In 2018, the Editor conducted a series of interviews with ocean people, each offering a different perspective into the subjects' visions of and devotion to the sea. With the support of a publisher, the Editor was able to bring to print a debut book: Dive Into Taiwan: Fellow Islanders, Let's Return to the Ocean! 16 Ways to Fall in Love with the Sea — Through Diving, Photography, Beach Cleanups, and More. The ocean people featured in the book come from vastly different walks of life, yet they all share an extraordinary passion for the sea that sets them apart from the crowd. The subject of this article may embody that quality more than anyone — A Man and His Sea: Whale Island, directed by 黑糖 (Blacksugar) Director 黃嘉俊. Whale Island Crowdfunding Page
A Man and His Sea: Whale Island
The average person tends to picture documentaries as difficult, dry affairs — synonymous with a slow pace that puts you to sleep before the credits roll. But the Editor has seen some very early rough cuts, and wants to share this right from the start:
Silence, a slow rhythm, and the pure blue of the ocean are enough to make you forget the noise of city life. The tug-of-war between life's ideals and reality, the contrast between Taiwan's culture of sea restriction and the humpback whales gliding freely through Tongan waters — two parallel storylines weave reason and emotion together into a documentary that every Taiwanese person should see.
A documentary, as distinct from a narrative feature, is a style of filmmaking that uses the camera to observe, record, or investigate the real world. As the pace of commercial society grows ever faster — with attention fixed on money, profit, ROI, and other business metrics — there remains a group of people determined to capture everything happening in this world through their lenses. Perhaps if they don't document it now, there will be no way to document it later.
Courtesy of documentary A Man and His Sea: Whale Island
After learning scuba diving seven years ago, Blacksugar Director was puzzled to discover that Taiwan's underwater ecosystem was nothing like what he had imagined. He had pictured a world teeming with marine life and fish, but reality told a very different story. As time passed, that puzzlement led him to connect with like-minded friends who cared about the ocean — including the film's two male protagonists, Teacher 廖鴻基 and Teacher 金磊. It just so happened that Teacher 廖鴻基 was about to embark on the Kuroshio Drift project at the time, and the stars aligned: they decided to use the documentary lens to convey their vision of the sea.
Filming a documentary is quite different from filming a narrative feature, as Blacksugar Director points out with a laugh. In filmmaking, "Time is money!" — for narrative productions, the enormous costs of a full crew and equipment are burning through budgets by the second, which is why meticulous pre-production planning, storyboards, and shot lists are essential to keep shooting on schedule.
For a documentary, however, time is the filmmaker's best friend. On one hand, most documentary footage cannot be planned or staged in advance — it's about capturing the most authentic moments as they unfold, which means waiting becomes the single most important factor. A Man and His Sea: Whale Island, for example, took three years to shoot. On the other hand, anyone with a camera can become a documentary director, which dramatically reduces crew and equipment costs. As a result, before production on A Man and His Sea: Whale Island began, Blacksugar Director gave virtually no thought to the subsequent production costs or post-production expenses — let alone distribution plans. Perhaps going with the flow is another kind of spiritual refinement for the documentary filmmaker.
Courtesy of documentary A Man and His Sea: Whale Island
If You Love Whales and Dolphins, This Documentary Is a Must-See!
In the film, Blacksugar Director takes the camera to the Kingdom of Tonga, more than 8,000 km from Taiwan. Anyone who has researched cetaceans — or is a freediver or scuba diver — will know this country well, because it is one of the few places in the world where you can observe humpback whales up close in their natural habitat. Through Teacher 金磊's lens, we are instantly transported to Tonga, brought into intimate contact with the humpback whales, whose underwater murmurings leave us in awe of the wonders of nature.
Shifting the lens back to the familiar waters off Hualien, Taiwan, Teacher 廖鴻基 sets out from Taichung's Fugang Fishing Port aboard a powerless drifting platform assembled from 36 detachable floating dock tiles, riding the Kuroshio Current. Teacher 廖鴻基, who is also a whale-watching guide, explains that nearly 30 species of cetaceans can be spotted in Taiwanese waters — yet long-standing fisheries policies have progressively distanced the Taiwanese people from the sea.
Courtesy of documentary A Man and His Sea: Whale Island
Blacksugar Director: Taiwan's culture of sea restriction began during the martial law era, when a range of outdated regulations curtailed the Taiwanese people's right to access the ocean. A deep-seated fear of the sea has further severely limited the way Taiwanese people today imagine and relate to it.
If You Are Standing at the Crossroads Between Reality and Your Dreams, This Documentary Is a Must-See!
Beyond its stunning natural scenery, this documentary explores an especially compelling storyline: the tug-of-war a man faces between chasing his dreams and dealing with the reality of everyday life. Teacher 廖鴻基 chose to follow the ocean twenty-one years ago, and in doing so was separated from his daughter — only to be reunited with her through the sea ten years later. The scene in A Man and His Sea: Whale Island where Teacher 廖鴻基 recounts the moment his daughter stepped aboard a whale-watching boat is deeply moving: "The ocean I've been protecting for decades — I wanted my daughter to see it too. That particular tour was really my way of guiding her."
Teacher 金磊 is Taiwan's first cetacean photographer. In pursuit of precious images of whales and dolphins, he has traveled to oceans all over the world — yet deep in his heart, the one thing he cannot bear to leave behind is his family. There are times when he stays home to be with his young children as they grow, but watching other photographers' work continue to advance, the spirit of adventure buried within him can only be suppressed for so long.
金磊: My sons always refused to come out to sea with me. I only found out later that it was because they were afraid of watching me jump into the water — afraid that I would simply disappear.
Beyond his sons, Teacher 金磊's father has also been a source of conflict in his life. In Chinese-speaking societies, parents typically hope their sons will find a stable job, start a family, build a career, and live a steady, settled life. But does that template really suit everyone? As Teacher 金磊 puts it: "If everyone has to spend ten years reaching a certain stage of life, I'd rather spend those ten years on something I'm genuinely passionate about."
Courtesy of documentary A Man and His Sea: Whale Island
These personal stories are not only presented to us through Blacksugar Director's lens — Blacksugar Director himself is also a protagonist in the film. During the three years of shooting A Man and His Sea: Whale Island, he welcomed his own child into the world. Life is fair to everyone in at least one way: we all get the same 24 hours in a day. How to balance family, a documentary, and everyday life — this film is also Blacksugar Director's own exploration of that very question. Will watching A Man and His Sea: Whale Island give you the answer? No, it won't. But it will make you stop in your tracks and reflect: what is it, exactly, that you are pursuing in your life?
A Man and His Sea: Whale Island is currently running a crowdfunding campaign. If you'd like the chance to see this rare ocean documentary on the big screen, your small show of support can help take them further! Click here to back the campaign!!
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