Discover Movies

Faced with a looming exhumation of a loved one, a father and son contemplate their mortality. But in land-scarce Singapore, even the dead must make way for the living.

Chinese herbal medicines have a long and venerated history. We follow the forays of a "barefoot doctor" to the mountains to collect herbs in central Taiwan, and observe his religious practices to cure his patients using these herbal medicines as well as summoning spiritual forces. This film reveals the cultural and religious context of Chinese medicines—the intertwined dimensions of physical and spiritual energy that relate to human fate.

Loh Tsui Kweh Commune is the most influential and controversial punk band in Taiwan's independent music history; from the early 90's till it disbanded in 2019, it combined the restless performing style with its left-wing attitude. The unusual mixture of radical political awareness, staggering showmanship and catchy melodies makes it an extraordinary phenomenon and a great conflict between its social and historical contexts.

The sound of sutra chanting echoes slightly around the temple located in northern Burma. The monks here are leading a peaceful life.

In the waters around Kinmen Island, there is a curious creature which has existed for over 200 million years. People on Kinmen have made a living from the sea for over 300 years. They have survived the cross-strait conflicts between Taiwan and mainland China. But in the era of peace, both now face a critical crisis: the misuse of the coast by commercial development.

Searching for the Zero Fighters documents a little-known chapter of taiwan history, particularly the psychological landscape of postwar Taiwan and the Japanese aircraft left behind on the island after World War II. Through ordinary people’s memories of the Zero fighter planes and the director’s own family footage, the film explores the turbulent period between the end of Japanese colonial rule and the takeover of Taiwan by the Nationalist government. It is the first Taiwanese documentary to examine how Japanese military aircraft were repurposed into everyday household items, and the first historical film to explore why, after the war, many Taiwanese people feared speaking openly about their memories.

A documentary of taiwanese writer Yang Kui.

12 strangers, invited through an open call, join a portrait party led by a counseling psychologist. Wearing the outfit they wish to be remembered in and bringing a meaningful item, they use their last portrait as a starting point to share life’s most important yet unspoken stories.

In 2017, four bands from the Chinese mainland toured in Taiwan. It marks a historic moment in the cross-strait subcultural communication. The tour is the biggest underground rock event made by rock bands from the Chinese mainland in Taiwan. With the GT Bitches's tour as the main plot, the film is an interview of 10 punk bands, gig organizers,and music fans from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. What is the punk cultural difference across the strait? The interview in the film might provide a partial answer…

The language of dreams reminds us that the "reality" has long undergone the workings and transformations of the mind. However, the disparities between the dream world and reality may serve as a reminder of something profound. Through the dreamer's narration of the dream process and retracing events by following others' memories, the selection of scenes originates from real-life situations. In the interweaving of reality and illusion, a state of seeming truth yet non-truth is crafted, shaping the image of the departed as both present and absent.

Dark, unusual clouds gathered in the sky, slowly drifting toward the memory-laden hillside. With the typhoon approaching, people made their way to the cemetery atop Jian Mountain, hoping to reclaim the fading fragments of the past before the storm arrived. From deep within the mountains came the occasional sound of dogs barking—whispers, almost, of buried stories: ancestors who were relocated, stray dogs that were driven away, a woman still waiting for her husband’s return, and myself, trying to find a connection to my father in the cracks of memory—and perhaps, to find myself as well.

A visual poem etched onto 16 mm film that follows the movement of light and colour in the Nordic winter.

Witness the first light and sounds of a new dawn breaking, as observed around the world one year ago. Patrick Shen’s cinematic meditation was created during the first COVID-19 lockdown by 35 artists from over 13 countries on May 3, 2020. With a soundtrack filled with environmental bird songs and ambient aural awakenings, the contemplative and collective portrait moves from darkness to light as a metaphor for hope and rebirth. 2020, United States, digital, nonverbal, 21 min.

As a Taiwanese in France, I have learnt a few things. There are three things I would like to share with you the most. French is difficult… but there are certain things more difficult than French.

The gender issues that exist in Taiwan's rap circle are actually a microcosm of the overall social gender structure. Even though there is now an increasing awareness of gender equality in society, gender limitations still exist and require our continuous efforts to slowly change them.

Portraits:Taken from Our Days is a personal and family-centered film, built from fragments of daily life and letter exchanges with my father. Through these intimate recordings, I explore shifting family relationships, unstable living environments, and my own psychological states. By revisiting family archives, I attempt to reconstruct an image of “home” from scattered memories.

Wedding photos are the development of emotions. The unique cultural etiquette and true temperament of the Chinese society are all recorded in the wedding photos. It makes everyone believe that this is a dream factory that can exchange money for concrete happiness. Before entering into marriage, the prince and princess are looking forward to a happy and happy love and future. On the other side, the couple who are already in marriage, what they hear is a frank conversation between them. Looking back at the photo that symbolizes the marriage contract, what kind of form does the "intimacy", "happiness", or "love" between the two transform into?

