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I spent a day inside a small abandoned military fort by the sea. With the tide went up and down, I appeared and disappeared into the water.

In the scorching heat of the Gobi Desert, an infrastructure project unfolds in the unforgiving natural environment. An endeavor so immense in scale that the individuals navigating through it appear minuscule in comparison.

A loose collection of scenes in Hong Kong shot over a five-year period, this film begins with the Umbrella Movement in 2014 and ends right before the summer of 2019, when large-scale social unrest and violent resistance erupted. The everyday scenes capture the ambience and the landscape of change in the city, standing as a quiet prelude to the ensuing conflicts.

At the age of eight, the now 25-year-old director caused an incident, which has remained traumatic as he became older. Although it seemed just a trivial matter, something one might expect from children, he obstinately questions his family, friends and teachers about what happened at that time. Worrying over the thoughts of dishonor he saw in his family’s eyes then, he has fostered a self-hatred over the years. As if reconstructing the past with his camera, he attempts to free himself of this self-hatred, shedding tears for himself at times and opening his own wounds, then healing them. What he has discovered through filmmaking was his once sealed “self.” The question now is, where to go from here?

In a tiny, six-square-meter room, a young Chinese man named Eryang envisions a republic of his own.

The story of American POWs, who were surrendered in the Philippines to the Japanese Army, then sent to slave labor camps in the northern Chinese city of Mukden (now Shenyang).

Auntie Hu in Chongqing makes a living by running an extremely low-priced small inn. Although her life is modest, she sometimes helps guests out of difficult situations. She also built a vibrant garden from discarded waste, using this poetic space to achieve self-redemption and comfort her ill son. The footage in the film spans nine years, authentically reflecting the spiritual world and life resilience of the mother and son.

Situated in the hills leading down to the coast, Ruifang used to pride itself on its coal mining industry. Every morning, miners from surrounding neighbourhoods gathered here to put on their gears and got into the minecarts, heading underground into pitch darkness. They worked non-stop in challenging conditions of high stress and high temperature, providing Taiwan with an indispensable source of energy. This documentary celebrates the miners’ contribution, but also stirred up controversy due to its inaccurate report of their wages.

The newest instalment in a series set in a small village in a mountainous region in China. In the winter marking ten years since the director began filming, she tries to get a new building constructed in the village. The girls, who had thus far been the subjects of her films, take up the camera themselves, and begin recording scenes of the village.

My father was a landowner’s son and an ex-Kuomintang Air Force pilot, who remained in mainland China after 1949. For survival, he tried to transform himself from a man of the ‘old society’ to a man of the ‘new society’. As his son, I started investigating his ‘history before 1949’, which he had kept away from me. This film documents the process of my investigation over twenty years.

Taking Beijing Subway's "Time Train" as the main narrative thread, and centering on subway enthusiasts, designers, constructors and operators, the story recounts the construction of China's first subway line, the harmonious coexistence between Beijing Subway and cultural relics, as well as the various changes in subway tickets, carriages and construction brought by the passing of time as trains travel back and forth.

This is a video diary of the surreal lockdown made by the filmmaker couple who were trapped in a small, rented apartment in Shanghai. In the face of endless madness, the camera gradually breaks free from the window and observes a vast social isolation unprecedented in the country’s history.

Leading Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns home to Fenyang in Shanxi province after winning the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for Still Life (2006). The experiences of his childhood, the people he grew up with, and the changing landscape of his home town gave Jia the inspiration to make his first films. The documentary forms a poignant inquiry into the past of the director's life and Chinese society at the same time.

INNER EAR INFLAMMATION can be regarded as the answer to the title of my first music documentary, ARE WE REALLY SO FAR FROM THE MADHOUSE? Both films were shot on the spur of the moment; the difference between the two is that ARE WE REALLY SO FAR FROM THE MADHOUSE? was made specifically for Yang Haisong, whose music I had regrettably never used even though he had suggested it many times, while INNER EAR INFLAMMATION is 100% ruthless contraband. The shooting and production were completed in a very short period of time, but this doesn't mean it was sloppily done. In fact, INNER EAR INFLAMMATION is by far the least regrettable of all of my works to date, including the feature films. -Li Hongqi

The Red Race recounts the stories of several Chinese children-gymnasts who (are forced to) dream of becoming famous athletes. The 6-year-olds at the Lu Wan District Youth Athletic School in Shanghai, trained relentlessly in the hopes they will one day be gold medalists, provide the subjects for a sometimes harsh, yet intimate portrait.

