Discover Movies

The program investigates the secrets behind the success of Japan’s most famous baseball team, the Tokyo Yomiuri Kyojin-gun, affectionately known as the Giants. An interview with Kawakami, the coach at the time, retraces the glorious history of this team, which was Japan’s baseball champion for seven consecutive years, until 1971.

"The southern border of Thailand is dangerous, scary, you shouldn't live there, it's full of violence." That is how it's mostly presented in the media. But what is the southern border really like? This documentary will guide you to another perspective through the eyes of a female-female couple.

Sketch of a Spring weekend afternoon in the Demachiyanagi area of Kyoto, exploring literal and figurative time distortions. Filmed on a single reel of 30 year old Kodachrome, it was processed in a home-made soup of instant coffee, vitamin C, and soda.

The salt deserts of the Argentine Andes are being disrupted by profound changes that impact the environment, entire communities, and individual lives. As corporations extract lithium from the soil, two young political leaders, activist Vanesa and miner Elbio, run for president in their respective indigenous communities. In Buenos Aires, teenager Milagros protests outside the parliament as it holds uncertain national elections.

What is it about the Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival that attracts so many bands? Called The Ocean Music Festival in Chinese, this annual rock and roll contest was first organized by Taipei county in 2000. What is it about the festival that keeps the bands coming back year after year? What is that attracts hundreds of thousands of fans to pour into The Ocean to hear the music, eagerly awaiting next year's festival as soon as this year's is over? All the bands striving to succeed at this summer event comes with its own attitude, its own story. But what they have in common is a striving for the chance to get up on their stage and dazzle hundreds of thousands of onlookers, just like The Ocean does every year.

Som-O and Sor, transgender women foraging to survive, face dwindling resources and risk arrest as their grounds lack legal recognition. Yet they persist—driven by identity, livelihood, and hope.

In Sennan, Osaka, which was one of the largest concentrations of asbestos in Japan, laborers worked in a harsh environment and supported Japan's economic growth. The film begins in July 2008 with the activities of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the Sennan asbestos lawsuit, and continues through the winter of 2013.

Fedati lives in a small room nearby Taichung train station, in which she makes Indonesian food and clay craft; it is also the favorite place of her migrant sisters in the area. They share about work as a domestic helper and a factory worker; they talk about being homesick and how much they miss their families. The journey of Fedati in Taiwan has been recorded in this 16 square meters room. She started as a domestic helper, and later became a clay artist, a migrant culture activist, and an owner of a take-away Indonesian food business. To be even better, she joined a master program in a university in Taiwan. In her room, we can have a peek into the possibility and vibrancy of migrant lives in Taiwan.

The Seongdong area of Seoul has been home to many small and medium-sized manufacturers. The once iconic red brick factories have given way to redevelopment, making way for galleries, cafes, and upscale restaurants. As a result, Seongdong has seen the largest increase in land rental prices in South Korea. Regrettably, this transformation also reveals a harrowing story: for the past five decades, hundreds of shoemakers have worked tirelessly for up to 18 hours a day, making shoes for wages below the minimum standard. Each day, these workers leave their homes for work, not knowing if it will mark their final day in this relentless cycle.

A dialogue-free dance exercise in an empty warehouse in Busan becomes a meditation on the physical impermanence of the body.

In a small port, there is a yard where cats cats stay comfortably. There, two people try to dismantle a ship alone. With sparks and smoke, they cut off the ship, and the cats sit next to them and wait for food. Humans and small lives live together like that.

Six of Japan’s emerging design talents collaborate with six models with diverse personalities and bodies, some accompanied by wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs. The Quest: to push the limits of fashion as we know it.

In the 1930s, Japan implemented a colonial policy called the “Policy of Sheep for North and Cotton for South.” The policy forced cotton cultivation in the southern region of the Korean Peninsula and sheep raising in the north in order to secure raw materials for its own industry. The film chronicles the process of transporting thousands of sheep on a boat from Australia to the Unggi region (now Seonbong in North Korea), how the sheep adapt after their arrival, and the process of wool production. The narration of the film, which appears as intertitles, is from the sheep's point of view, giving the film a whimsical, children’s-movie-like touch. Although the film hides its purpose of explicit propaganda behind its family-friendly format, it is of great importance; it gives us a glimpse into one aspect of the policy of expropriation of cotton and sheep under the Japanese colonial rule in the 1930s. Acquired in 2010.

You can almost feel the rough cedar wood with your hands when Mikio Hagiwara talks about his craft. He is the third generation to manufacture wooden barrels. He sees his job as a vocation that is closely interwoven with family life.

A documentary film about world-renowned Japanese photographer, Masayoshi Sukita, who earned the deep trust and admiration of David Bowie, T-REX, Iggy Pop and big-name artists around the world across an illustrious 40-year career.

