M Dans puts the pedal to the metal

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER, Taipei Times
Friday, Nov 23, 2007, Page 14

Velocity is the newest production to come from the three-year-old dance troupe that incorporates the ideas of all its members into everything from themes to sets. PHOTO: COURTESY OF M DANS

Next week M Dans (驫舞劇場), the small and amorphous contemporary dance company headed up by Chen Wu-kang (陳武康), will celebrate the third anniversary of its founding. Given its somewhat unconventional method of operation this is a remarkable achievement, and Velocity (速度), which will premiere this weekend at the National Experimental Theater, shows off the group's efforts to "keep it fresh" and to hold the audiences' attention as the world of contemporary dance spins madly into an unknown future.

The group was formed by a number of young dancers who wanted to do something different, free from the limits of contemporary dance. "We were tired of the stuff we were doing, the work of various 'teachers' ... , there was nothing that made you really want to participate," Chen said.

With Velocity, the group uses this system of loose collaboration to bring in ideas from all its members. The group collectively decided on the new production's theme. "I actually wanted to do something based on mammoths," Chen said, "but was totally overruled. Mammoths are really cool, and big, and extinct ... but anyway, eventually we decided we liked the idea of velocity."

Having settled on a theme, the group began exploring how the frenetic nature of contemporary society pulls people and things apart. There is evolution and there is progress, but there is also loss. Dancers use modified forms of origami to create the objects that progress brings. Walls are placed about the stage to create a space in which the dancers find themselves separated by the speed of their movements. Multimedia is used to represent the modern televisual experience. Elements of experimental theater, drama and mime are also part of the performance. What is conspicuously lacking is a specific cultural identity, and this is quite deliberate.

"The groups that have been successful overseas are mostly selling Chinese culture," Chen said. "They have an 'Oriental' label. They claim to have something exotic and mysterious. People say that dance is a common language, so why can't we put this 'Oriental' stuff aside. ... Of course we are Asian, but there is no need to be constantly making art that refers back to or comments on all this ethnic stuff."

Chen accepts that the "Oriental" stuff can look good, and acknowledges that it sells. But even though taking this line puts M Dans at a disadvantage in the international market, Chen is upbeat. "There's lots of fun to be had without resorting to all that 'Oriental' stuff," he said.

Chen wants to make dance something closely related to his own experience and those of the dancers he works with.

To do this, the troupe must have its own studio, a rare thing for a two-year-old dance company.

Games played a big part in the creation of Velocity, which sees M Dans caught on the speeding train of human history, unable to get off. It is rushing towards an unknown destination, which is just how Chen likes it, for only in this way can he "keep it fresh, and keep it fun."

Despite M Dans' initial success, the group is planning to change its name this year. "M Dans makes us sound like just another dance company," Chen said. "So we have decided to call ourselves Horse." The character for the group's Chinese name is a combination of three ideographs for a horse.

"Horse has so many interesting associations. It is a strong animal, then of course it's also a drug (heroin). There are associations of stud horses, with their virile strength, and also their wildness," Chen said.

What: Velocity by M Dans (Horse)
When: Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm; tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
Where: National Experimental Theater
Tickets: NT$400, available through NTCH ticketing

A man for all seasons

Jos van Kan:

A man for all seasons

Taipei Times: What is your background in theater?

Jos van Kan: When I was 16 I knew I wanted to do something in theater. I discovered that being a director was the best place for me - not on the stage but in the rehearsal studio. I studied to be a director of drama, and I began to introduce songs, because I like singing and music, and it slowly developed that I became a director of opera. I am very interested in crossovers, so sometimes I do a Baroque opera by (Henry) Purcell, and sometimes I do very modern operas for small audiences. ... When I did a play of Brokeback Mountain, from the novel of Annie Proulx, I took the text of the novel and asked the composer to write songs, so the cowboys were singing songs in the show.

TT: Why were you interested in studying Asian theater?

JVK: For me, you cannot go further from home (Holland) than Asia. There is no culture that is stranger to me than Asia, and that has appeal to me. As to the theater, I have a great love of stylization on stage and the Asian performing arts are highly skilled in using stylization.

TT: What did you get out of studying gezai opera in Ilan?

