Taiwan

‘If school is the mandatory pathway for educating our children, then we need to change the curriculum.’-Yang Ping, teacher of Timur Elementary School Grade Four.

Director Sasuyu Ubalat recalled that all the education he had in his childhood was based on Chinese culture, similarly to the ‘stolen generation’ in Australia. The film explores the core values of Timur Experimental Elementary School. From the close relationships and developments between teachers, parents and students, we see the importance of the revival of ethnic languages and ethnic education. In a difficult time where the elders are ageing and ethnic cultures are rapidly disappearing, Timur Experimental Elementary School still strives to develop its own ethnic curriculum for the modern educational environment.

A rice huller is used for rice hulling, its history can be traced from thousands of years ago.

The film begins with the time with no electricity. Back then, “Tu Long” were widely used. Then we visit the wooden rice mills which first appeared when there was electricity. And it ends with the modern rice mills built by technology and capital.

In the film, we’ve been through the life journeys of six people, and seen their pride, hardship, joy and sorrow. What we’ve recorded is the history of the rice hulling industry in Taiwan which is rarely known.

“Rice” is the main food in Taiwan. There have been a lot of films about growing rice, but the films about rice hulling are few and far between. It seems like a mysterious occupation. Who and where is involved with this industry? We’ve rarely seen a film like this. Thus, the documentary is born to fill the gap.

In 1918, during the Japanese colonial period, the tribes in the upper reaches of the Mugua River began to move to the river terraces in the middle reaches of the river, and in 1928, they became known as the Tongmen tribe. In less than a hundred years since the formation of the tribe, the tribal environment has changed with social development, and the elders of the tribe have gradually left, so their memories have slowly decayed and details have been gradually forgotten, yet the history of the family lineage from which the tribe originated is incredibly detailed.

“The gate toward tradition is closed!”

For myself, a child of Seejiq Truku, the inspiration of the closed gate has opened up a dialogue and a search with the various clans of the tribe, and the family stories that have been passed down through oral tradition and translated through video have brought us together. Traditional times have passed and modern habits have changed us, yet the core of Gaya remains the same, Mgaluk Dowmung ties us all together so that we as a community can be seen.

The film, based on the concept and core idea of “tracing and finding,” and using the protagonist, Ronald ACFALLE’s dream of constructing a traditional canoe and sailing it to Taiwan as the main narrative, to unveil a period of time when the colonized Austronesian Che’lu (“Brothers” in CHamorro dialect) built and sailed canoes to the oceans, as a way to reclaim their identification with the Austronesian ancestors. This core concept also acts as a mirror to reflect on Taiwan Indigenous cultural-positioning and self-identification.

To modern-day Austronesian people, “ancestral culture revival” is an important milestone to ethical awareness and contemplation to the impacts caused by mainstream cultures. Take ACFALLE as an example, the construction of the traditional canoe reassures his being as a Chamorro people. Despite living on the highly Americanized Guam, he is able to retrace the soul and navigate the route back to his culture.

This film will not singularly represent a point of view from one region. The story begins from islands that are miles away from Taiwan, but as the timeline progresses, the focuses will fall back to Taiwan and its Indigenous perspectives.

The island is a place to nurture people and the ocean is the route for outsiders. It all started when a Dutch merchant ship broke into Liuqiu Island offshore of Taiwan in 1622 and began the Dutch colonial plunder of Taiwan.

The Indigenous People Action Coalition of Taiwan acts like the assembly of the reunited back then. They are writing their history not only through words but through their own actions.

Tribes have always existed and they deserve their rightful place in Taiwanese history.