Due to his injury, 30-year-old ballet dancer LIANG Shih-huai is forced to put his dance career on hold. While nursing his body through recovery, Shih-huai retraces his tenacious pursuit of ballet from Taiwan, U.S., South Korea, to New Zealand, and he carefully thinks through the options available at this pivotal moment in his career. Ballet in Tandem centers on Shih-huai’s journey in dance and compares it with different generations of Taiwanese dancers’ quest for perfection in Western classical dance. Through these stories, this films questions the decision-making process in Taiwanese education system and in other related social institutions, challenges the stereotypical perceptions of the art form, and explores more possibilities for dance, art, and culture in Taiwan.

An unfinished housing complex has been abandoned. The imagined future from the past is taken over by foliage and wildlife.

The East-West Highway was soon to be built in central Taiwan. It would pass through the village of Liu Ts'o, and many homes and rice paddies would be destroyed. The filmmaker, Hu Tai-Li, went back to her mother-in-law's village Liu Ts'o, where she did anthropological research from 1976-78, to preserve some images of life at that moment - forever.

The moon and stars rising from the east, people entering their sound sleep, it is the end of the day for most ones, but the start of the day for a few. The film records various types of night workers in Taiwan’s metropolis. The Night Carnival is about to begin. Get ready for the pure immersion in cinematography and music. And remember to show up on time because it is a MIDNIGHT SCREENING only.

Yan Ting is both green and blue because he likes two girls at the same time. He suffers from Autism and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He struggles with being at once afraid of the crowded place but also loving to go. Whatever he touches, he must kiss to release anxiety inside him. In Chinlung Development Center, there are a group of respectful teachers who are trying to help Ting pursue the life he wants.

Wildlife rescue work often involves racing against time. At the WildOne Wildlife Rescue Station in Chishang, Taitung, many wild animals, big and small, flood in as soon as the breeding season begins in spring and summer. Many injured animals, frightened and stressed, may even refuse to eat. Treating and caring are challenging to the veterinarians and rehabilitators. Despite the effort invested in their care, they must restrain their emotions to avoid the animals becoming familiar with humans. And sometimes, after extensive care, if releasing them back into the wild isn’t possible, euthanasia may be necessary for the sake of the animal's good. The film Journey Bound Home documents the journey at the WildOne Wildlife Rescue Station, from receiving injured wildlife to determining if they can ultimately be released back into their natural habitats.

Dedicated to the sisters who fought back with the last strengths in them, The War of Roses documents the struggles and aftermath of four women in different environments that encountered sexual assaults, shedding light on the underlying structural violence sustaining the unequal power relations in gender.

A journey of lost, exile, and going home.

Today in the 21st century, "singing" is no longer just a purely musical act. It can represent the pulse of society and put contemporary ideas into practice. To raise awareness about energy issues, we adopted a documentary-style cinematic approach to follow musicians recording an album close to nature. Eleven Meinong Conversations invites music producer and singer-songwriter Wing Lo to return to his sunny hometown of Meinong, a historic Hakka settlement in Taiwan, and fulfil a ten-year musical dream. Lo transforms a solar-powered wooden guest house into a recording studio to record his dream album in his Hakka mother tongue. The film conveys the passion of Lo’s Hakka music and his love of living life close to nature. Through eleven seemingly daily conversations with different characters, Lo’s pure and carefree rural childhood, his nostalgia of leaving home, and his loss of a beloved family member, are transformed into timeless, radiant melodies that touch the heart.

For a long time the KMT government has held a monopoly over Taiwan’s TV channels, using the lack of channel bandwidth as an excuse for its stranglehold. During the build-up to the elections at the end of 1989, Green Team set up a satellite transmission channel on its own, poking a hole in the KMT’s argument.

An amalgam of colorful shots of chemical pollution superimposed on aerial shots, disturbing images of burning smokestacks, and purposely distorted sounds and images work to portray unconventional industrial sights and the vividness of air pollution that would otherwise be difficult to do.

On the eve of World Human Rights Day, the Taiwan Society and Friends of Taiwan released the documentary "Red Martial Law" yesterday, which aims to restore the historical truth through images of the various brutal human rights violations committed by the military and police in the Chen Yunlin incident.

My sister Pei-ling went through with an unexpected pregnancy. The child was nicknamed Angoo. In three years, Pei-ling broke up with the child's father, met a new boyfriend, left Angoo in my parents’ care to move in with her boyfriend, until she finally moved back in with our family due to the disapproval of her boyfriend's brother. The parent-daughter relationship was strained at first, but gradually things changed; understanding and love returned between them.

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.

The documentary "Wounds – Veterans' Stories" primarily focuses on the veterans who came to Taiwan in 1949 with the memories and traumas of the civil war. The film is conducted along with two story lines: One is conveyed through the personal accounts of the veterans in Taiwan telling their memorable stories of migrating to Taiwan, while the other one follows the story of the Borough Chief of Xianghe Lane in Kaohsiung who escorts the ashes of deceased veterans back home. Through the record of the veterans' stories, the impacts of war on individuals and society as a whole is revealed.