Being lonely around many people. Getting to know a culture that is very social, based on doing things in groups. ... Also to accept that there are things you cannot understand. Everybody should have this experience in their life. In the rehearsal studio there are many things that I don't understand, but still I go strong and I rehearse. I also try to accept the things I don't understand, that maybe I can go around them and get what I want in other ways; or don't get what I want, and get something else that also has its beauty. This is even more important as an experience than to see how fabulous people can fight on stage.

TT: What was working with a Taiwanese performance group like?

JVK: It can be a very positive feeling when you don't get what you want. You think we should go left, ... but you end up going right, and you find there are beautiful possibilities when you go right. It opens up the piece of art. I often say that I know how a show should "smell," from the very first rehearsal, even if you don't know what it will look like at the end. But here, sometimes even the smell changes, and in very surprising ways; to be open to that makes it interesting.

TT: Is the fusion of East and West just a dramatic gimmick?

JVK: I have forced myself to pick the disciplines only to serve the intent of the story in its best way. As long as this is done, I have no objection to this hip idea of fusion (of East and West), that we should shop (around) and mix and combine everything. I like The Second Goodbye because it is not a showy show, although we use many elements. I want to entertain, of course, because people go to the theater to be entertained, but besides this entertainment we should also talk about important things - communicate with an audience about things that touch our heart and brains. … You don't want to be superficial, but you don't want to bore the audience.- Ian Bartholomew

Here's the beef ... noodles

By Ian Bartholomew
Staff Reporter, Taipei Times
Thursday, Nov 01, 2007, Page 13

You only need to be in Taiwan a couple of days to know that beef noodles is the dish most widely regarded as the nation's signature culinary achievement. There are beef noodle stores everywhere you look, and the dish takes many different forms. More often than not, it is a thoroughly unremarkable concoction of limp noodles, salty soup and tough beef that has been marinated in soy sauce to within an inch of its life. But when made well, it can also be the ultimate comfort food, but seeking out the beef noodle shops of distinction is no easy matter.
This of course is what the 2007 Taipei International Newrow Mian Festival (2007臺北國際牛肉麵節) is all about. The qualifying round last Sunday has reduced the field to five contenders each in the traditional dark broth, light broth and creative categories, with finals scheduled for this coming Sunday to find the best of the best in the field of beef noodles. For the participants concerned, victory in this competition is no small matter, for the shops that gain recognition from the panel of judges can count on packing their restaurant for the next year and beyond as people line up to taste the best beef noodles in town.
To put the "international" into the event, there will be an "International Teamwork Intercourse Competition" -- the title given on the event's Web site shows off the Taipei City Government's unique flair with the English language -- will bring in six teams of international chefs who will put their own spin on Taiwan's beef noodles on Saturday. This event, and the local competition finals on Sunday, will be held at the Xinyi International Club (信義公民會館). Over the two days, there will also be a variety of performances and an estimated 20 stalls selling beef noodles, so the public to get a taste of the huge variety of dishes that are encompassed under the label of "beef noodles" -- or "newrow mian" if you subscribe to the Taipei City Government's interesting take on romanization.
In announcing the finalists last Sunday, Cheng Yan-chi (鄭衍基), chief judge of the panel who presided over 45 bowls of beef noodles under consideration, pointed out that a primary consideration in assessing a bowl of beef noodles was balance between the broth, the noodles and the meat. Cheng, a former chef to ex-presidents Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), praised the high level achieved by the competitors, and underlined the complexity of achieving that elusive balance, even in a competition were all commercial considerations were removed. "A bowl of noodles that cost NT$800 to make will obviously taste different from one that sells for NT$80 in the shop," he said. An event like this can do no more that point customers in the right direction, and for this coming weekend, it will provide an opportunity for the public to try many different preparations at a single venue.

What: Taipei International Newrow Mian Festival
When: Saturday from 3pm to 6pm; Sunday from 9am to 2pm
Where: Xinyi International Club, 50 Songqin Rd, Taipei (台北市松勤街50號)
On the net: http://www.new-rowmian.com.tw/en/index.html (English)

Farewell Concubine - Firmiana Rain

'The Firmiana Rain' shows that not only are Asians taking an increasingly prominent role in the classical music scene, they are also placing their own stamp on the genre

By Ian Bartholomew
Staff Reporter, Taipei Times
Friday, Oct 26, 2007, Page 13

The love story between Lady Yang and the Xuanzong emperor is one of the classics of Chinese literature. PHOTO: COURTESY OF NTCH

The story is old - the action takes place in the Tang Dynasty over 1,000 years ago and was first immortalized on stage by the poet Bai Pu (白樸, 1226-1306) during the Yuan Dynasty - but the form it will take in Chen May-tchi's (陳玫琪) opera The Firmiana Rain (梧桐雨), which will have its world premiere at the National Theater Taipei on Thursday, is avant-garde.

