Taiwan Docs

The Return of Gods and Ancestor is the first ethnographic film made in Taiwan. Under extremely low budget, anthropologist Hu Tai-Li recorded with a hand-cranked Bell & Howell 16 mm camera the most magnificent five year ceremony in Paiwan tribe. The shooting ratio was only 3:1.

The Paiwan people on the one hand expected to receive blessings of the gods and ancestors through piercing rattan balls with extended bamboo poles; on the other, they tried to prevent any harm caused by the evil spirits. During the filming processes, the competitive chiefs were stimulated to reveal the cultural structure in front of the camera. The Paiwan five year ceremony is not only the reunion of the dead and the alive, but the meeting of tradition and modernity.

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