Firefly Image Company(螢火蟲映像體), are one of the few image working crew of independent production in Taiwan. At the beginning of 1999, we invited 12... More

Firefly Image Company(螢火蟲映像體), are one of the few image working crew of independent production in Taiwan. At the beginning of 1999, we invited 12 young and vigorous filmmakers to sail for 12 isles surrounding Taiwan and started to shoot there. It is an innovative and spontaneous adventure for film. Every director commits himself/herself to the sea and isles for one year. Now, one year has gone by. Each one turns in his/her piece collected as the longest creation of film work in the film history in Taiwan. 　 12 people, with 12 diverse perspectives, aesthetics, and strategies of creation, create 12 versions of various landscapes of isles. It is a longest film of "Floating Islands". 　 THE FLOATING BALL (浮球) Super 16mm/35mm, 24 mins, Colour Director: LI Zhi-Chiang (李志薔) 　 The island of Little Liu Chiuyu(小琉球) sits alone on the outskirts of the Taiwan strait. Like a ball floating in the middle of the ocean, ancient people have given it the name "Liu Chiuyu"(琉球) or Floating Ball. Surrounding this little island are more floating balls. They are the boathouses belonging to Mainland Chinese fishermen. These balls that have been floating for years on end, are also called 'ocean hotels.' 　 Divided into three segments, the film depicts the fate, the humanity and the destiny of these floating balls. Segment I: A New Life. (新生之路) Segment II: Returning Home. (望鄉) Segment III: A-Yang the islander. (鳥人阿揚) 　 WHO IS FISHING(r) (誰來釣魚(r)) 16mm/35mm, 16mins, Colour Director: CHEN Singing (陳芯宜) 　 The people of ancient times gave this island an interesting and carefree name. But the meaning, that which is symbolized by the island, is no longer so simple. Complications of modernity have exposed the essence of the real situation. The relationship between people and land: from co-existence to labeling and claiming ownership, to losing focus of the larger common goal, characterizes the problem of the Diao Yu Tai Island(釣魚台). No longer just a matter to be solved by "who can prove ownership of the island," this film hopes to discard the blind spot of "patriotism" and start from a point where people can re-evaluate the meaning and importance of "human needs" vs. "nature", "self" vs. "country", "country" vs. homeland." 　 THE PARADISE ISLAND TONG-SHA, AN ISLE LIKE A CRAB (南之島之男之島) Super 16mm/35mm, 17mins, B & W/Colour Director: MJ LEE (李孟哲) 　 Being used to a certain way of looking, listening, and understanding, we are often presumptuous about our judgments. As a filmmaker, I made the same mistake at the beginning of the shoot. Just like the seven-minute long opening that resembles the educational entertainment programs produced by the Department of Defense, this film gives the feeling of a distant familiarity. It is only through the written words of a soldier that the desolate island becomes brighter and more colorful. 　 Composed of shells and turned into carbonate sediments by the wind and time, Tong-Sha Island (東沙) is an island where a large group of men are symbolically chained. It is an island that no one wants to go to, and yet think it a shame to abandon. 　 LIBANGBANG (清文不在家) Super 16mm/35mm, 35mins, Colour Director: KUO Chen-Ti (郭珍弟) 　 This is the story of Ching-wen (清文) and his family. 　 Building a house for his parents has been Ching-wen's long- time wish. But before he could finish constructing the house, they ran out of money. So now he has to leave his home on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and return to Taiwan to make more money. From his father to his two younger brothers, his uncle to his mother, all of them have a few things to say about him. 　 TROUBLE (基隆嶼的青春紀事) Super 16mm/35mm, 21mins, Colour Director: WU Jimmy (吳介民) 　 Most people would say that if you can't touch it and you can't see it, then it doesn't exist. Unless you have faith. When the boat takes off to its destination, its passengers may have a preconception of what that destination may look like. Some people could say that by way of imagination, it is possible to go some place. For others, it may not be so, unless they have actually set foot on that destination. 　 This is the story of Keelung Islet (基隆嶼). It is a documentation of a process and a consciousness. 　 SILENT DELTA (噤聲三角) 16 mm, DV/35 mm, 19mins, B & W/Colour Director: SHEN Ko-Shang (沈可尚) 　 The fate of the three coral atolls in northern Taiwan was decided by the migration history of the humans. A land does not always require human explanations to give it a meaning. "Silent Delta" is a film based on the testimonies of nature. 　 