A short historical vignette constructed from an eighteenth-century three-panel watercolor genre painting, using its crowded, witty details to evoke a scene from Korea’s past.

Peter, his wife Nyathon, and his children endure his political imprisonment, a near assassination, asylum, and his many foiled attempts for a fair and free election in the world's youngest country. A child soldier from South Sudan turned Harvard graduate and democracy activist, Peter is forced to reconcile his commitment to his young country versus his young family, to nonviolent means versus whatever it takes, and a self-defined identity versus an inherited one as protector and leader of his people. We witness the family's personal and intergenerational costs but also their resilience as Peter makes choices which ultimately leads to his incarceration as a criminal in the US.

Illuminating, magnifying, cutting, freezing the endless night and infinite music woven through the story with light.

Okinawa, home to over 12% of the U.S. military presence in Japan, has recently experienced rapid military fortification under the so-called Nansei Shift (Southwest Shift). Although these bases are designated for Japan's Self-Defense Forces rather than the U.S. military, they pose an equal threat to the islanders, instilling fear of war and contributing to the destruction of their communities and way of life. In Okinawa, where parallels can be drawn to the THAAD system in Soseong-ri, South Korea, and the naval base in Gangjeong, Jeju Island, I met with individuals who are courageously speaking out against the prospect of war.

With exceptional access over a twelve month filming period, Haryun follows the children of three migrant worker families in Guangzhou, China, during their final year at an unofficial 'Minban' primary school. The country's 'hukou' (household registration) system excludes migrant children from public education in its cities, relegating them to second-class citizenship. As Haryun captures the children's passions, struggles, frustrations and dreams she also observes the life-changing decisions they must take at this tender age - to return to their hometowns for further education, struggle to continue their studies in the city or enter the underground child workforce aged only fourteen.

Single channel audiovisual work—synonymous with the art steering sensorial experience around nature and its many manifestations, the objects are reconstructed as the 3D sculptures accentuated by the cinematic screenings and dramatised by the sounds to underline the interplay of reality and fiction.

In an abandoned resort on the South Korean island of Jeju, a group of people perform a symbolic funeral ritual to end a world built on hierarchies, division and destruction.

Unusually popular religions and extreme secular beliefs, unconstrained power and no authoritarian society, people work hard on the land and live thrifty but do not believe in the meaning of life at all. This is Longwang Village, an empty old farming society, the most essential reality of an ordinary western village. The film does not have a perpetual plot. The images are presented with the changing of the four seasons. There is no great joy or great sadness. Everything is recorded, and no results are produced. Strictly speaking, this is actually just a rural video file, a running account of ordinary western villages without all rhetoric.

An idealistic, young journalist in Beijing profiles China's biggest real estate speculator. Their divergent life experiences and clashing values challenge the journalist’s worldview, revealing deep generational and societal changes happening in the country.

Video installation by UMMMI.

Father Sao Roberto is unique among many foreign missionaries dedicated to the Korean democratic movement.

A Burmese-Chinese family struggles with their life between Taiwan and Myanmar. Where should they settle down?

With the implementation of the 1988 government policy to shut down and combine small schools around the nation, Doomeal Elementary School in Doomealee Village, Gapuyeong-gun, is designated to be closed.

In China, many parents are sacrificing everything to see their children graduate successfully from a university in order to obtain highly-paid jobs. Han Peiyin has sold off all the family’s home valuables and now works in Xi’an to make the money for his son, Shengli, to attend a university. For years, Han, carried a notebook in which he recorded all of his loans - mostly small amounts such as 10 or 20 RMB. Han is convinced that knowledge has the power to change destinies, and expects his son to be successful.

Despite his worldwide fanbase, Nujabes' story remains shrouded in mystery until now! After a meticulous 14-year journey, this 2-hour documentary offers a rare glimpse into the life of a musical genius, shedding light on his enigmatic persona and profound musical journey, making it a must-watch for music enthusiasts worldwide.

Braised Delicacies is more than a flavor—it is a legacy shaped by three generations. Master Lin Shun-Cheng upholds traditional craftsmanship passed down from his father, while his apprentice Lai Yun-Chun brings innovation, and Lin's son works to meet his father's high standards. Though different in outlook, all three of them share deep respect for cooking. The film captures how craftsmanship and love quietly endure in this 80-year-old Chiayi establishment of food flavors.

After marrying her wife in Switzerland, Chinese filmmaker Yue returns home to confront the quiet fractures between her and her mother. Across generations, two women begin to speak—about marriage, gender, and everything they’ve kept silent.

After attending a church gathering in Korea, a Hong Kong couple experienced a suspected possession. They turned to Pastor Li, known for his years of exorcism experience. The crew documented one session and brought in experts to analyze the incident from various angles.