This film was produced for a briefing to the Ministry of Economic Affairs by the people of Houjin opposing China Petroleum Company’s fifth naphtha cracker plant. It brings together scenes of pollutions caused by the CPC over the previous year, interviews of the people affected, and footage of a series of protests, including that of the residents carrying coffins to the CPC facilities.

Since 1995, the TransAsia Sisters Association has been a pioneering force in supporting immigrant women in Taiwan, especially marriage migrants. What began as a small literacy class has grown into a vibrant community that empowers women to organise, speak out, and advocate for their rights. The film explores the struggles of belonging, the strength of sisterhood, and the quiet power of everyday resistance. From street protests to storytelling through food and culture, the Sisters continue to reshape the narrative of migration—one voice at a time.

Through its little screen, what kind of world does a Game Boy see as it records? As a child, the Game Boy was my most faithful companion at my hospital bedside. Years later, lying in a hospital room once again for surgery, my father couldn't be there because of other obligations. So I brought it with me, hoping to capture this journey through its tiny screen.

The Return of Gods and Ancestors is the first locally made ethnographic film in Taiwan. The film, captured with a hand-cranked Bell & Howell 16 mm camera, documents the most magnificent five-year ceremony in Paiwan tribe. During the festival, the Paiwan people expect to receive blessings of the gods and ancestors by piercing rattan balls with extended bamboo poles; however, they also try to prevent any harm caused by evil spirits. The Paiwan five year ceremony is not only the reunion of the dead and the living, but a meeting of the old and the new.

On Green Island’s Human Rights Memorial, a poem by Bo Yang mourns the mothers who wept through long nights for children imprisoned there during Taiwan’s White Terror. In Cries in the Dark, the filmmaker turns that line into family history. In 1950, their parents were arrested in the Yu Fei espionage case, convicted of rebellion, and sentenced to 13 and 10 years in prison. Their grandmother, desperate to save her newly married daughter and son-in-law, cried for help until she lost sight in one eye. Decades later, the case was officially recognized as a wrongful conviction: 34 people were implicated, four unrelated defendants were executed, and the rest received heavy sentences. Born while their mother was briefly released from prison, the filmmaker spent early childhood behind bars before being separated when she was sent to Green Island. The film records the intimate cost of political persecution across prison, family, and memory.

An old camera borrowed from a friend. It's enough to be carried in pocket. Since that day, I can forget to take wallet out, but I can't forget it. We get along day and night, work, eat, hang out and meet friends every time. And, there are also every passenger photographed by it.

When Taiwanese citizens vanish in China, a journalist returns home in search of answers. What begins as reporting becomes a personal reckoning—revealing the high cost of speaking out and the quiet erosion of freedom in Taiwan.

This film records my father’s daily life after my grandmother’s passing, exploring memory as a form of the soul’s continuation.

“My Life Against Taiwan Sotofuku – 1891~1931” is Taiwan’s first biographical animated documentary. The film combines animation, archival photos, footage, and sound theater to recreate the heroic epic of CHIANG Wei-shui, the “the Savior of Taiwanese People,” during Japan’s colonial rule of Taiwan. Through first-person flashback narrations, Taiwan’s pioneer revolutionary CHIANG Wei-shui tells the turbulent tale of the rise and fall of Taiwan’s non-violent anti-Japanese movements, as well as a lifetime of remarkable resistance against Taiwan Sotofuku (Japan’s colonial government). Cast

On the Way Home follows a man on his way home on a rainy night, while cross-cutting the happenings after he returns home: doing laundry in a flooded bathroom, drinking tea, reading, and repeatedly opening and closing the door.

Wa-wa was my college classmate and we were in love. She dreamt about opening a shop at that time, so we returned to Guishan after graduation to fulfil her dream. I began to document the process with my camera. In the end, the dream was fulfilled and yet the dreamer was forever gone.

A devastating earthquake hit Taiwan on September 21, 1999. Based on the written correspondence between the director and his friend, this film illustrates the sorrow of families who lost loved ones in the disaster, and the relationship between the director and his aging father who now lives in an institution for the elderly. Death and separation, despair, and the desire to live. A fine work that questions the meaning of life.

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.

Before the family home in Shalun, Taoyuan, was demolished under the Taoyuan Aerotropolis redevelopment project, the director's mother passed away unexpectedly. Yet in her absence, the family's long-fragile order seemed to stabilize, even appearing strangely "happy." This subtle and difficult truth compels the director to repeatedly return to the old house on the verge of disappearance, insisting on bringing back her father and brothers, who are trying to move on. As the boundaries between filming and being filmed blur, differing attitudes toward farewell gradually emerge, and long-suppressed memories begin to seep through. The director is left asking herself: Is this an attempt to preserve memory, or a way of trapping herself in a cycle of loss from which she cannot find closure.​​​

The film begins with a conversation with the grandmother, tracing back the gentle, intricate, bittersweet, and hard-to-express emotions between mother and daughter. It moves between the reality of daily life and the imagined scenes from memories.