Project Progress

✅ Aug–Oct 2022 Completed the first major filming phase: full documentation of the 1,200 km pilgrimage walk on foot.

✅ 2024–2025 Multiple return visits to Shikoku for additional filming and continued engagement with local residents encountered along the route.

✅ 2025 Began establishing connections with major international documentary platforms and film festivals.

📌 Mar–Apr 2026 Completion of the first rough cut.

📌 May–Jul 2026 Final filming phase, including return visits with local participants and landscape / observational footage.

📌 Aug 2026 Completion of the second rough cut.

📌 Sep 2026 Picture lock and fine edit.

📌 Oct 2026 Final cut completed.

📌 Nov–Dec 2026 Post-production: sound design, music, and color grading.
Project completion.

專案進度

✅ 2022年8–10月 完成第一階段主要拍攝：全程以徒步方式，完整記錄 1,200 公里的四國遍路行走。

✅ 2024–2025年 多次重返四國進行補拍，並持續與沿途結識的在地居民保持聯繫與拍攝。

✅ 2025年 開始與主要國際紀錄片平台及影展建立聯繫。

📌 2026年3–4月 完成第一版初剪（Rough Cut）。

📌 2026年5–7月 最終拍攝階段，包括與在地參與者的重返拍攝，以及風景與觀察式影像的補充拍攝。

📌 2026年8月 完成第二版初剪。

📌 2026年9月 畫面定剪（Picture Lock）與精修剪輯。

📌 2026年 10 月 完成最終剪輯版本。

📌 2026年11–12月 後期製作：聲音設計、音樂製作與調色。
專案完成。

Use of Funds

The film completed its first major filming phase between August and October 2022, documenting the full 1,200 km pilgrimage walk. This material currently makes up approximately 70% of the film.

Between 2024 and 2025, the team returned to Shikoku multiple times to continue filming, focusing on people encountered along the route and the passage of time since the original journey.

The final filming phase is planned for spring–summer 2026.
A portion of the funds raised through this campaign will be used to support this final round offilm shooting.

At the same time, we plan to complete the first rough cut in spring 2026. Another portion of the funds will be allocated to thepost production aiming to finish the 1st rough cut andto develop the film’s narrative structure at this crucial stage.

資金用途說明

本片已於 2022 年 8 月至 10 月 完成第一個主要拍攝階段，完整記錄了全程 1,200 公里的四國遍路行走。目前，這部分素材約佔整部影片內容的 70%。

在 2024 年至 2025 年 期間，團隊多次重返四國持續拍攝，重點聚焦於沿途相遇的人們，以及自最初行走以來時間所帶來的變化與痕跡。

最終拍攝階段預計於 2026 年春夏 進行。
本次募資所得的一部分，將用於支持這最後一輪的拍攝工作。

同時，我們也計畫在 2026 年春季完成第一版粗剪。
另一部分資金將投入於後期製作，用以完成首版粗剪，並在這個關鍵階段進一步梳理與發展影片的敘事結構。

Post-production & Distribution Plan

In the beginning of 2026, the film will enter post-production, including rough cuts, final cut, sound design, music, and color grading.

In parallel, we are actively maintaining connections with international documentary platforms and film festivals, including Tokyo Docs (Japan) and Doc Edge (New Zealand), with the aim of bringing the film to a wider international audience.

These steps will move forward progressively as further funding becomes available.

後期製作與發行計畫

於 2026 年初，本片將正式進入後期製作階段，包括初剪、最終剪輯、聲音設計、音樂製作與調色等工作。

同時，我們也將持續並積極與國際紀錄片平台及影展保持聯繫，包括東京紀錄片提案大會（Tokyo Docs，日本）與 Doc Edge（紐西蘭），以期將本片帶給更廣泛的國際觀眾。

上述各項工作將隨著後續資金逐步到位而持續推進。

Transparency & Updates

All funds raised through this campaign will be used exclusively for the production of the film and not for personal expenses.

We are committed to transparency and will provide regular email updates to supporters, including progress reports and information on how the funds are being used.