The Chinese village of Dafen was once a place where thousands of professional painters made reproductions of Western masterpieces. At the government’s instigation, these artists now paint their own original works. Their paintings hang all over China, in a wide variety of settings, from hospitals to museums, and from offices and commercial buildings to outdoor public locations.

"Huangyangchuan, Gansu province, China. It's an arid mountain area with poor roads. Ma Bingcheng is well-respected local doctor, so many patients (most of them farmers) come to see him every day. In his small clinic, people chat with each other about their lives, local conditions, or the people they know. The clinic seems to open up like a microcosm, the information and experiences of different people intertwine, revealing the conditions of typical Chinese farmers, and the typical fates of both young and old--"

This documentary shows how different young people try to realize their dreams to become famous through the film industry.

Chinese filmmaker Fang Bin's report from hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, People's Republic of China, regarding the current outbreak of corona-virus disease (COVID-19), first officially reported on 31 December 2019. The film was recorded during the first week of February 2020. Fang Bin was not heard of after February 10,2020 3:00P.M.

In Quan Ma He village, deep in the mountains of Northern Myanmar, a young couple welcomes their newborn child. Should they follow the other villagers by travelling to southern China to make their fortune, or should they simply stay and inherit the family farm?

The wetland in Kouhu township, Yunlin County has once been cultivated as farmland but returned to its original state nowadays, The beautiful scenery in the eyes of tourists are nothing but trouble to local residents.....

A documentary following the filmmaker, Li Xinmin, who went back to her hometown and interviewed the elders in her village who lived through the Great Famine during 1959- 1961. The residents of this village Huamulin are still isolated. At the same time, the film reflects the loneliness in the real life of village's old people

Dazhongli is one of Shanghai's oldest neighborhoods. Shu Haolun's family has lived there for three generations, enjoying a close-knit, communal way of life with their neighbors. Now Dazhongli and its surrounding neighborhoods are in the process of being demolished to make way for gleaming skyscrapers, towering apartment complexes and luxury shopping centers. In NOSTALGIA, Shu relays vivid details of growing up among narrow alleys and courtyards murmuring with neighborhood gossip, back when Shanghai was still closed to the world. While sharing a wealth of memories, Shu uses his camera to capture the everyday details of his home before they are wiped out forever.

With the following motivation: Every brick in the great wall of China was carried up by a man. More than 800,000 men, for more than 20 years. As we follow the reconstruction of a very small part of that old wall, we feel the dimension and Sisyphean effort carried out almost 2000 years ago. At the same time, this small part of the wall portrays the different social classes and transformations of modern China. A society that moves from the collective ideals to the personal capitalist aspirations of individuals.

In a confined section of a psychiatric ward in Northeast China, patients of schizophrenia, mania, depression, compulsive sexual behaviour and alcohol addition receive the mandatory treatment. As soon as their heads are cleared, they try to break free but always fail. Under the control of drugs and unquestionable discipline, they begin to reflect on their souls, will, desire and thoughts.

People call those who haul camels to and from desert areas and take camel transportation as their profession camel caravans. However, with the development of modern transportation, the camel's transportation function in the desert has gradually disappeared, and the camel caravans have faded out of the historical stage. The documentary tells the story of the last generation of camel caravans in Minqin County, Gansu Province.

How much freedom can there be in a marriage? How much freedom can there be in a Chinese marriage? Long and Jun get married when the two find out that she is pregnant. She wants to have her child (only one is allowed under the Chinese policy) and Long agrees to become a parent, too. But the two of them still have to acquire doctorates in order to be able to teach in a Chinese university.

