Ethnographic films begin as a way for anthropologists to document culture, and are often viewed only by other scientists and students, but over the past 10 years in Taiwan a film festival featuring such works has been attracting a diverse local audience, broadening the scope of the documentary genre.
First held in 2001, the Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival was the first of its kind in Asia, according to Hu Tai-li, TIEFF chairwoman.
“Ethnographic film festivals have flourished in Europe and the United States for many decades, but there were none in this part of the world,” Hu said in an interview Sept. 8 at Taipei-based Academia Sinica, where she is a research fellow.
A veteran ethnographic filmmaker herself, Hu has participated in the world’s major festivals for such films since the 1980s, showing her works at the New York-based Margaret Mead Film Festival, Paris’ Bilan du Film Ethnographique, the Gottingen International Ethnographic Film Festival in Germany and Estonia’s Parnu International Documentary and Anthropological Film Festival, among others.
“Having been to those places, I thought, why not host an international ethnographic film event that would bring the world to Taiwan?”
Together with like-minded scholars and filmmakers, Hu formed the Taiwan Association of Visual Ethnography in June 2000 to take charge of the festival, support research and promote the “creation, publication, distribution and exhibition of works of visual ethnography.”
“We asked ourselves what this film festival created in Taiwan should highlight,” she said. It was decided that a theme-guided event would help link local concerns and perspectives with those of other societies.
“A festival like this can be small, but it has to be relevant,” she said.
For each of the biennial events, the organizers declare a theme, invite filmmakers and request recommendations from important documentary archives, such as the U.S.-based Documentary Educational Resources, to gather films pertaining to the theme.
The first theme was “Island Odyssey,” drawing on Taiwan’s geographical position to focus on islands in the Pacific, with particular attention given to Orchid Island, home of Taiwan’s indigenous Tao people. It was followed by “Migration Story,” with works examining the increasingly common human experience of migration.
“Family Variations” in 2005 presented cross-cultural perspectives on families, marriage and kinship systems forged in different social and economic realities. In 2007, “Indigenous Voices” showcased indigenous directors from Taiwan and abroad. Turning consciously subjective with the theme “Body and Soul,” the 2009 event looked into wounded bodies and souls and the healing process.
“An important branch of anthropology, visual ethnography—the making of ethnographic films—uses sound and visual media to present the anthropologists’ understanding of another culture, their research results,” Hu said.
The festival’s themes are designed to expand on this scholarly function to present films that tell stories about other peoples, and communicate different views on their cultures.
“A good ethnographic film helps give the general public easier access to what anthropologists do, at the same time opening our eyes and minds, and that is the kind of film we hope to include.”
To increase the impact of the festival, the organizers incorporated in-depth exchanges between filmmakers and audiences, as well as among filmmakers and the films of others. The five-day meets resemble a family reunion, Hu said.
“There are no competitions, no granting of prizes, because we think all films selected for the festival deserve full treatment,” Hu said. To the extent that budgets allow, directors are invited to watch all the films, and major efforts are made to caption them in both English and Mandarin Chinese to facilitate understanding and after-screening discussions.
Another important component of the festival is a retrospective of classic ethnographic films. Past years have featured the Samoa series by Robert Flaherty (2001), Jean Rouch’s surrealistic presentations of immigrants to African cities (2003), and a South African Bushman family series documented over a period of 50 years by John Marshall (2005).
The TIEFF has established a reputation among ethnographic film festivals as “small but beautiful.” It has seen a steady increase in the number of film submissions, and the Documentary Educational Resources remains its greatest supporter, Hu said.
The organizers are also careful to screen new works reflecting the concerns and methodologies of anthropological filmmakers working today.
“Their practices have augmented the field of visual anthropology,” said Futuru Tsai, curator of this year’s program, an anthropology student and frequent visitor to the festival before he turned to making films.
“We present the full range of diversity in ethnographic filmmaking in terms of style and subject, which is good news for the local audience as moviegoers get to see different parts of the world from various perspectives,” he said.
Entering its second decade, the TIEFF will screen 35 films from Oct. 7 to 11, chosen from a record 400 submissions this year under the theme “Suffering and Rebirth.”
According to Tsai, the films investigate survival practices in the face of natural changes, cultural clashes, and even the spiritual struggles of the individual. Subjects range from tribes in interaction with outsiders to the struggles of minorities and the marginalized.
In a way they sum up all the festival’s previous themes, but with arguably greater accessibility, Tsai said.
In the past, he said, anthropological films focused on research purposes, while recent works tend toward narrative representation, which offers more possibilities for expression. “Combining research and aesthetic values, they are bound to provide interesting viewing experiences,” he said.
True to its goal to bring the world to Taiwan for cultural interchange, the TIEFF continues to seek out, cultivate and present local filmmaking talent, especially aboriginal directors, Hu said.
The schedule juxtaposed American Indian director Victor Masayesva of the Hopi with Taiwan’s Pangcha/Amis filmmaker Mayaw Biho under “Indigenous Voices” in 2007, featured Pilin Yabu of the Atayal in 2009, and this year spotlights Lungnan Isak Fangas of the Amis.
“Each of these Taiwanese aboriginal directors has a distinctive take on things,” Tsai noted. Mayaw Biho hides empathic attention behind critical confrontation, Pilin Yabu offers patient, thought-provoking storytelling, and Lungnan Isak Fangas exposes stereotyping by depicting aboriginal individuals in different walks of life.
Directors such as these—from Taiwan and around the world—are taking over the cameras from outsiders to tell their own people’s stories.
Feeling that some things cannot be changed by making documentaries, some directors are going further. Mayaw Biho announced recently that he would join the legislative elections scheduled for next year.
Tsai sees the director’s shift from art to politics as an extension of his filmmaking. “Making films has helped Mayaw Biho get to the heart of many problematic situations, and politics may be an extension of activism in his films,” he said. John Marshall, in his many years of filming a Kalahari family, also fought for the rights and well-being of the Bushmen, he noted.
Two of Mayaw Biho’s works will be screened at the festival: “Light Up My Life,” about a tribal village in southern Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot cut it off from the outside world, and “My River,” concerning the forced relocation of an Amis group living on the outskirts of Taipei.
Citing recent land disputes in eastern Taiwan, Mayaw Biho said, “I will return to filmmaking once the country’s administration gives back aboriginal peoples’ rights over their traditional territories.”
Lungnan Isak Fangas is sticking with filmmaking. “My works are not intended to effect direct social change, but I am careful to give nonstereotypical images of aborigines so as to help break down bias.”
Tsai confirmed the element of social activism in the films and festival. “We aim to bring the voices—and images—of peoples largely ignored to a greater public,” he said. “Watching these ethnographic films will prompt viewers to examine their previously held beliefs.” (THN)
Write to June Tsai at june@mail.gio.gov.tw