《The Island and the Trees》 Hits NT$20M: Director LEE Hsiang-hsiu Spends 5 Years Documenting Taiwan's Ancient Trees and Ecology

Box office returns for《The Island and the Trees》have topped NT$20 million across Taiwan. Exclusively sponsored in 2026 by Wiwynn and the Wiwynn Foundation, the documentary spotlights the country's forests and monumental trees. The foundation’s backing began with the "Tree Searchers" project, driven by a simple question: Taiwan is full of trees, but what species are out there, and how healthy are they?

The effort started with Dr. Hsu Chia-chun (Rebecca Hsu) at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute. Her "Tree Searchers" team partnered with Prof. Wang Chi-kuei’s group at National Cheng Kung University, using airborne LiDAR across 50,000+ point-cloud datasets to locate Taiwan's hidden giant trees and build an essential baseline database. Their fieldwork revived public appreciation of alpine old-growth forests and provided solid empirical data for conservation.

Golden Horse–winning director Lee Hsiang-hsiu spent five years—and over two decades of her personal retirement savings—following the team into steep mountain terrain. Her film captures the rapport among researchers, camera crews, Indigenous guides, and mountaineers. It also traces Taiwan's logging history from Japanese colonial rule to the postwar era, highlighting how climate extremes now threaten ancient trees with windthrow and collapse.

Connected by Dr. Hsu, the Wiwynn Foundation partnered with Lee to bridge scientific research, corporate sponsorship, and cinema. Wiwynn Foundation Director Yang Wan-ju called the collaboration an arrangement of "the mountain spirits." Beyond its box office success, the film serves as a vital environmental lesson: the goal is not merely measuring how tall these trees are, but ensuring they survive for generations to come. The foundation will continue supporting giant-tree research and forest conservation.

https://esg.gvm.com.tw/article/119060