The Man on the Tracks

Inspired by Kan Yao-ming’s short story The Mysterious Train, the work transforms Ciou’s childhood experiences along the Old Mountain Line in Sanyi, Miaoli, and his family memories into the story of a man whose livelihood depends on the railway. The disused tracks carry the passage of local time and evoke experiences of the White Terror that have remained insufficiently articulated, becoming the setting in which the film’s narrative unfolds.

A dreamlike narrative interweaves everyday life with veiled historical experiences, attending to how the families of victims of political persecution bear and carry forward the effects of the past. Following the Old Mountain Line back towards memories of martial law, the film asks how the White Terror becomes legend, family recollection, or an internalised feeling in daily life. Through the interplay of fictional characters and local experience, events that remain outside formal historical accounts yet continue to leave their scars are given a place within the imagination.