Film screening: 'I Dream of the Ocean'

The Centre of Taiwan Studies is delighted to screen the documentary I Dream of the Ocean, as part of this year's Centre of Taiwan Studies Summer School, a meditative film on Syaman Rapongan, Tao boat-building, and the transmission of Indigenous memory, language, and oceanic knowledge across generations.

Film synopsis

At the edge of the Pacific lies Orchid Island, a 48-square-kilometer home of the indigenous Tao people, who call it Pongso no Tao. I Dream of the Ocean follows Tao writer and boat builder Syaman Rapongan across 70 years as he learns ancestral boat building from his father, communicates with spirits through the Tao language, and passes oceanic knowledge to his son. For Syaman, the Tatala boat embodies family, memory, and cultural continuity.

The documentary weaves together materials from four historical periods and visual systems: 

• 1950s black-and-white government propaganda films reflecting a colonial gaze on the island.
• 1970s 16mm ethnographic footage by French anthropologist Véronique Arnaud documenting Tao rituals and daily life.
• 1980s Betacam recordings by director Daw-ming Lee of Syaman learning boat building from his father.
• Contemporary footage of Syaman teaching his son forest knowledge, logging traditions, boat building, and offshore fishing.

Blending poetry, history, and personal memory, the film traces a return journey through language, body, land, and sea. By writing in a foreign language while preserving Tao traditions, Syaman resists cultural erasure and reveals how indigenous knowledge survives through storytelling, craftsmanship, and the living relationship between ocean and land.

Image credit: Fisfisa Media Co., Ltd.