In the years before 1995, young artists who pursued free creativity came from all over the country to Yuanmingyuan, in the western suburbs of Beijing. These people settled in the rental houses of the village farmers, and then ambitiously bought paint-stretched canvases to explore and create art. The biggest difficulty they face is to make up for the monthly rent to be paid to the landlord. Selling paintings is not their only means of survival; they would also rely on other crafts to maintain their lives. Their works were very different; they have a spirit of rebellion, and they do not conform to traditional aesthetics. This is what caused Sate officials to intervene. (Shot May–December 1995.)

As a sequel to Ai Weiwei’s film "Disturbing the Peace," the film "So Sorry" (named after the artist’s 2009 exhibition in Munich, Germany) shows the beginnings of the tension between Ai Weiwei and the Chinese Government. In "So Sorry," you see the investigation led by Ai Weiwei studio to identify the students who died during the Sichuan earthquake as a result of corruption and poor building constructions leading to the confrontation between Ai Weiwei and the Chengdu police. After being beaten by the police, Ai Weiwei traveled to Munich, Germany to prepare his exhibition at the museum, Haus der Kunst. The result of his beating led to intense headaches caused by a brain hemorrhage and was treated by emergency surgery. These events mark the beginning of Ai Weiwei’s struggle and surveillance at the hands of the state police.

The efforts of Suzanne, originally from China, to help refugees in her adopted homeland of Greece unfold like a tragicomedy.

Lei Suyun, the directors grandmother, vaguely remembers she was a great person. She was the director of the bureau of finance, NPC member. People used to call her Mrs. Lei. Now Lei Suyun doesn't remember things, she laments the passing of time. Her once brilliant achievements are gone with her memory.

The Chinese government is sponsoring a national campaign on "equal" education. UNDER THE SAME SKY documents school children in the city as well as the country to compare the two educational experiences. UNDER THE SAME SKY had been nominated for best short documentary at the 2017 Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2017 St. Louis International Film Festival, Long beach indie Film Festival and Los Angeles Chinese Film Festival. It's also been shown and won awards at 15 other film festivals around the world, including the Cannes Short Film Corner and The Impact Docs Awards.

A documentary chronicle that follows a number of denizens of the underground as they drift around individually and collectively, looking for (and speculating upon) a new cultural ‘scene’. The post-punk music they love proclaims slogans of resistance and revolution, but what we see is the groping for a sustainable lifestyle familiar from much youth culture worldwide. That lifestyle, in this case, involves queer sexual identity, drugs, ephemeral relationships, patched-together fashions, weighty discussions of art and theory, the tasting of foods, and copious amounts of alcohol

A documentary of the Yuanda Song and Dance Tent Show, a wandering troupe from the countryside of Henan Province that is on the road all four seasons of the year.

Peng Zuqiang chronicles the final two years his uncle Nan spends under the same roof as his elderly parents. Born with physical challenges, Nan requires constant care. Their world largely unfolds within the confines of their modest Chinese apartment, with only brief excursions for groceries or Nan's therapy sessions.

While China’s national strength has tremendously increased over the past decade, its human right situation and freedom have rapidly deteriorated. In 2012, human rights lawyers even figured first in the list of the “New Black Five Categories”. A series of government’s repressive actions, together with the 709 Crackdown in 2015, have severely damaged the rule of law in China, and inevitably changed the fate of human rights defenders. Being forced to live in exile, lawyers and their families have jointly borne the pain of repression no matter if they are inside or outside the country. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLW_BaCM5RY

Experiences of 6 diverse "ABC"'s (American-born Chinese) who, for a variety of reasons, decided to leave jobs, homes, and families in the US and make Beijing their home.

“Are you a man, or a woman?” In a world built on binaries, this is the question every trans soul must learn to answer—again and again. But imagine a future where bodies wither, yet minds ascend—consciousness can be uploaded to the cloud, and we could inhabit mechanised shells. In such a world, would gender still hold weight? Would it matter if you were man, woman, turtle or elephant?

Liu Chuang’s video installation constructs a speculative journey through the history of technology, infrastructure, ecology and finance, intertwining this with anthropological knowledges and science fiction’s global imaginary.

