Taiwan
Bun-de (Wen-de in Mandarin, played by Shi Jun/Shih Chun) is a shy young man. Aggressively courted by all the girls in the neighbourhood, he only has eyes for the pretty and mischievous Gui-kia (Jin Mei/Chin Mei). She finds every means possible to meet up with her boyfriend, although he is closely watched over by a very protective father, A-Gao. When the parents finally agree on the wedding, they realise that they used to be in love. Accusing each other of betrayal, they refuse to allow their children to marry. Bunde and Gui-kia decide to elope.
In 1920s Taiwan, Jou, a controversial woman with a tragic past, seeks to change her life after falling for a man named Che. Meanwhile, a man named Wei seeks to buy the freedom of Fumiko, a dying young woman.
In the 1960s, two classmates go looking for their missing friends and teachers, all of whom took part in an illegal book club, only to come face to face with ghosts and deformed monsters that have taken over their school.
Chih-Ting and Chia-Lin, two students in Pingtung Girls’ Senior High School, are bosom friends. Their close friendship attracts jealousy from other classmates; thus rumors about them being lesbians spread. When this groundless rumor victimizes Chih-Ting and costs her best friend, it becomes too much to bear. In the 70s, the Taiwanese mainstream society regarded homosexuality as a negative variation of sexuality and imputed the cause of homosexuality to growing up in an unhealthy environment. However, the two protagonists’ friendship remains the heart of the story. Their unspoken emotional undercurrents are left for the audience to infer.
Directed by some of most well known Chinese-language directors of the time, the portmanteau film Four Moods was an attempt to alleviate Li Han-hsiang’s financial troubles during the late 1960s. Arguably one of his best works, King Hu’s short Anger is an adaptation of the famous Peking opera San Cha Kou; set to opera instrumentation and stylishly shot, the film deftly captures the tense showdown between political schemers, avengers and vagabonds inside an inn. Li Han-hsiang’s Happiness, inspired by the Strange Tales of Liaozhai, tells a tale of reprieve for a kind-hearted ghost, while Pai Ching-Jui’s Joy and Lee Hsing’s Sadness both explore the fateful encounters between mortal men and ghostly women.
Dieters grandma knew it from the start. This guy will be special one. She should be right. Even as a child Dieter shows an enormous power when it is necessary to enforce his will. He quickly learn that you can not only impress the girls, but also make a lot of money as a musician. He understands that the success is mainly a question of the postage costs and a healthy liver. That you may not always tell the truth, but you should always have something lying on the high edge.
During the Ming Dynasty, as Japanese pirates wreak havoc along the Chinese coast, laying waste to entire towns, a band of ninjas start appearing and target the Chinese military commander, General Chi. The Master of the Three Arts (who possesses a book illustrating various ninja techniques) is the only one who can combat this new enemy, so he pledges that his students will join Chi’s army in their fight to wipe out the killers.
When a mysterious corpse is found in a river, a distressed police officer delves into a string of grisly murders as danger quickly approaches.
Learning of childhood friend Meihua’s death, Lingling goes to Japan to find Meihua’s sister, Meifeng. Brutal gangsters demand Lingling return an item Meihua stole, and hold Meifeng hostage. Old friends help Lingling confront the gang.
A very arrogant white haired Tai Chi martial artist and two of his cronies wreaks havoc in a small village, terrorizing people and their families. Three local heroes team up to defeat the villainous three, but they have to find a secret weak point, which the Tai Chi master can choose and change at will.
Overweight shoeshiner Brother Wang (Wang Ge) and skinny rickshaw driver Brother Liu (Liu Ge) are best friends and roommates. One day, they come across a fortune teller who offers a peculiar forecast: that Wang will become very wealthy in three days but that Liu will die in 44 days. When Wang strikes gold by winning the lottery, just as predicted, the celebratory mood is soon eclipsed by the reminder that Liu’s death also has been forecast. With his newfound wealth, Wang decides to reward his dying buddy with the trip of a lifetime. Carrying around a suitcase full of cash, the working-class twosome embark on a road trip around the beautiful island of Taiwan. Enjoying a lavish lifestyle as inexperienced big spenders, they find themselves in unexpected situations and amusing predicaments, one after another.