With a score that incorporates ancient Chinese music, a Western orchestra, a libretto in Mandarin, French and German, a Japanese director, a Taiwanese gezai opera (歌仔戲) performer and more, this Taiwan-Japan coproduction is billed as a "modern romantic opera."

The Firmiana Rain follows the grand romance between the Emperor Tang Xuanzong (唐玄宗) and the imperial concubine Lady Yang (楊貴妃), the resulting political upheaval and rebellion led by the general An Lu-shan (安祿山), and the death of Yang by her own hand (but at the ruler's insistence), as the only solution to the political crisis. The title refers to the sound of water dropping on the large leaves of the firmiana tree, which forms the backdrop to the emperor's thoughts as he reflects on the sacrifice he made for political expediency. Although it was Yang's nepotism and her family's corruption that was largely responsible for the crisis in the first place, this great betrayal has enshrined her as one of the great tragic heroines of Chinese literature.

While the basic story has been rendered by many of China's great poets, composer Chen's version has raised a few eyebrows.

Musically, the work is a continuation of Chen's interest in unconventional combinations. The score incorporates Chinese instruments such as the pipa (琵琶), a kind of Chinese lute, and the bamboo flute and references the music that would have been played at the court of the emperor. Chen drew inspiration from her studies of ancient music from the royal courts of China, Japan and Korea. A concert extract in 2002 for Showcasing American Composers won critical acclaim, and was responsible for the work being picked up for full production in Asia.

With this staged production, Chen's ambitions to transverse artistic divides are fully revealed. While this is still an opera in the Western tradition, The Firmiana Rain pushes many boundaries. Its libretto is primarily in Mandarin, but the formal scenes at the court are sung in French and the anger of the barbarian general An Lu-shan, when brought in chains before the emperor, is sung in German. "The Tang court was already a great melting pot," Chen said. "It was quite natural for members of the court to absorb influences from Asia Minor and India. China was already quite an international society. We have simply translated that into more modern terms."

With the involvement of Tang Mei-yun (唐美雲), one of Taiwan's best-known gezai opera singers and Liu Fu-hsueh (劉復學) of the National Gouguang Opera Company (國立國光劇團), the melting pot concept has been carried to an extreme in this current production.

The inclusion of these performers means that The Firmiana Rain is not only innovative in terms of Western opera, it also requires a high level of cooperation and tolerance for the demands of vastly different performance traditions.

In an interview with the Taipei Times, Tang said she had adjusted her regular performance style, most notably having to work to a predefined score. "There is much more physical movement in our style of performance," she said. "In Western opera, they [performers] focus more exclusively on the singing."

"With the traditional actors and actresses, usually they have to improvise a lot," Chen said. "It's really interesting to see performers from different traditions work together. We provide the structure, but they have the liberty to do their own thing."

"They come from totally different oral traditions and have an instinct about what they have to do. Once they get a feel for the music and the rhythm, they just do things very naturally," she added.

In the hectic rehearsals preceding the opening next week, everyone is still learning how best to work together. "It's all about opening up new horizons," said Tang, who is also an innovator in her own field.

To add to the difficulties, the coproduction sees soprano Kimiko Hata and baritone Kouichi Taira perform in the central roles of Xuanzong and Lady Yang, respectively, which required them to learn the libretto phonetically through months of intensive coaching.

Chen Wu-kang (陳武康), the show's choreographer and artistic director of M Dans (驫舞劇場), in an off-the-cuff comment during rehearsals, said that so many artistic boundaries had been crossed, so many conventions overturned, that he felt he could cast off all constraints in choreographing the dances for the show. "I felt that if it could be overturned, then we might as well," he said.

One issue that does stand out above all else is the way The Firmiana Rain sees Asians taking control of a Western operatic tradition.

"We Asians are doing an Asian story. It's not like Europeans are doing an Asian story (such as Turandot or Madame Butterfly). Hopefully this method is more first hand, instead of chinoiserie. ... The music itself has many elements, but it's a total integration and not a collage," Chen said.

