A documentary film by Hu Tai-Li with music by Shih-Hui Chen.

In the most historic ancestral house of the matrilineal Amis tribe in Taiwan, the carved pillars tell legends of a great flood, a glowing girl, a descending shaman sent by the Mother Sun, and a patricidal headhunting event. After a strong typhoon toppled the house 40 years earlier, the pillars were moved to the Institute of Ethnology Museum. Today young villagers, assisted by female shamans, convinced the descendants and villagers of the need to communicate with ancestors trapped inside the pillars.

A violin solo by Lynn Chang will precede the screening.

5:30-5:40 pm Violin solo by Lynn Chang

5:45-7:30 pm Screening of Returning Souls followed by discussion with Hu Tai-Li and Shih-Hui Chen

Date: March 29

Venue: CGIS South, Tsai Auditorium (S010), Harvard University, Boston

Website: fairbank.fas.harvard.edu

(China Daily 03/08/2013 page23)