Taiwan

The Taoyuan Aerotropolis marks Taiwan’s largest-ever urban project, in that tens of thousands of people were to be vacated for relocation from the land lot that supported their livelihood, ensuing in the sea change of space and history.

To leave behind   some last memories of the place people called home,   time and history were  employed as the X- and Y-axis respectively to  document a complicated mixture of sentiment that embodies an act of history to slice  into an unfolding future, whereas bulldozers and wrecking balls were on the mark to level the ground.

In spite of the spread of Christianity and introduction of modern medicine, Taiwan’s indigenous peoples have always had a need for their traditional beliefs. For the people in these tribes, when they seek to know the wishes of the deceased, they can only find answers through the divination and rituals performed by shamans. Nowadays, shamans are becoming fewer in number, yet still hope to build bridges between reality and the spirit world. However, both the suffering patient who wishes to have a ritual performed and the shaman performing the ritual have their own troubles. Can these wounded spirits find healing in beliefs?

“Maro’ay to ko kerah” is an Amis saying that there’s a quiet moment of the tidal moment, thus the sea creatures would find their own place to stay comfortably.

Zhang Zu-Miao, an Amis without Amis’ name lives here in the indigenous tribe in this urban city.

Since their old home, Cinemnemay, was distracted in the water zone, it faced to be demolished and rebuilt in another site. They have been through floods and fire, and they are still here. It is their home. Now, they need to move to the rebuilt tribe and there are two factions about “moving or staying”. The leader of the tribe, once fought for their rights, stands out and speaks out to their ancestors who have passed away. In this spiritual ritual celebration, they are reassured that they will always be part of the family/tribe.

Always appeared in the tallest building (Building 101).

Under the deepest pits (mining areas such as Haishan Coal Mine),

In the furthest sea (pelagic fishery)

In the most marginal countries (before the 1980s, they were international migrant workers) On every piece of land where our people stepped on major constructions, they have never been absent.

They played indispensable roles in Taiwan’s economic success.

Behind their minds, during those years they have lost their health,

Even the family has the days of un-retrieved  youth, culture and mother tongue.

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, a woman of the Truku and the only female hunter in the tribe, who follows the ancestral tradition of Gaya, practices the traditional hunting skills of the Truku, and maintains the balance of the entire forest with her hunting methods. As winter approaches, Heydi returns to the old hunting grounds with her nephew to retrace the path and inspect the new hunting trails. During the four-month hunting season, Heydi leads her nephew step by step into her hunting world on the land she has been guarding for a lifetime.