An intimate glimpse of the first visible group of transgender men in the Pacific Islands – the Rogers of Samoa. From the loneliness of family rejection and homelessness to the camaraderie of church, cooking, and dance, their stories reveal the challenges and possibilities of life in an island society rooted in culture and tradition.
Hong Shu-mian was born in Weitou, Fujian Province of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and served in the Red Guard. Lu Shui-tong was born in Kinmen , Fujian Province of the Republic of China in 1937 and served as a naval intelligence officer.
Before coming to Kinmen’s 8/23 Bombing War Victory Memorial, this widow from Xiamen and this…
Even at night time, the Wana shamans from the Sulawesi see the “shadow” in each of us. For them, this “shadow” , which the sun defines on the ground during the day is a spiritually constitutive part of ourselves. It’s by observing the overall aspect of this “shadow” that the Wana shamans diagnose the sickness that is striking. The traditional…
A performance of the kris dance, a Balinese ceremonial dance drama in which the never-ending struggle between the witch and the dragon—the death-dealing and the life-protecting—as it is given in the village of Pagoetan from 1937-39. The dancers go into violent trance seizures and turn their kris (dagger) against their breats without injury. Consciousness is restored with incense and holy…
For thousands of years, the Kucong tribe have lived in the primary rainforests of the Ailao Mountain and led primitive hunter-gatherer lifestyles. However, things changed in 1949 with the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China. A series of programmes were initiated to get the Kucong tribe to leave the forests and mountains, however, such initiatives did not go down…
“In the Palakuwan not only become good man by yourself. It is the collective all be great and strong!”
Katratripulr community in Taitung County which has so far maintained the collective education of the traditional organizations of the age class of men.
It is based in the “Takuvang” house and the “Palakuwan” house, as well as people who education and…
This is a story that has been forgotten by many of us, but not by Mr. Tomohide Kadowaki, President of Japan’s Akebono Association, who has devoted his life to taking care of the Takasago Volunteers, Taiwanese aboriginal men [were they from a specific tribe or village?] who were drafted into [or volunteered for? ] the Japanese Imperial Army during World…
In 2015, writer Chung Chao-cheng was 90 years old! In Taiwan, 90 years of memories includes experiencing: 2 countries, 3 different regimes, and 4 mother tongues… Writing unceasingly throughout his life, in the wake of regime change, he became regarded as a national treasure… At the end of Japanese colonial rule, writers who had originally used Japanese were suddenly denied…
Each Floral-belt Dai village has a male “Commune-head” who take charge of annual collective ceremonies as “Village Sacrifice” and “Village Exorcism”. These are purification rituals and fete for the village’s god “Buzhaoshe”. Besides, there’s a “Village’s Chief Witch” who’s responsible for communication with the god through trance. This man and woman compose the traditional hierarchy of a Dai village. The…
In the Atayal legend, the soul of a deceased person will arrive at the Atayal heaven via the rainbow after they die. And the face tattoo is the only way that they can rely on to get to the rainbow. This film is a documentary about the viewpoints of the elders who have tattooed their faces. It portrays how the…
Wai San Ding Island, an isolated sandbar off the west coast of Taiwan, has already drifted from the coast of Yunlin County to Chiayi County. The film documents the changes of Wai San Ding Island, and is narrated by the director in the first-person. The film consists of four parts and documents the daily life of the people whose lives…
In a popular neighborhood of Brazzaville, Prince Dethmer, a famous Congolese dancer, has just died. His family organises his burial, inviting all of his artist friends to pay him their final tribute.
Forced to leave his tribe still young, Thini-á lives an exile that will end soon. Will he find his place among his people? In search of answers, he crosses the basin of the Araguaia and Xingu rivers in the heart of Brazil, in the footsteps of another passer-by who, like him, has lived between two cultures: João da Luz, son…
Turčišće is a northern Croatian village famous for its traditional wooden carnival masks lafras. During the past 40 years the play was no longer performed in the village itself since the performers preferred to go to other places and visit other carnivals on that particular day. Nevertheless, in the February of 2004 the people of Turčišće were prepared to perform…
When Director Laway was small, his father began working as crew on fishing boats out of the port of Kaohsiung. All through his youth, Laway’s mother took him by Kinmen bus from Taitung to Kaohsiung to visit his father every year or two.
Amis people have worked on fishing boats for years, and such family visits were common in the…
What happens when your land is being claimed as event zone for the two biggest sport events of the planet? A question that applies to the Indigenous community of Aldeia Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as they face increased pressure ahead of the World Cup and the Olympic Games in Brazil. The Indigenous group lives right next to the…
Three stories about the people of the Far North and their life choices. Each short story is an essay about traditions, life and music in the life of the characters. The film is about the struggle of two civilizations: the modern world and the ethnic group.
The Woman Carrying the Prey expresses women’s perseverance and strength by extension. “Carrying” is not only about the physical weight, but also about the continuation of the hunter’s traditional hunting culture. The relationship between human, ecology and animal interdependence is gradually built up through the daily life of a female hunter in the mountains.
This film is about Heydi Mijung,…
As a reachable form of a lost Eden within everyone’s grasp, everybody comes to the Bois de Vincennes to seek refuge in nature. People from all walks of life have the right to be here: rich, poor, French, foreign, gay, straight, alone or accompanied, old-school or hip. The woods are an island surrounded by the towns that encircle it: a…
Using the history of Taiwanese puppet theater as his starting point, the director cast his eye over the whole of Taiwan’s modern history, creating a documentary of epic proportions. He explored the different styles of the main schools of glove puppet theater(such as the Huang family of the Wu Chou Puppet Theater).
Shooting for“Theater in the Palm of Your Hand”began…