As China and Russia’s governments are talking peace, traitorous agents on both sides seek war. Enter John Liu as a special agent sent to identify who the Russian traitor is, and who his contact is within the walls of the Forbidden City.
THE PRODIGAL BOXER features Chinese folk hero Fong Sai Yuk (aka Fong Si Yu), the subject of dozens of HK kung fu films. The role is played by Meng Fei as a callow, unschooled youth and wrongfully accused murderer. Two vicious masters of the local kung fu school, seeking revenge against Fong Sai Yuk, attack his home and kill his father while Fong is away. Fong’s attempts to avenge the death of his father result in his being badly beaten. Fong trains at the hands of his martial artist mother as she puts him through rigorous training and an herbal bath that makes him invulnerable. A trail of revenge is set in motion with Fong against the two masters, played by formidable kung fu villains Yasuaki Kurata and Wang Ching. Can a year’s worth of training prepare Fong Sai Yuk for his deadly confrontation with the vicious masters?
Hsi Shih: The Beauty of Beauties was one of the most ambitious films made in the Taiwan film industry in the 1960s. After leaving The Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong and moving to Taiwan, filmmaker Li Han-hsiang mounted this historical epic. Told through the story of Xishi (Hsi Shih), one of the ‘Four Great Beauties’ of Chinese history, the film portrays the war between two Chinese Kingdoms during the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C). After the kingdom of Yue is defeated by the kingdom of Wu, King Goujian of Yue takes pains to prepare for his revenge and rebuild his country. Knowing that King Fucha of Wu is lewd and lustful, he offers Xisi to the court of Wu to serve as Fucha’s concubine, with Fucha unaware that she is also a spy. She uses her charm to draw Fucha away from his office and governance, while King Goujian rallies his forces together to attempt to reclaim his lands.
Beijing, 1902: an enterprising young portrait photographer named Liu Jinglun, keen on new technology, befriends a newly-arrived Englishman who’s brought projector, camera, and Lumière-brothers’ shorts to open the Shadow Magic theater. Liu’s work with Wallace brings him conflict with tradition and his father’s authority, complicated by his falling in love with Ling, daughter of Lord Tan, star of Beijing’s traditional opera. Liu sees movies as his chance to become wealthy and worthy of Ling. When the Shadow Magic pair are invited to show the films to the Empress Dowager, things look good. But, is disaster in the script? And, can movies preserve tradition even as they bring change?
As an aspiring actor, Yu Cai (David Chiu) has found the film industry to be far more difficult than he ever imagined. Struggling to make a name for himself, Yu Cai is thus far, completely unknown. Living his life in complete obscu…
A coastal city in Brazil. Kai arrives from Taiwan for holidays with a broken heart. A broken air conditioner sends her into Fu Ang’s umbrella store. He could become a friend, but the rainy season doesn’t arrive and his shop disappears. While looking for Fu Ang, Kai discovers the story of Xiaoxin and a group of Chinese workers in a posh skyscraper. Kai finds herself strangely mirrored in Xiaoxin’s tale.
A young man (Bruce Li) unwittingly gets wrapped up in a money scam. When he refuses to give the cash back, the bad guys kidnap his girlfriend and hold her hostage in the Tower Of Death. Once there, he is given two options. Watch his girlfriend get thrown off the top or fight various martial artists on 7 different levels to win his girlfriend back.
A dazzling and unconventional documentary where a filmmaker explores their first experience of great loss after her best friends Chun and Yueh go missing. Trapped in a cave in Nepal for 47 days, Yueh survives. Chun does not. Yi-Shan offers an intimate window into the complex relationship of survivors as she traverses the intricate terrain of grief and gender with Yueh. Their conversations are steeped in themes of guilt, perseverance, and identity as they navigate Chun’s legacy with ease, even as elders around them fail to acknowledge their friend’s queerness/transness posthumously.
