中
In 1991, 37-year-old Shen Zhen-Zhong was a biology teacher at Keelung Deh-Yu College of Nursing and Management. He was deeply moved by a flock of black kites playing on the embankments of Dawulun Beach. Not long after, Shen Zhen-Zhong discovered that the flock of black kites in Waimushan, Keelung, have disappeared because of the destruction to their habitat. Filled with sorrow, Shen Zhen-Zhong decided to quit teaching in 1995 and focus on the pursuit of the study of kites to tell their story for 20 years.
From 1992 to 2011, from the age of 38 to 57, Shen Zhen-Zhong used 20 years of his life to write the biography of the kites. His kite trilogy, Story of the Kite, Homeward Kite, and Looking for Lost Kite, is the result of his vision of “creating a legacy for a life.” The trilogy also attracted researchers from Hong Kong to come to Taiwan to learn from him.
Also, in 1992 Director Liang Chieh-Te began documenting Shen Zhen-Zhong’s interactions with the kite. At the time, Liang Chieh-Te was the research assistant to Professor Liu Xiao-Ru of the Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica. They traveled to Orchid Island to study the ecology of Ryūkyū scops owls. They met ecological documentary makers filming on Orchid Island, which gave him the idea to document avian ecology through video. This was when Shen Zhen-Zhong contacted Professor Liu Xiao-Ru to confirm the condition of black kite nests. The two men met and Liang Chieh-Te began following Shen Zhen-Zhong to document the black kites, which led to the birth of Fly, Kite Fly documentary.
After this, Shen Zhen-Zhong would notify Liang Chieh-Te every time he spotted black kites. Sometimes they would work together on holidays, sometimes Liang Chieh-Te would visit the black kites alone. The most fanatical time for Liang Chieh-Te was when he would drive to Waimushan before day break to film the birds and then go to work at Academica Sinica after filming. Because animal behavior is unpredictable, many shots were extremely difficult to capture and required a large amount of patience. For the shot of black kites playing catch with twigs Liang Chieh-Te waited for three years.
During the process of documenting the black kites, Shen Zhen-Zhong and Liang Chieh-Te both wondered why there were so few black kites in Taiwan. According to observations made by bird watchers abroad, even Hong Kong and Japan had larger populations of black kites than Taiwan. From November 2001 to January 2002, with the support of many bird watchers from the Keelung Birds Association, they visited Hong Kong, China, Japan, Indonesia, and Nepal to document the black kites. They saw that in several Japanese cities, such as Kamakura, Kyoto, and Sendai, the black kites would perch on the buildings. In Indian cities, there were more black kites than in small villages, and they were not afraid of people. In Kathmandu, Nepal, hundreds of black kites would appear at Swayambhunath temple, perching on the long power lines.
After 20 years focusing on black kites and just before he ended his journey in 2010, Shen Zhen-Zhong received a letter from a graduate student in the ornithology laboratory of NPUST, Lin Hui-Shan, asking him to take her black kite watching. Shen Zhen-Zhong has received similar requests before, but he discovered that these people had ulterior motives. Luckily, Shen Zhen-Zhong had a good impression of working with NPUST, so Lin Hui-Shan became his only apprentice, who followed him to every black kite habitat and breeding ground.
The reason for the disappearance of the black kites was not solved until the end of 2012. Lin Hui-Shan dissected the dead bodies of black kites with the team in the ornithology laboratory and found high levels of the pesticide Carbofuran in their bodies. She and her research associates went to the farms and found that this widely used pesticide was the cause for the significant decreases in black kites populations and the stunted growth among the populations. They would eat pigeons and sparrows that died from the pesticide and become poisoned themselves. This discovery became a turning point for the documentary Fly, Kite Fly and the narrative for the film was determined.
However, the shooting process was fraught with challenges. Normally, the production of a documentary needs to first submit a proposal and find funding before shooting can begin. The situation was the opposite for Fly, Kite Fly, where shooting started before funding was in place. Liang Chieh-Te raised money own his own to purchase 16 mm film. He used around 70,000 feet of film, which equaled 2,100 minutes of video. In the end, the extensive content was condensed into a 75 minute film. In order to provide good image quality, the film was digitized frame by frame in postproduction. The scanning of the film cost NT$1.5 million. Due to the lengthy filming period, the exposure of each reel of film was different. Light corrections had to be made to keep the images consistent. The sponsorship of CCYS HI-TECH INTERNATIONAL LTD. during this process helped the successful completion of the postproduction process. Next, the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan’s crowdfunding campaign used the power of the public to bring the film to cinemas.
With these actions Fly, Kite Fly broke many records. The film was not only the documentary with the longest production time in Taiwan but was also the first ecological documentary shown in cinemas and the longest running documentary in cinemas. Because of the social attention placed on this documentary, the advocacy for policies by the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan, and scientific evidence provided by the ornithology laboratory, many changes were made possible. The government announced a ban of carbofuran water suspended agent based pesticide and abolished the national rat extermination week. After its release, the Eagle Red Bean ― an organic brand of red beans that does not use pesticides and is named after saved eagles ― became a popular organic product. As a result of these changes, the number of black kites began to increase.
The episode interviews Director Liang Chieh-Te to talk about the production stories behind Fly, Kite Fly. We believe that if more people learn about the black kites more people will care about our environment and ecological protection and eco-friendly farming will receive more support. Practical actions are created, refined, and formed during this process to make the environment safer for humans and black kites.
Lastly, as of this year (2020), Lin Hui-Shan has also been in the pursuit of the study of kites for a decade!
Podcast on demand