The film follows the people and workers of Xi'an through the whole process of making a bowl of the local special - Biang Biang noodles. The landscapes tell a story of their own, as do the faces of the people.

A 16 years old school girl, Shuming Xiao married to Mosuo minority's bandit chieftain La Baocheng in 1943. She had to leave her hometown - Chengdu, moved from a modern city to Lugu lake where the matrilineal society and the "Axia visiting marriage" system still exist. Lugu Lake is about 1000 miles far from Chengdu in remote mountain area. There are no lawfully registered marriage system or patriarchy clan relatives around the Lugu Lake, and Xiao lived here for about 54 years. During this long period, she never came back hometown.

Li Baicheng is a charismatic fortune teller who services a clientele of prostitutes and marginalized figures whose jobs, like his, are commonplace but technically illegal in China. He practices his ancient craft in a village near Beijing while taking care of his deaf and dumb wife Pearl, who he rescued from her family's mistreatment. Winter brings a police crackdown on both fortune tellers and prostitutes, forcing Li and Pearl into temporary exile in his hometown, where he revisits old family demons. His humble story is told with chapter headings similar to Qing Dynasty popular fiction.

As my elder sister Jiao awaits childbirth in a pink maternity ward, speculation and expectation from women of four generations in my family superimpose and collide with their physical throes and haunting memories.

This film highlights the collapse of Nanyang Education Group, the flagship of private education in China. Other private school principals, teachers and students, as well as scholars who study education, and some government officials were interviewed. They discuss the causes from different angles. Due to the marketization of education, in order to ensure their vested interests, public schools that originally held public educational resources have adopted strategies such as "prestigious schools building branch schools" and "prestigious schools running private schools" to privatize public educational resources in order to enjoy exclusive market share. The education management department is also willing to profit from such practices and use this competition to eliminate the idea of independent and pluralistic education. Under the protection of the monopoly of privileged interests and the "Promotion Law", many outstanding private schools shut down.

Documentary with reenactment sequences aired on Beijing Television program Documentary in 2001. The personal story and confession from the Japanese lady Hanako Kodama (児玉華子), who once served as the personal secretary for Daisaku Komoto during the Sino-Japanese war.

Academy Caochangdi, (2012) is a silent, 65-minute film comprised of a series long takes of a flooded side street in Caochangdi, a village in the north of Beijing. Caochangdi is undergoing considerable changes due to its recent designation as an official ‘art zone,’ with newly constructed gallery compounds, artist residencies and restaurants. The side street in the film is located in a gated, gallery compound where artists Armstrong and Collins spent a two-month residency in 2011. At the end of the street in the film, is a wall belonging to the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre and Ai Wei Wei’s compound.

In order to find such a fittingly inspiring matchmaker, the director visited nearly 10 matchmakers and finally selected the matchmaker in the film. The director then followed the matchmaker and witnessed the vicissitudes of life. In addition to the land, there is no form of art that can describe the heaviness of life and emotion. (Shot August 1995)

A wistful but witty account of a trip to Beijing by filmmaker Viv Li, a Chinese art student who has been living abroad for ten years. Her stay with her family mercilessly exposes how uprooted she has become by her life abroad.

The documentary, “JIAYI”, adopts a particular position from where it objectively and non-discriminatingly uncovers a real world of these left-behind kids in rural area in China, which overthrows the social stereotyping towards this special group existing in the remote and underdeveloped regions.

Ge Bu, a poet aspiring to write an epic poem; A-Ying, a blind singer who traverses the countryside; Beima Nui, a shaman who recites traditional scribes depicting traditional farming methods. They live in Hani village with poverty and happiness, helping each other achieve their dreams. They connect with their ancient culture and their dreams by singing the songs and reciting epics passed down from their ancestors.

In the summer of 2007, Gan Xiaoer led an independent film projection team, using projectors and self-made screens, to tour villages in Henan province to show his feature film "Raised from dust" for 8 times, and recorded the process. The 81-minute version of Church Cinema records only one stop, the Qiliying Church, where "Raised from dust" was shot.