Reflecting on his own work in opera, Sugao said: "I think the opera world is looking for a way to go. If you do only Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, you are getting nowhere. ... We need to create new operas such as this. I hope this will be successful in finding a new way for operas."

British design shares the love

Published on Taipei Times
Thursday, Oct 11, 2007, Page 13

The creative industries are some of the UK's most successful exports. Over the next 10 days they will be flaunting their style in Taipei

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER

From TopShop to Grand Theft Auto and Wedgewood to Benoy Architects, Britain's creative industries are thriving. The exhibition Love and Money showcases the best of British design and aims to make inroads into Taiwan's economy. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE BRITISH COUNCIL

The creative industries have been billed as the way of the future, a transformation of the abstruse world of arts and design into a driving force behind commercial development and a vibrant, sophisticated retail culture. This industry has been growing rapidly in the UK, and London has been transformed into "arguably the creative capital of the world," according to David Percival, head of UK Trade and Investment in Taiwan. Love and Money, an exhibition of the best of British design, has set out to showcase the UK's success, and also to establish a platform for cooperation between UK designers and investors in Asia.

The commercial intention of the show is right there in its title. While the purpose of design is certainly to make beautiful things, this is not really enough, as plenty of artists in Taiwan have repeatedly discovered. "When they [designers] do the design, they love it, ... but there is also a big commercial need out there for them to do business and bring in the money," said Amanda Lin (林君玲), the senior commercial officer with the British Trade and Cultural Office who is overseeing the launch of Love and Money in Taipei. The ability to link the love and the money has been crucial to the success of the creative industries in the UK and is a source of envy among many nations that wish to emulate this success. (Creative industries now account for 8.2 percent of GDP in the UK.)

"It is not just about general design. A lot of it is to target the specific needs of Taiwan," said Percival.

"Taiwan's companies, especially consumer electronics companies, are increasingly becoming brand companies (rather than contract manufacturers). When you are doing your own brand, design becomes much more important. You are no longer just selling on price, but on quality and an image. This is the opportunity for us to work with Taiwanese companies ... . They [Taiwanese companies] don't just work with British designers, but also with British branding companies and marketing companies," Percival said.

Exhibition Notes The main exhibition, which will feature stands by major British design-related firms as diverse as Penguin Books, Rockstar Games (publishers of videogame Grand Theft Auto), Studio Myerscough (which designs for Wedgewood) and TopShop (the fashion line). For a full line up of exhibitors, see www.britishcouncil.org/arts-design-love-and-money.htm. * Today until Oct. 21 * 4F Taipei 101 Mall, free admission * Information about workshops and seminars can be found at the British Trade and Cultural Office Web site at www.britishembassy.gov.uk

The focus on architectural issues is not coincidental either. Percival points to the massive urban development projects that Taiwan is planning. "There is around US$12 billion of projects that are going to be up for grabs in Taiwan over the next five years. ... We are looking at projects like the National Exhibition Center in Kaohsiung and the ideas for a new financial services center around Taipei Main Station."

Love and Money has toured five countries in Asia (and will be moving on to South Korea after it wraps up in Taipei), but according to Percival, the Taiwan show has evolved into the biggest of all, largely due to the great interest of local companies. While the exhibition at Taipei 101 will doubtless present a fascinating showcase of what British designers of every sort are doing, much of the activity for Love and Money will center on the "wrap around events," most notably the UK architecture seminars featuring Adams Kara Taylor, Creative Designs International and Benoy Architects and the Design Forum with Industrial Facilities and Wedgewood, targeted at Taiwan's creative industry professionals.

"These are all commercially proven designers, designers who work in business and run successful design houses or architectural firms. ... It is not just about how important good design is for the quality of life, but that these guys can also make money out of it," Percival said. The success of the UK has been acknowledged in Taiwan in the most telling terms: The number of Taiwanese students going to the UK to enroll in design-related programs has increased by 30 percent over the last three years.

Continental Europe has traditionally been the home of fine design, but over the last decade, the UK has made rapid strides to equal and in many areas supercede established rivals. "It has become incredibly diverse," said Percival. "London is not made up of British designers, it is made up of multicultural designers from all over the world. ... It is all global design, and this makes it very adaptable. If you go into a British design house, you'll find people of every nationality in the world there."

