Island of the Winds

Elderly Taiwanese leprosy patients fight against forced eviction and being erased from history.

Taiwanese leprosy patients have been segregated for their entire lives on the urban fringe of Taipei, Taiwan since 1930. These aged patients built their lives in this island-like leper sanatorium. Then, 20 years ago, the Taiwanese government began to force open the gates of this community and develop their land in order to construct an MRT maintenance depot. This group of patients, though, are awake, aware, and fighting for their lives. So far, government workers have built a long construction ditch that both spreads out and surrounds the land. This construction has rendered the remaining land an island that is shrinking over time. Though the patients’ bodies grow old and the aforementioned construction looms over them, the spirit of these patients is growing. Their protests have aroused public attention and have become one of the most important social movements of our time. This film follows the 20 years of their lives and what remains of them: love, spirit, and eventually death — and their connection to the land. This connection is so strong that these patients themselves have become one with the land.