透明度與更新

本次募資所籌得的所有資金，將全數用於本片的製作相關支出，不會用於任何個人開銷。

我們承諾秉持高度透明的原則，並將透過電子郵件定期向支持者提供最新進度更新，包括製作進展以及資金使用情況的說明。

Budget Breakdown

Total Goal: USD 27,632 

This campaign supports the final round of filming and the first full rough cut of Zero, A Pilgrimage to the Self.

How the funds will be used:

• Travel & Accommodation – USD 6,510 
  Flights, lodging, transportation, and meals for final filming in Shikoku
• Crew Costs – USD 9,425 
  Cinematographer and drone operator (director & producer are unpaid)
• Filming Equipment – USD 2,465 
  Camera, sound equipment, and DIT support
• Production Expenses – USD 1,247
  Fuel, tolls, parking, participant gifts, communication
• Rough Cut Editing – USD 7,250 
  Editor fees and editing setup for the first full cut
• Contingency – USD 725 
  For unforeseen production needs

Every contribution goes directly toward completing the final filming and shaping the first full version of the film.

預算明細

募資總目標：USD 27,632

本次募資將用於「歸零」 之 最終拍攝階段 與 第一版完整初剪 的製作。

資金使用項目如下：

• 差旅與住宿 — USD 6,510
  用於四國最終拍攝期間的機票、住宿、交通與餐食費用。
• 製作人員費用 — USD 9,425
  攝影師與空拍操作人員費用（導演與製片不支領報酬）。
• 拍攝設備 — USD 2,465
  攝影器材、收音設備與 DIT 技術支援。
• 製作雜支 — USD 1,247
  油資、過路費、停車費、參與者致謝禮與通訊費用。
• 初剪剪輯 — USD 7,250
  第一版完整初剪之剪輯師費用與剪輯工作配置。
• 預備金 — USD 725
  因應拍攝過程中不可預期的製作需求。

每一筆支持，皆將直接用於完成最終拍攝，並形成本片的第一個完整版本。

Risks & Challenges

This is a documentary filmed over many years, and its greatest challenge is time itself.

Many of the people who appear in the film are elderly. Over the past few years, some have already passed away, and their images and voices can no longer be re-recorded or revisited.

In addition, long-term, cross-border filming and an independently driven production place ongoing demands on time, energy, and resources.

Precisely because of these irreversible changes, this film needs to be completed now.

風險與挑戰

本片為一部橫跨多年拍攝的紀錄片，其最大的挑戰，正是時間本身。

片中出現的許多人物皆已年邁。過去幾年間，部分受訪者已相繼離世，他們的影像與聲音已無法再度補拍或重現。

此外，長期且跨國的拍攝行動，以及由創作者獨立推動的製作模式，對時間、體力與資源皆帶來持續性的考驗。

正因這些無法逆轉的變化，本片更需要在此刻完成。

What This Film Is About

 ZERO, A Pilgrimage to the Self is a documentary film about walking, encounters, and time.

 The film opens with an unexpected yet gentle moment: inside a Japanese temple, monks are setting up lights and cameras. When a visitor asks what they are preparing for, a monk explains that the equipment allows people to join daily chanting online.

This simple exchange becomes the film’s point of entry.

 The story then turns to the director herself, a filmmaker and travel writer whose work and life have unfolded across different countries. During the COVID pandemic, as borders closed and the world came to a standstill, she travels alone to Japan’s Shikoku Island and begins a 1,200 kilometer pilgrimage on foot. The film observes her preparations, her solitary days on the road, and the lived experience of walking this ancient route during an unprecedented global pause.

The 1,200 kilometer walk forms the film’s central narrative. What begins with curiosity and a sense of novelty gradually gives way to physical exhaustion, doubt, and long stretches of silence. The camera stays close to the body and the road, moving through summer heat, temples, and cemeteries, recording the subtle changes that emerge through daily repetition. Reflections on life are not introduced as themes, but emerge naturally through continued movement.

Alongside this journey, a second timeline slowly unfolds: a series of return visits since the initial pilgrimage. The director comes back to Shikoku to revisit people she met during the pilgrimage, spending time with them and walking parts of the route together. Many of them are elderly locals who have quietly maintained and cared for the pilgrimage path for decades. Their daily lives and circumstances reveal another face of this road.

