observed the daily life of the settlers, which…
The meaning of “Hunungaz” from Bunun language is “a place full of Artemisia Capillaris”. Zhou Feng is a small elementary school in Hanagus, only 23 students, they close as family because of the mini-sized school, also filled anxiety of cutting-down/merging of the same reason. The specialty of students is singing, mainly from Zhou Feng’s tradition and born gift of Bunun,…
The Pasta’ay, which means the festival of the legendary little people, is a significant ritual held every other year in the Saisiat aborigine group in Taiwan.
Every ten years, they hold the Great Ritual. This film focuses on the Great Ritual in 1986. It tries to convey the Saisiat people’s affection for and belief in the legendary little people.…
Sound of Nomad: Koryo Arirang starts with a diva of a tragic family history related to a history of migration. The rare archival footage re-animates her history reverberating with the current world crisis. This is a testimonial – a witness to injustice and tragedy, but it is also a declaration of survival – a survival that is not static but…