Taiwan

This is a story about the descendants of Takasago Giyutai (Taiwan Indigenous volunteer units during the Pacific War) went back to the battle field of the Pacific War in Papua New Guinea following the footsteps of their grandfathers, and made a monument based on a legend of ‘Amis people who believe the soul would return home by taking the wings of a certain kind of bird. The monument was build up at the Mission Hill in Wewak, where was a Japanese naval base during the War, there are two monuments, one of them was set up by the Japanese in 1969 and the other one was build up by the Australians afterwards. A monument is not only a way to memory the history, but also a cultural representation on the spiritual world, questioning that “do you believe the soul really have returned home by taking the wings?”

Amis Hip Hop documents how a group of young Amis men in A’tolan have blended influences from contemporary social and cultural life in Taiwan with their traditional practice of ritual dance performance in the village. Rooted in the Amis ethos of respect for male age-grade organization, matrilineal affiliation, intimacy with the ocean, and appreciation of joking relationships, these young men also blend in elements of foreign fashion in music and dance all while keeping with traditional village aesthetics. Through their performances, they represent a new image to both locals and outsiders, and actively construct their local identity as A’tolan Amis.

According to Indigenous elders, the process of standing up for tests to win the qualification to wear the feather headdress is a symbol of becoming a man (Tamdaw) for the Pangcah people of Taiwan. The process of qualification has changed over time in recent days due to the lost of traditional environment and lifestyle.

The scars made by colonization and lost of lands and power still hurt the heart of Pangcah people. This film reveals the perspective of three generations of Pangcah people as a way to share their stories and as a mean to examine this issue that Pangcah people face in this modern time.

10/6  10:00

Anais and Daisy meet a midwife, a dying profession, and have a new understand of life and death. Since then, they’ve chosen a birthing process that is differently from 99\% of the women in Taiwan.

Anais, an aromatherapist, lives a natural and holistic lifestyle and refuses modern medicine. At the local theater, she plays an expectant mother who is forced to have a C-section in order to deliver the baby during an auspicious time. On stage, she screams “Giving birth is not an illness, I don’t want a C-section!” But in real life Anais is faced with the possibility of having a C-section due to the baby’s malposition. Anais’ wish to have home birth gets slimmer and slimmer with time.

Daisy, a mother of two girls, welcomes a third baby with home birth. With many relatives and friends as witness, she births her first son. Sadly, three months later her son passes away from a rare disease. Through the valley of the shadow of death, she decides to becomes a doula and readies herself to welcome a new life once again.

10/8  18:10

Globalization has a great impact on the farming villages in Taiwan. With it come the agricultural transition, the old farmers’ thought and the homecoming of young people.

After graduated from senior high school, Wen-bing began to work in Taichung. However, his job in a nightclub got him into trouble with the law. He asked the judge for indemnity and promised to return home to help his parents grow tomatoes. When he stays in the country, his heart still lingers in the big city. He can’t accustomed himself to the lifestyle in the village, and find it difficult to agree with his parents in terms of farming and marketing. What else is he supposed do when he can neither forget his past nor catch hold of his future?

10/8  16:40