The Spirit of 8 2003

Directed by Lee Chia-hua

At the age of eight, the now 25-year-old director caused an incident, which has remained traumatic as he became older. Although it seemed just a trivial matter, something one might expect from children, he obstinately questions his family, friends and teachers about what happened at that time. Worrying over the thoughts of dishonor he saw in his family’s eyes then, he has fostered a self-hatred over the years. As if reconstructing the past with his camera, he attempts to free himself of this self-hatred, shedding tears for himself at times and opening his own wounds, then healing them. What he has discovered through filmmaking was his once sealed “self.” The question now is, where to go from here?