THE ANCIENT TREE

A story of uprooted trees and displaced people finding ways to heal.

一部失根的人與樹，如何療瘉自己的故事。

Chiang, a highway maintenance worker, can sense messages from the trees. Growing up with his grandfather, Wan, a former woodsman, Chiang has a strong bond with nature. Recently, Chiang has seen an increasing number of animal carcasses on the roads that seems like a mass suicide. When he tells his grandfather, now in a dementia care home, Wan offers a warning of a disappearing tree spirit. Chiang starts having recurring dreams of being lost in the mountains until he’s rescued by an ancient tree.When Wan tries to escape the care home, Chiang takes him and an injured eagle into the mountains to seek the spirit. There, he meets Li, a woman returning to her indigenous roots after the death of her estranged mother. Li follows them deeper into the forests where they discover signs of illegal logging. Chiang and Li grow closer together. As Chiang becomes more absorbed by the forest, his sense of reality begins to blur. In his dream state, Chiang sees the spirit manifested through dance, just like the legend Li told him. Led by the eagle, they discover the activities of illegal loggers and Chiang must face a choice between nature and his own life.

阿強在清潔隊負責移植要被遷移的樹，近來他夢見兒時跟著阿公阿萬師伐木的深山。小均研究快速道路對動物棲地影響與阿強相識，她著迷於阿強的知識與野性氣味，也好奇他負責的區域常撿到動物屍體，甚至少見的麝香貓。

失智的阿萬師仍記得各種樹木。阿強提起最近漸增的動物屍體，像是集體自殺或遷徙。阿萬師面色嚴肅：「動物會跟隨千年神木或山神的腳步離開，沒有靈，那裡必有災難。」

因為這寓言，阿強與小均開始追查神秘的動物死亡……