Taiwan

During the 88 flooding disaster, Taiwan received a donation from its ally in the Southern Pacific, a nation called Tuvalu. This defenseless nation of 26 square kilometers will be the first island nation to be submerged by the oceans once the sea level rises due to global warming. The director Huang Hsinyao left his hometown after the 88 flooding disaster in Taiwan in search of this disappearing island called Tuvalu. While aboard this swaying ship in the Pacific, various fantastic spectacles of Taiwan emerge in the mind of the director….. Once out at sea barbecuing, he found under the sea…

Dakanuwa is at the most upstream part of the Nanzuxien Stream and it is one of the farthest tribes in the remote mountain. After leaving the highway and crossing a bridge which was washed away easily, we should spend two or three hours to get there. This is Arbuwu’s hometown. Before she was ten, there was no electricity, She said while she was young, she could not imagine what electricity was and the simple life did not need anything more. Arbuwu hopes that the reconstruction after the disaster will be faster and Kanakanavu will be restored and become an independent tribe….. Arbuwu knows that there are a lot of difficulties before each wish but she never gives up her wishes and always does her best.

February 2010, the National Concert Hall staged the multimedia musical production, On The Road. It tells the story of the internationally renowned conductor, Chien Wen-Pin, searching for his childhood aboriginal nanny. One of the play’s organisers, Taiwan Colors Music (TCM), defined this work as “the first original, aboriginal musical in Taiwanese music history”. Adding new material, the director’s cut of On The Road goes beyond the National Concert Hall’s official documentary to reveal a diverse array of opinions through expanded interviews. A key theme emerges from these dialogues, that of the status of aboriginal music itself: If it is not accepted and performed in the National Concert Hall, can it still be considered legitimate music?

Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival is a very important event for rock n’ roll bands in Taiwan. Starting from 2000, Taipei county organizes the contest annually, providing young gifted musicians an opportunity to demonstrate their talents. The fourth festival was held in the summer of 2003. During the three-day festival, the Indie Music Awards was the most interesting activity that attracted most attention. These bands came to the contest with different attitudes and they all had very different stories. The only thing they shared in common was that deep down inside their heart, they all wished that one day, they’d be able to make a wave and be a shining star on their stage.

In the historically most famous ancestral house of the matrilineal Amis tribe in Taiwan, the carved pillars tell legends. After a strong typhoon toppled the house 40 years ago, the pillars were moved to the Institute of Ethnology Museum. Recently young villagers, with assistance from female shamans, pushed the descendants and village representatives to communicate with ancestors in the pillars. They eventually brought the ancestral souls (rather than the pillars) back and began reconstructing the house. This documentary interweaves reality and legends as well as the seen and the unseen as it records this unique case of repatriation.