The Boat-Burning Festival
1979 · 20 min · Documentary
Shot by Chang Chao-Tang and cinematographer Christopher Doyle, The Boat Burning Festival captures the ceremony worshipping Wangye（王爺）, the local god of plague, held every three years in Sucuo Village（蘇厝） in Tainan（台南）, Taiwan. Chang timed the work to "Ommadawn", a Celtic-inspired progressive rock album by Mike Oldfield. Defying genre conventions and deviating stylistically from television or ethnographic documentary, the film testifies to the tense and complex coexistence of traditional rites, local folklore, and discourses about modernisation and identity in 1970s Taiwan.
- Director
- Chang Chao-Tang
- Released
- August 15, 1979
- Language
- Chinese
Where to watch in the US
No US streaming, rental or purchase options listed right now. Check TMDB's watch page
Streaming data from JustWatch, via TMDB.