'108 Heroes' tests the limits of artistic fusion as it tries to mix opera, pop music and hip-hop

Published on Taipei Times
Friday, Oct 05, 2007, Page 13

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER

Water Margin PHOTO: COURTESY OF CONTEMPORARY LEGEND THEATER

Contemporary Legend Theater (當代傳奇劇場, CLT), under the direction of Beijing opera innovator Wu Hsing-kuo (吳興國), has, since its inception, taken a bold path in its efforts to give the centuries-old Chinese artistic tradition relevance to the modern world. 108 Heroes (水滸108) is its most ambitious project to date, potentially part of a three-part series which aims to radically reinterpret the Chinese classic novel Water Margin (水滸傳), also widely known as Outlaws of the Marsh and All Men Are Brothers in various English editions.

To achieve this goal, CLT has drawn on a powerhouse of talent, most notably contemporary novelist and literary figure Chang Ta-chun (張大春), who wrote the script, and pop idol and composer Emil Chow (周華健), who contributed contemporary music and songs, in addition to Wu himself. That these three names should appear together is remarkable in itself, for the worlds of high-brow contemporary literature, pop music and Beijing opera would seem unlikely bedfellows. Whether the CLT team has managed to bring these worlds together into a single unified production remains to be seen, for the work was still undergoing fine tuning this week prior to its world premiere at Taipei's Metropolitan Hall tonight.

The novel, of uncertain authorship and with many versions, came into wide circulation in the 14th century and tells the story of a band of outlaws who were active in the early 12th century during the Song Dynasty. It is very much a boy's book about honor among sworn brothers and the nature of justice in a corrupt world. It contains an interminable series of violent encounters between various characters, often for the most trivial reasons (slighted honor or excessive drinking), and in many respects is the ancient equivalent of the First-Person Shooter of today. It is also notorious for its appalling treatment of its female characters, when it can be bothered with the doings of women at all.

Sections of this massive novel have been adapted through the ages for opera, but 108 Heroes makes a radical revision of even some basic elements of the story to make it more relevant and interesting for a contemporary audience. Most notably, the roles of female characters have been expanded, in some cases drawing on other related source materials.

PERFORMANCE NOTES What: 108 Heroes by Contemporary Legend Theater Where: Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台) located at 25, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段25號) When: Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm; tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm Tickets: NT$500 to NT$2,000, available through NTCH ticketing or at the door Details: Performances will have subtitles in English and Chinese

Moreover, Wu has brought in five aspiring opera performers to play a multiplicity of roles that the show demands. This is something of a Wu specialty, showcased most notably in his adaptation of King Lear, in which he played all the roles himself. These performers, though only in their early 20s have over a decade of experience behind them already (opera training starts young), are pushed to the limit. "This is for their benefit," Wu said. "The thing performers lack most these days is stage experience." Wu's direction has allowed them the space to present their own perspectives and personalities, giving this opera a youthful edginess that is new to CLT, which has usually had Wu as the focus of major shows.

Wu, who has made a career of reinterpreting classic Western works such as Macbeth and The Tempest for modern audiences using the forms of traditional Chinese opera, says that staying relevant and retaining audiences has always been at the heart of his endeavor. "I was forced into doing Western works, for only in this way could I find audiences for Chinese opera," he said of his early days as a young opera performer. These ideas where at the heart of his break from the opera establishment and the founding of CLT in 1986. "When we adapt a work, we must look at how it connects with the modern world. This is our central concern."

The idea of crossing boundaries, of mixing media, of fusing Eastern and Western forms, of bringing traditional arts in the 21st century, have all become cliches of the modern performing arts. Critics are inclined to say that what emerges is simply a hodgepodge, that by trying to be everything, it ends up being nothing. Wu, in mixing up various styles of opera, and even bringing in pop and hip-hop musical elements in his new show, believes that he manages to remain true to the essence of Chinese opera.

Commenting specifically on the mix of various opera styles, Chang said: "Let's look at American music, the period when jazz was developing. I think that what Wu is doing with Chinese opera is similar to the situation of when jazz was emerging. All sorts of music, such as gospel, soul, blues were mixed up together. This is the same sort of thing."

