Hiya na nak ( Isolation )

 

Lee Kwang-hui, an Amis, started living in the jungles of Indonesia in 1945. He spent almost thirty years alone in the mountains until he was discovered and brought back to Taiwan in 1974. After returning to civilization and living relatively comfortably, he passed away in just four years. I observed a similar experience with my grandfather, a veteran hunter of the Truku tribe. He was living alone in his mountain home even into his nineties, but after an accident, he was moved to my mother's home down the hill and cared for by a foreign worker. Unfortunately, this change was the beginning of the decline in his health. In that third-floor room, he began to lose consciousness and memory, always staring blankly at the ceiling, and passed away four months later.

 

These two individuals, considered outcasts, are highly skilled in traditional abilities, such as hunting and wilderness survival. They have a strong connection with nature, which has enabled them to sustain their vitality and life. However, when this connection is severed, they lose their motivation to survive. In today's fast-paced world, tribal patterns are constantly changing, and while there is an influx of resources, our culture and natural environment are slowly being destroyed. For instance, the indigenous people of Hualien rarely learn how to hunt, and only the elders go on pilgrimages to honor their ancestors. The tradition of witch doctors is almost extinct, with only a few people left to continue it. The tribe's environment is also similar, with daily mine explosions resulting in vast amounts of gold and falling rocks, dust, and noise. In times of such drastic changes, we should pause and observe the lifestyle and beliefs of the elders. Is it possible to continue their way of life and spirituality? Can the traditional cultures hold the answers to the contemporary challenges faced by indigenous peoples?

 

In this Film Festival, “Hiya nanak” in the Truku language is used to interpret these people living alone in the films, starting from microscopic life stories through the extension of time and the intersection of space. The film festival presents the diverse life images of the tribes in Taiwan and even the human world. These images are sometimes used as a tool to reproduce the biographies of individuals, sometimes as a way to present the cultures of ethnic groups, and even more so for a small number of groups that display their unique wisdom and energy, which is like fire in the darkness amidst the multitude of people, illuminating this fast-moving but inherently deprived era.