Childhood friend Joey and Gary are the only survivors of a coup against Gary’s family. Joey lands in hell, and sells his loyalty to the devil in return for magic powers. As part of the deal, Joey has nine demons enter his body. The demons demand a daily feed of blood, but they must obey Joey. He uses the new powers to help Gary, and to kill the plotters. But events soon get even more complicated.
Set in the late 1980s, this family drama is about an 11-year-old boy who befriends his landlord, nicknamed Old Fox, and learns from him how to survive in a rapidly changing world as well as things his poor father would never be able to teach him.
The director gets a phone call from his aged mother. A stubborn woman, she worries about the future of the rest of the family. The father is a gambling addict in poor health; the brother is penniless yet sure of his talent as a medium. Looking back at the reasons he left 20 years earlier, Elvis A-Liang Lu creates a wonderful family portrait, touching and full of light.
Set during the Sung Dynasty, patriotic monks of the Shaolin Temple fight against foreign invasion.
A grandfather and his young grandaughter travel to atown with a very unusual proposition: if any man can beat her in a fight, she will be his bride.
20 years after the death of his parents, a martial artist sets out to avenge their deaths by pretending he doesn’t know kung fu. But when it is revealed that he does know kung fu, the killer sets to kill him and his friends.
The arrogant, third most-wanted criminal in Taiwan, decides to get rid of the top two competitors and crowns himself the most-wanted criminal before dying.
Ah Dai comes from a family that runs a prestigious orthodox temple. His childhood sweetheart, Yufan, is desperate to locate her missing aunt. In his attempt to help, Ah Dai agrees to participate in a special ritual that his schoolmates believe could help them seek assistance from the gods to grant their desires. However, they are lured into praying to evil forces instead. As his schoolmates die one after another, Ah Dai tries to use his gift to exorcise evil to save his friends. At the very end, he faces a completely demonized Yufan and must fight her to save the neighborhood.
The life of the epoch-making master of martial arts cinema, King Hu.
When Pan, a South China martial artist is defeated and killed by Tan, a North China challenger in a legfighter duel, Pan’s younger brother Pak vows to crush Tan with his own unique style of ferocious footwork.
Twelve year old Zaffan lives in a small rural community in Malaysia. In full puberty, she realizes that her body is changing at an alarming rate. Her friends turn away from her when a mass hysteria hits the school. Fear spreads and a doctor intervenes to chase away the demon that haunts the girls. Like a tiger harassed and dislodged from its habitat, Zaffan decides to reveal its true nature, its fury, its rage and its beauty.
According to legend, Yangminshan’s Chinese Culture University sits where the realms of the living and dead collide. The architecture was originally given an auspicious “bagua” design to ward off evil, but was instead maliciously changed into an “inverse bagua”. Countless apparition sightings and paranormal incidents have plagued the university ever since. Three years ago, a student developing an augmented reality horror game at the university fell into a coma following a mysterious elevator accident. To complete the game, his younger sister begins testing the various urban legend-inspired AR challenges with the help of her friends, leading them down a path of increasingly bizarre and terrifying encounters…
Dragon Lee fights foreign devils who are stealing antiquities from China.
Considered the first biopic of the legendary Bruce Lee, fact blurs with fiction in this low-budget, loose interpretation of the great martial arts expert’s life starring Bruce Li, the most well known Lee impersonator. The film takes a look at Bruce’s humble beginnings as a paperboy to his rise in fame as a martial arts phenom, who later gets tangled up in a love affair with actress Betty Ting-Pei.
Evil Chun Shan uses chess boxing and a five-element ninja style to terrorize the martial arts world until he is challenged in a series of battles, then destroyed.
An attractive and successful doctor places a personal ad in a newspaper to try to meet (and eventually marry) Mr. Right. A succession of blind dates ensues, featuring men who are lonely, desperate, dangerous and perverted.
Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo discover aliens who plan to conquer Earth.
There’s intergalactic trouble when the lyrics Judy Jetson wrote for teen heartthrob Sky Rocker are swapped with a secret message from a music-hating witch. Now it’s up to Judy, her family, and friends to save rock-and-roll.