Caught in a net of 7-Elevens

Bicycles become gym equipment.
Originally uploaded by ianish2005

A project by staff and students of the Shih Chien University School of Design has created some unexpected adornments to Taipei's busy streets

Walking in the area around the Mingde (明德) MRT station in Beitou or in Gongguan (公館) around the National Taiwan University (國立台灣大學) campus, you might happen upon some peculiar ornamentation that he appeared in some disused or public spaces in the vicinity of 7-Eleven convenience stores. Along Dingzhou Road (丁州路), there is a posterized image of baseball hero Wang Jian-ming (王建明) made from paper cups inserted in a wire fence, and further down, a block of motorcycle parking spaces have been blocked off with milk crates and peculiar contraptions made from disused bicycles adorn the sidewalk.
"You're not really meant to see than until you come upon them (the bicycles)," said Tseng Wei (曾瑋), an architect from Taichung who also teachers at the College of Design at the Shih Chien University (實踐大學). "It is supposed to inspire a new way of looking at how urban space can be used." There is a handbook hanging from a nearby signpost describing how the contraptions, which looks like highly dangerous gym equipment, can be used.
This installation is one of eight that is part of a project called 7-Eleven City: Poetry, Architecture, New Communities that is partially funded by the President Group (統一) that owns the 7-Eleven chain. The project brought in four foreign and four local architects, who were teamed with eight poets, to create eight installations. Part of the challenge was that although the individual 7-Eleven stores which serve as markers for the installations were all participants, architects had to liaise with the community as well. Information about the location of the eight projects can be found in participating 7-Eleven stores, and although the installations are intended to remain in place until next weekend, some are likely to fall victim to the elements or irate local residents. Circle of Hope, just outside Mingde MRT station, created from massive blocks of ice by Taipei architect Lien Hao-yen (連浩延), unsurprisingly did not survive the first day.
Marco Casagrande. a Helsinki-based architect who is currently a visiting professor at Tamkang University, found that his Finnish sauna built in the forecourt of 7-Eleven just of Xinsheng South Road, Section 3, was not uniformly appreciated by local residents, who complained about the smoke from the wood fire. "The project raised issues of how we perceive public space," said Ruan Ching-yue (阮慶岳), one of the organizers of the event. An army of scarecrows, that stand half hidden amount the confusion of Wenzhou Street (溫州街), required agreement from local shop owners. "People here are always willing to go for it," Casagrande said. "I think there would be much more resistance in the US or Europe to a project like this."
For Beijing-based architect Wang Yun (王昀), it is the multiplicity of networks in which we now live that gave interest to the project. "7-Elevens are everywhere, and form a network which we negotiate when moving through the community. Mobile phones are another. Internet another. There are layers of networks which we are negotiating constantly. A project like this helps architecture students and the public become more aware of the networks in which they are enmeshed."

Published Taipei Times
Sunday Sept. 30

A voice of their own-TIEFF 2007

The availability of cheap recording technology and improved education means that Aboriginal peoples around the world can increasingly take control of how they are represented in the media; but is this a Faustian pact that will destroy what they are trying to protect