One of these stories centers on Takahara, now in her eighties, who ran a pilgrimguest house along the route for fifteen years. In the summer of 2025, the director accompanies her on a drive to Cape Ashizuri, the southernmost point of Shikoku, as a farewell journey. Takahara is preparing to leave Shikoku—where she has lived for many years—and return to Sendai for retirement. Shortly before the trip, she learns that a close friend she once met in Ashizuri passed away just a month earlier, at over one hundred years old. This shared journey transforms the act of “returning” from a repetition of place into an encounter with a new stage of life.

Through these return visits, the film also encounters others who continue to live along the path: the Irie couple (Mr. Irie passed away during Covid), who run the pilgrim lodge Utangura; Mr. Manabe, head priest of Dainichi-ji Temple (Temple No. 4), and moments of rest to those walking the pilgrimage.

 By weaving together the solitary walk during the pandemic and the later return visits, the film portrays a pilgrimage route that continues to be walked and cared for, while tracing how an individual, in midlife, navigates uncertainty through movement, connection, and repeated acts of farewell.

這部電影在說什麼

這是一部關於行走、相遇與時間的紀錄片。

影片以一個出乎意料卻溫柔的瞬間開場：在日本的一座寺院裡，僧侶們正在架設燈光和攝影設備。當一位訪客詢問他們在準備什麼時，一位僧侶解釋說，這些設備可以讓人們在線上參與每日的誦經活動。

隨後，故事轉向導演本人——一位在不同國家旅行與工作的電影創作者兼旅行作家。疫情期間，在世界停擺、國門封閉的背景下，她獨自前往日本四國，展開一段 1,200 公里的徒步行程。影片記錄了她為行程所做的準備、獨自行走的日常，以及在特殊時期踏上這條古道的真實體驗。

這 1,200 公里的徒步構成了影片的主線。從最初的好奇與新鮮感出發，行走逐漸帶來身體的疲憊、內心的疑惑，以及長時間的沉默。鏡頭緊貼身體與道路，穿行於夏日的炎熱、寺院與墓地之間，紀錄日復一日步伐中的微妙變化。關於人生的思考並未被刻意提出，而是在持續行走中自然而然浮現。

在這條行走主線中，影片逐漸展開另一條時間線——從首次徒步遍路結束後的多次回訪。導演重返四國，拜訪徒步途中認識的當地人，與他們共度時光、再度同行。這些人中，許多是長期守護遍路之路的年長者，他們的日常、選擇與處境，呈現出這條道路的另一種面貌。

其中，高原道隆的故事成為影片的重要一段。她八十多歲，目前在第一番靈山寺工作，曾在四國遍路途中經營遍路旅館十五年。2025 年夏天，導演陪她開車前往四國最南端的足摺岬，作為一次告別之旅——她即將離開生活多年的四國，返回仙台安享晚年。出發前，她才得知一位曾在足摺岬認識的老朋友於一個月前過世，享年一百多歲。這次同行，使影片中的「回訪」從單純的地點重返，轉化為對人生新階段的真實面對。

透過這些回訪，影片也捕捉到仍然生活在朝聖路沿線的其他人物：入江夫婦（ 入江 先生在疫情期間過世），經營 善根宿 「Utangura」；大日寺（第四番）住持真鍋先生（Manabe）；以及為朝聖者提供休憩的各個瞬間。

透過疫情期間的孤獨行走，與多年後的回訪交織，影片呈現了一條仍被行走、被守護的朝聖之路，也呈現了一位中年個體，如何在不斷前行與一次次告別中，重新面對生活的不確定性。

Story Background

More than a decade ago, I was first drawn to the story of Kūkai, a Japanese monk who traveled to Tang Dynasty China. Although his time there was brief, he brought back esoteric Buddhist teachings, scriptures, and artistic traditions that continue to shape Japanese culture today. This history stayed with me for years.

In the summer of 2022, as the pandemic still overshadowed the world, borders were closed and human connection felt nearly severed. By chance, I traveled alone to Shikoku. With almost no tourists on the island, I began walking the full 1,200 kilometer pilgrimage route.

The journey started in the intense heat of mid-summer and continued into the early autumn of October. At first, the footage I recorded was entirely private, documenting my physical condition, emotional shifts, and the challenges that surfaced through prolonged solitude.

But my journey did not truly end whenthe walk was completed.

The following year, despite having no formal religious background, I moved to Kōyasan, one of Japan’s most important Buddhist centers and a place deeply connected to Kūkai and the esoteric traditions he introduced. Life and filmmaking continued to unfold there.

In early 2025, during a conversation with a senior Japanese documentary filmmaker who had worked on NHK’s The Silk Road series in the 1980s, he asked me a simple question:

故事背景

十多年前，我第一次被日本留學僧空海的故事所吸引——他在唐朝短暫學習，卻將密教體系、佛經與藝術帶回日本。這段歷史在我心中留下了深遠的回響。

2022 年夏天，疫情仍籠罩全球，國境封閉，人与人之間幾乎斷聯。因緣際會下，我獨自前往日本四國，在幾乎沒有遊客的情況下，踏上全長 1,200 公里的遍路之旅。行走從盛夏 35 度開始，延續至十月初秋。起初，這些影像只是為自己而拍的私人記錄——記錄身體的狀態、情緒的變化，以及在孤獨行走中不斷浮現的挑戰。

這段行走在結束後，並沒有真正結束。隔年，我這位原本並無宗教信仰的創作者，搬入日本佛教聖地高野山——一處與空海及唐密傳統緊密相連的地方。生活與創作在此繼續展開。

直到 2025 年初，與一位曾參與 80 年代 NHK《絲綢之路》紀錄片的日本紀錄片前輩交流時，他問了我一個簡單的問題：「為什麼不把四國遍路的紀錄，做成一部完整的紀錄片呢？」

「歸零 」正是在這個提問中，逐漸成形。

Who We Are

Director Bayan

Bayan began her career with international co-production features and Chinese films shot overseas, including The Children of Huang Shi (starring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh), Sophie’s Revenge (starring Zhang Ziyi), and The Meg (starring Jason Statham). She later expanded into documentaries as a producer, collaborating with Intel on the large-scale documentary Hello AI, and also published travel books in China and Taiwan while working with Lonely Planet as writer and commissioning editor.

Producer Julia CHENG

Julia Cheng, Producer, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her directorial debut film Cricket Liu won Best International Short Documentary at American Documentary Film Festival 2019.

In the past years, she has mainly worked as a producer with top Chinese documentary filmmakers on several feature length films, including City Dream directed by Weijun Chen (previous works incl. "Please Vote For Me"), which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival; The Invisible Shore directed by Qi Zhao (previous works incl. Last Train Home, The Chinese Mayor), which was an Official Selection by DOC NYC 2021.

我們是誰

導演 巴彦

Bayan 的職業生涯始於國際合拍長片及海外拍攝的中國電影，包括「黃石的孩子」（主演：周潤發、楊紫瓊）、「非常完美」（主演：章子怡）、以及「巨齒鯊」（主演：傑森·史塔森）。她後來拓展至紀錄片領域，擔任製片人與 Intel 合作製作大型紀錄片「Hello AI」，並在大陸 與台灣出版旅行書籍，同時擔任 Lonely Planet 的撰稿人及委託編輯。

製片人 成竹

成竹是製片人，也是一位獲獎的紀錄片導演。她的導演處女作「蛐蛐劉 」榮獲 2019 年美國紀錄片影展（American Documentary Film Festival）最佳國際短片紀錄片獎。

過去數年間，她主要以製片身份與中國頂尖紀錄片導演合作多部長片，包括由陳偉俊執導的「City Dream」（先前作品：《請為我投票》），該片於 2019 年多倫多國際影展首映；以及由趙奇執導的「看不見的海岸」（先前作品：「最後一班列車」、「中國市長」），該片入選 2021 年 DOC NYC 正式單元。

About The Pilgrims’ Voices Project

Before the film enters its final editing stage, selected supporters will receive a set of reflective questions.
Participants may respond via audio or video, sharing their thoughts on walking, loss, farewell, and their personal connection to pilgrimage.

Selected responses may be integrated into the film or related visual works becoming part of the film’s living echo.

同行者回聲計畫說明

在影片進入精剪階段前，支持者將收到一組問題，可選擇以語音或影片的方式回覆。
這些問題將圍繞行走、失落、告別，以及你與這條道路之間的關係。

部分回覆內容可能會被用於影片或相關影像作品中，成為這部紀錄片的一部分「回聲」。