Skip to main content
Tayal Forest Club film image; two people jumping through river in forest

Tayal Forest Club

男孩奇幻夜

VIFF Short Forum

Two teens lose their way during a hike in the dense and mountainous Atayal homelands, crossing paths with a man who at first appears to be the town drunk.

 

Supported by

    

Media Partner

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Yukan Losing, Buya Watan, Kesi Silan

Credits
Country of Origin

Taiwan

Year

2024

Language

In Atayal and Mandarin with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
19 min
Cinemas of Asia Drama Indigenous Cinema Shorts Women Directors
Nia Tero Foundation, Upstander Project Production

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Tracy Rector

Producer

Adam Mazo, Chen Yi Chen, Kavita Pillay, Tracy Rector, Taylor Hensel

Screenwriter

Laha Mebow, Yayut Icyang

Cinematography

Liao Ching-Yao

Editor

Sauli Pillay

Original Music

Jennifer Kreisberg

Art Director

Sheng-Lin Wu

Laha Mebow headshot; Tayal Forest Club director

Laha Mebow 陳潔瑤

As the first Indigenous woman film director from Taiwan, Laha Mebow is best known for feature films focusing on the Tayal community. Her 2022 feature film, Gaga (2022), garnered Laha the coveted best director award at the 2022 Golden Horse Awards, an annual celebration of Chinese language cinema. With it, Laha became the first Taiwanese woman and the first Indigenous director to win the Golden Horse award for best director. Her previous feature, Lokah Laqi! (Hang in There, Kids!) (2016) won five awards at the 2016 Taipei Film Awards, including Best Narrative and the Grand Prize. Lokah Laqi! was Taiwan’s submission to the 2017 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

 

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Titanic

Dir. James Cameron
197 min

James Cameron's romantic disaster movie spent 17 weeks topping the box office charts on its way to a $2 billion gross and 11 Academy Awards. Not too shabby for such a harrowing experience (and that's just the love scenes).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Cookie Queens

Dir. Alysa Nahmias
91 min

A documentary about the annual Girl Scouts' cookie sale is probably not high on your list of must-sees, but don't be too sure — this movie is a delight, a rare celebration of girlhood, supportive family relations, and the art of salesmanship.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

A Simple Machine

Dir. Mark Hoffman
97 min

Cutting costs, swapping four wheels for two, Nick is downsizing to pay off his student debt. It's a path which leads to savings he had not anticipated, even if his girlfriend thinks he's losing it (and she may be right). A lean, low budget gem.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Jackie Brown

Dir. Quentin Tarantino
154 min

Take half a dozen characters who know they're in a fix, and give them half a million dollars to fight over. Tarantino's crime movie (his best) transcends genre in large part because in Pam Grier and Robert Forster it gives us people we truly care about.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Gummo

Dir. Harmony Korine
95 min

Harmony Korine was just 24 when he made Gummo. It's become a cult favourite as much for its singularity as anything else: it's a strange, misshapen beast, a slice of beat poetry translated into experimental film.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Princess Mononoke

Dir. Hayao Miyazaki
134 min

A mystical fight between humans and the Animal Gods of the forest. Ashitaka, the last prince of a dying race, struggles to find a way for both sides to co-exist. But the fighting only becomes more and more bloody and all hope seems to be lost…

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema