The Vast Deep Blue Ocean
那一片湛藍無垠的海洋
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 years from 1940 to 1960.
With permission granted in April of 2013, Director Laway picked up his camera to film six of the Amis crew members. He boarded a Taiwanese ocean-going ship on Bona Bei island – an American possession in the South Pacific. With this ship he followed a purse seiner for 20 days, filming the crew’s hard work and difficult life.
To conclude, how was Laway’s father able to get through twenty years of his working career as a crew member?
The director’s only assistant is the son of a photographer – Mayaw‧Laway
Directors
Layway Dalay
Laway Dalay was born in 1961 to the Amis Tribe of Taitung, Taiwan. After graduating from a vocational high school, he went to work in northern Taiwan at age 18. He worked as a draftsman, as a model maker, and as an equipment operator. Before his military service, he was lucky enough to be a restaurant singer for six months.
During his childhood, he was passionate about painting and insisted on working with art-related items after his military service.