Into the Mountain
In this short by the Taiwanese film student Chuang Shiang-An, the protagonist A-Hui struggles to come to terms with the death of his wife. He decides to end his life on the mountain where his wife died in a bus accident. However, encounters with a schoolgirl and a native hunter make him reconsider his plan.
A-Hui has decided to commit suicide after his wife died in a bus accident. He is determined to keep his promise to take her with him to a mountain summit, so he carries a memento of her along with him as he begins to climb. On the way he encounters the schoolgirl Hsin who has threatened her father with suicide. He also meets the native Taiwanese hunter Hao. A-Hui planned to stay on the mountain forever, but he discovers that Hao was the last person to see his wife alive. During his journey he finds a way to say goodbye to his wife.
The young film-maker Chuang Shiang-An – who is still studying at the film academy in Taipei – uses the lushly vegetated mountains of Taiwan as his backdrop. The student of film directing sees life itself as climbing a mountain. ‘We are all travellers on our way to our final destination. As we move along the path, the goal and meaning change continually, although we only realize this when we reach the top. But maybe the end isn’t the end, and we simply slow our pace.’