A beached ocean-liner on Pinnacle Island (花瓶嶼); a lone goat who has lived on Cotton Island (棉花嶼) for five years; and on Peng-Jia Island (彭佳嶼), an apparition of a Japanese soldier, left behind from the times of the Japanese invasion. We come to the islands and devour these scenes with our cameras... Wandering between these three islands, we become a part of this silent ghostly landscape. 　 BEFORE THE RADIATION (輻射將至) DV, Super16 mm/35 mm, 22mins, Colour Director: Zero CHOU (周美玲) 　 In early 1998, Wu-chieu Island (烏坵) was declared to be the reserve location for Nuclear Waste Disposal. Despite protests by the islanders, no one seems to heed their calls. "If there is no threat of contamination, why dump it on our island? Why not bury gold here instead?" questions one of the island elders. "As a strategic military zone, this island is off limits to the public. So if the government decides to expend a few of us, we have no means to take care of ourselves whatsoever." TAIPOWER (台電) has set a high retribution fee of 3 billion dollars. In light of the money, the islanders are having a hard time weighing their choices. 　 TURTLE ISLAND: NOSTALGIC VOICES (鄉愁對話錄) Super 16mm/35mm, 20mins, Colour Director: LEE Yung-Chuan (李泳泉) 　 "Every time I go fishing out at sea, I would try to get a closer look at Kweishan Island (龜山島). Even just to look at it once more!" says Chen Chi-yao (陳啟耀) who has moved to Ilan (宜蘭) for over 20 years. All the childhood memories and the distinct qualities of the villagers have been buried on Kweishan Island when the whole village was relocated. "And now we can only hide our homesickness in our dreams." Says Jiang Fu-san (江福讚), another islander. Tourism brings only devastation. In the hearts of the displaced islanders, watching the growing tourism on Kweishan Island grieves them deeply. 　 MY OWN PRIVATE GREEN ISLAND (我的綠島) Super 16mm/35mm, 32mins, Colour Director: HSU Juei-Lan (竟穰m) 　 For most people, the relationship between Green Island (綠島)and political prisoners is an inseparable one. Although the island has been fully commercialized for tourism these days, the history of political imprisonment has left a permanent mark there.　 Green Island, like its name suggests, is a lusciously green island. But its other name, "Burning Island" (火燒島)implies a red, hot, and dry island. The irony of its names fully reflects on the irony of how the island is used these days. 　 The film relies on 3 characters: a local islander, a daughter of a former political prisoner, and an artist with manic depression, to depict the multi-faceted appearance of the island. 　 03:04 (03:04) 16mm/35 mm, 16mins, Colour Director: HUANG Ting-Fu (黃庭輔) 　 Waiting for nothing... 　 Sound of snooker balls crashing together, flicking through television programs, the light steam from a bowl of instant noodles, sweet words from a hundred dollar telephone card... 　 Old folks waiting for a good coffin, children waiting to leave the island, soldiers counting the steamed buns, waiting to retire from the military, old veterans waiting for their next check to buy rice wine, the little dog wandering outside the door waiting to see grandma's kind face, the lady-boss waiting to see the stock market rise, the teachers waiting for their retirement funds... Trees waiting for the wind, the wind waiting for the rocks, the rocks waiting for man's return, and I'm waiting for the movie to end. 　 SHADOW DANCING AT MA TSU (馬祖舞影) Super 16mm/35mm, 22mins, Colour Director: CHEN Wei-Ssu (簡偉斯) 　 The dynamics of the dance, the bobbing of the waves, the unstable conditions of the climate effecting the flight schedule, islanders seeming to drift in an atmosphere of uncertainty. The film is organized along the routine of a female dancer. Divided into four stages: hope, fear, anger and the longing for stability, the film crosscuts these emotions with the emotions of Matsu (馬祖)islanders, the stationed troops, and the photographers from Taiwan visiting Matsu Island for the first time. The problem facing Matsu is that situated so close to Mainland China, the locals are uncertain of their safety and their future. Especially considering the decreasing number of military troops stationed there. 　 WEST ISLAND (西嶼坪) Super 16mm/35mm, 35mins, Colour Director: CHU Hsien-Jer (朱賢哲) 　 The Pong Hu Islands (澎湖) is made up of some 60 tiny islands. One of them, is the size of only a square mile with over a dozen people living on it. It is difficult for us to know if it was by chance, that the majority of the population had just decided to move out. There are now 4 families living on West Island (西嶼坪). Two of them are handicapped elders living alone, while the other two have invalid family members. The 4 policemen assigned to protect the islanders are officers involved in lawsuits or other punishments. These are forgotten individuals, much like the island itself. Yet they live in harmony with nature, and happily amongst themselves. Close