Joey, extroverted with a capital “P,” is a friend who always opens up new worlds and is anything but ordinary. Having long claimed to see things others cannot, he finally declares that he will leave behind the path of a civil servant to become a shaman.

Lin Dongliang leads the three-year "Marine Oasis" project, researching spinner and pantropical spotted dolphins. The team aims to secure IMMA designation from IUCN for enhanced conservation. A documentary follows their efforts, exploring their motivations and challenges, highlighting humanity's complex relationship with the ocean.

A documentary film that presents information about Wichai Kasripongsa and Chumphon Thummai, two employees of the Nakhon Pathom Electricity Authority, who were found hanged under mysterious circumstances at the entrance gate of a housing estate in Phra Pathom Subdistrict, Mueang District, Nakhon Pathom Province, on September 24, 1976. The two men had gone out to post signs protesting the return of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, who had been exiled following the October 14, 1973 uprising. Thanom’s return in 1976 sparked widespread public outrage, and Wichai and Chumphon were among those who opposed it. Shortly afterward, both were found hanged in public, their bodies displayed for passersby to see. However, no proper investigation was carried out to identify or prosecute those responsible. Their bodies were quickly buried without autopsy, leaving the case shrouded in mystery and injustice.

A couple and the husband’s mother have been living away from the town of Namie in Fukushima Prefecture since they were evacuated after the nuclear accident. As they make the decision to build a new house, their feelings as husband and wife, parent and child, and daughter-in-law and mother-in-law intersect. The film depicts their emotional struggle to live as their true selves, amidst elderly caregiving of the elderly and complex family relationships—issues brought to the surface by the disaster.

Documentary about the lone soldier who works as a cattle herder on the Horqin grassland.

A Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire is a 1961 Chinese documentary directed by Fu Ya and Huang Bao-Shan. As described by Erik Barnouw, it was assembled in Peking using footage from many sources in China and abroad to document the evolution of the People’s Republic of China. Another source notes that it looks back on 34 years of the People’s Liberation Army. The title comes from Mao Zedong’s famous quote: “A single spark can start a prairie fire,” symbolizing how small revolutionary actions can grow into a broad movement.

In a street in the north of Shanghai we find a small restaurant, dirty and run-down, but with lots of personality, where Chinese noodles (miantiao) are made 24 hours a day. It’s run by an ethnic Hui Muslim family from the region of Qinghai, in Northwest China. ‘Abierto 24 horas’ presents a chronological account of the 24 hours of life in this establishment.

Hanchul has been running a small neighborhood supermarket in Hoengseong, Gangwon Province, for decades. Over time, he faces the wear and tear of the store's belongings.

The film explores notions of home and belonging in contemporary society. Comprising interviews with workers at the Edo Tokyo Open Air Architecture Museum in Tokyo, and fragments of conversations with renters in that city and London, a productive dialectic opens between the museum’s preserved historical ideal of the domestic and the often unsettling realities of temporary accommodation in modern cities. Combining trademark immersive sound design with impressionistic images and abstractions, Quaintance crafts an austere, oneiric and subtly affecting portrait of residential precarity.

Our Conversation in the Afternoon at the Park

Henry Townshend, a boy of about thirty with a hobby of photography, has recently moved into apartment 302, first floor of the South Ashfield Heights complex, in Ashfield, a pleasant town near Silent Hill. After a short period of peaceful stay, some strange events begin to happen. Every night, Henry is promptly awakened by the same, identical, nightmare. From that moment, he finds himself trapped in his apartment: the door, bearing the words “Don't go out!, Walter”, is locked with chains and padlocks, the windows are hermetically sealed, the phone is silent and no one seems to hear his screams. After five days of captivity, a hole appears in the bathroom wall: Henry, armed only with an iron pipe, crosses the portal in search of freedom. [A documentary about the making of the 2004 video game "Silent Hill 4: The Room".]

In China, a high school teacher has introduced a death education class for young students. On the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day, they bury unnamed ashes at a public cemetery where they contemplate and contextualize the meaning of death.

A captivating animal variety documentary that follows a full day in the lives of Ueno Zoo’s star pandas, Ri Ri and Shin Shin. Packed with irresistible footage for panda lovers, including self-introductions of the two pandas and their adorable napping scenes. With their charming faces and human-like gestures, you’re sure to become enchanted by these lovable pandas!

Documentary about the construction of Baoji–Zhongwei railway.

In 1999, one year before ‘Second Impact’ and SAT, I received a postcard with a drawing of the ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ from ‘Y-Sang’. In 2015, the year of ‘Third Impact’, he wrote back to ‘Y-Sang’. ‘Y-Sang’ suggested a discussion about Kant, Nietzsche and Gramsci, but I didn’t know them well. I just called to mind some images related with their name. What connection does exist between the “names” and the “images” I recalled? It’s a weird diceplay about what we can name image(or film).