The Mountain (2015)

The Mountain 2015 / 靈山 2015 / lingshan

This 16mm film follows the life of the director’s grandfather, Teymu Teylong, a famous hunter in Ciyakang village in Hualien. Having lived through the Japanese and KMT rules, Teymu Teylong farms and hunts in the mountains and gives little thought to the political establishments. When not working, he chants to young fallen souls lying in the village graveyard and offers sacrifices to ancestral spirits before going on a hunt. His daily routines are contrasted with footage of indigenous people of the past, brutalised by colonizers. Beautifully portraying the wild landscape and lives of indigenous people in its tranquil form, the film illustrates the intimate connection between Teymu Teylong and the titular mountain. Similar to the Indigenous Movement starting in the 80s, this film highlights the indigenous people’s fight for survival as they call for labour equality, land justice and name rectification. While indigenous culture is often used by the authority in cultural diplomacy, the director dismisses this official presentation. Instead he chooses to present his people’s daily activities, the rituals and beliefs that are the core of the indigenous culture. (Source: TFF)