Traditionally, the Tao people always harvest flying fish and dolphin fish from their plankboats in the waters off of southern Taiwan. But now they rowed westward to unfamiliar waters across the Kuroshio Current, to call on civilized Taiwan for a change.

Making the trip on a 14-oar plankboat was an expression of the Tao’s oceanic civilization. Syaman Rapongan and his younger brother Fungayen, together with their tribesmen, crossed over the cultural differences between ethnic groups in Taiwan, an act which also symbolized the life-long struggle since their youth of the Syaman brothers in Taiwanese society.

For more information, visit the website for the Yilan Green International Film Festival.