With the bulk of Taiwan's cinemas only screening the most mainstream of mainstream films, film festivals are the only recourse for those who want to get something more than the usual action adventure or romantic comedy. Notable among these ventures is the biennial Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival (TIEFF, 台灣國際民族誌影展). Since it was first created in 2001 by Hu Tai-li (胡台麗), a research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology at Academia Sinica and a respected documentary filmmaker in her own right, the event has become a platform for the exploration of various issues of ethnic identity and a channel for Taiwan's ethnographic filmmakers to get their work known both locally and internationally.
"Island Odyssey," a look at various aspects of islander culture, was the theme of the first event in 2001, followed by "Migration Story" in 2003 and "Family Variations" in 2005. This year, under the direction of Lin Wen-ling (林文玲), chairperson of the Taiwan Association of Visual Ethnography and an associate professor at the National Chiao Tung University (國立交通大學), the festival has decided on the theme "Indigenous Voices," turning the conventional perspective of ethnographic filmmaking upside down and showcasing the great strides that Aboriginal peoples around the world have taken in presenting their own point of view. This could be seen as a response to a theme that was outlined in the very first TIEFF with the screening of the films of Margret Mead, who helped popularize the use of the movie camera to document the lives of indigenous peoples, but who subsequently came in for criticism for imposing her own agenda (most notably in relation to sexual morality) on the subjects she presented.
The recording of Aboriginal life by members of its own community is still a relatively new phenomenon, but has already produced a significant body of work. From Taiwan, the work of Mayaw Biho (馬躍 ‧ 比吼), a filmmaker and social activist, will be showcased with screenings of his well-known work Dear Rice Wine, You Are Defeated (親愛的米酒 妳被我打敗了, 1998), which documents the use (or as some see it, the abuse) of rice wine in rites of passage for young men in the Makutaay tribe. Two other films, Carry the Paramount of Jade Mountain on My Back (揹起玉山最高峰, 2002) and Children in Heaven (天堂小孩, 1997) will also be screened during the festival. (See Taipei Times; on Sunday for a profile of the director.)
The other director to be featured is the Native American filmmaker Victor Masayesva, whose 1993 film Imaging Indians (1993) has been an inspiration in efforts by indigenous peoples around the world to repossess their culture. It is a response to the impositions placed on the native American identity by the filming of the Hollywood feature film The Dark Wind, which took the relationship between whites and Indians as its backdrop. His most recent work Water Land Life -- H2opi Run to Mexico (2007) will also be shown.
While independent filmmakers such as Mayaw Biho and Masayesva will make up the bulk of directors featured in Indigenous Voices, a new corporatism among Aboriginal peoples will be on display with works produced by Taiwan Indigenous Television (台灣原住民族電視台), the Central Australian Media Association and Video in the Villages, a documentary project run by South American Indians.
From its inception, TIEFF has had a somewhat academic feel. "The main difference between the films we choose and documentary films screened by National Geographic Channel or Discovery is in the manner of the representation. It is usually based on much longer term interaction with the subjects ... and provides a deeper insight. It is much more than simply a report," Lin said in an interview with the Taipei Times.
Another aspect of ethnographic films is its often close relationship with activism, which can be seen in the work of both the featured directors. Mayaw Biho is best known in Taiwan for his involvement is efforts to promote the use of tribal names, rather than adopted Han Chinese names, among Taiwan's Aborigines, as a way of affirming cultural identity.
The festival program encompasses a wide range of films. At one end of the spectrum there are strict academic exercises, such as Hu Tai-li and Lee Daw-ming's (李道明) Songs of Pasta'ay (矮人際之歌, 1989), a study of the Pasta'ay ceremony of Taiwan's Saisiat people, which will screen in a double feature with Pas-taai: The Saisiat Ceremony in 1936 (巴斯達隘: 1936年的賽夏祭典) by Japanese anthropologist Nobuto Miyamoto, who was a professor at what was then the Taipei Imperial University (now National Taiwan University). At the other, there are films like Mark Sandiford's Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny (2006), a humorous film inspired by the satirical essays of Inuit writer Zebedee Nungak, which turns the tables on generations of anthropologists, teachers, adventurers and administrators who went North to pursue their Arctic Dreams, and Futuru Tsai's (蔡政良) Amis Hip Hop (阿美嘻哈), which documents how a group of young Amis men have blended influences from contemporary social and cultural life in Taiwan with their traditional practice of ritual dance performance in their village.
With the improvement in cheap recording technology and access to education, Aboriginal peoples have increasingly been able to take control of how they are represented. This has generated new perspectives, and many new questions about the distortion created by recording media. Lin said that the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and modern media might be perceived by some as a Faustian pact in which the very efforts by which indigenous peoples seek to save their culture becomes a tool that will ultimately destroy it; but this need not necessarily be the case. With a lineup of 43 films over five days, with each screening followed by a Q&A, often with the director, there will be plenty of opportunity for audiences to ponder the many thorny issues raised by the festival.


Festival Notes:
2007 Taipei International Ethnographic Film Festival: Indigenous Voices
Screenings at the Majestic Theater (真善美戲院), located at (台北市漢中街116號7樓)
From tonight to Tuesday
Individual screenings NT$160 at the door; festival pass for all screenings NT$2,000
Screening times can be found at: www.tieff.sinica.edu.tw/ch/2007/e-index.html
All screenings with English and Chinese subtitles

All films will have English and Chinese subtitles

The premier of Malakacaway (馬拉卡照酒), the most recent work by director Mayaw Biho, will be screened at the Guling Street Avant-Garde Theater (牯嶺街小劇場), 2, Ln 5, Guling St, Taipei (台北市牯嶺街5巷2號) tomorrow at 7:30pm as part of a documentary film segment of the Migration Music Festival (see story p13). For times and details, see http://www.treesmusic.com/festival/2007mmf/frame.htm.

Published Taipei Times
Friday Sept. 28