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In the twilight of their lives, elderly people who wander around the scene for video shoots and work late into the night editing. Director Ra Young-soo of 'Silver Nest', who is leading them, has no time to rest as he applies for grants and preaches aspirations. What are the plans of these elderly people, who want to tell their stories rather than to kill time, and to earn money from those stories, and what is their goal?

A documentary about Taiwan from aerial perspect

What keeps popular policies of social welfare from the seat of power? Over nearly two decades, Arata Oshima follows a politician navigating splintered opposition parties in a landscape dominated by the right-wing.

Mount Lu or Lushan, also known as Kuanglu (匡庐) in ancient times, is situated in the northern part of Jiangxi province in southeastern China, and is one of the most renowned mountains in the country. The oval-shaped mountains are about 25 km long and 10 km wide, and neighbors Jiujiang city and the Yangtze River to the north, Nanchang city to the south, and Poyang Lake to the east. Its highest point is Dahanyang Peak (大汉阳峰), reaching 1,474 m above sea level, and is one of the hundreds of steep peaks that towers above a sea of clouds that encompass the mountains for almost 200 days out of the year. Mount Lu is known for its grandeur, steepness, and beauty, and is part of Lushan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996, and a prominent tourist attraction, especially during the summer months when the weather is cooler.

12-year-old Baheila lives with her family of nomadic shepherds in the Xinjiang province in Western China. Their tradition is to move with all their belongings. They have no eletricity at all. They regard their simple lives like the snow flakes coming to the earth and disappearing somewhere.

A film that reconsiders the modern state of Japan in relation to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Being trapped in the United States and self-isolated, I had a video chat with my family in China. Back in January, I shot a roll of film recording the sunset at Santa Monica beach, and rewatching it now, I decided to prolong the dusk as an attempt to erase the decisive boundary which separates night and day.

This early Chinese ethnographic film documents festivals of the Yiche people of the Hani ethnic group -- their folklore and cultural phenomena, such as reproductive worship dance; their collective socializing on festival nights and marriage customs; and the "haruzhe," which has both characteristics of blood sacrifice and prayer, a ritual to offering for a good harvest. The directorial debut of documentarian Hao Yuejun, the film uses the language of documentary but with a specifically ethnographic focus on history and customs, and is recognized as an important historical work in its own right for 'restarting' ethnographic filmmaking after the end of the Cultural Revolution; in fact, this particular method of had never been used in China before.

Young people are protesting on the streets of Hong Kong in order to bring about change. Air soaked with tear gas, the dark uniforms and loud commands of the police officers in the colourful umbrella sea of the protesters. In the midst of the action, the film documents a brand new protest movement.

A film made with a group of student and worker activists during the Haneda 1967 protests against Japan’s cooperation with the US and the Vietnam war. The film subverts the conventions of mainstream television news coverage to investigate in great detail the killing of a young protester during clashes with the riot police and thus denounces the increasing use of repressive violence by the government.

Intense interest in Japan by the West made it a favourite destination for filmmakers from the earliest days of film. This selection of films from 1901 to 1913, newly restored by the BFI National Archive, takes us on a fascinating journey through Meiji Japan.

A documentary covering the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul.

Katsura Funakoshi: Whispering Gaze observes the visionary sculptor Katsura Funakoshi as he quietly breathes life into camphor wood. Take a look as he works in his atelier, preps for exhibitions, and speaks at lectures. The simple, warm and gentle figures carved out by Funakoshi can be attributed to the harmony of precise calculations and accidental occurrences. His human-like sculptures draw in beholders with their distant marble gaze as if pondering philosophical thoughts and projecting subtle yet bold emotions.

After studying traditional Japanese-style carpentry by himself, Yang devotes sixteen years of his life to building his dream home. He handles the entire process of building a house, from designing a blueprint to acquiring wood, starting construction, assembling columns, tiling the roof, and building the interior.

Three mysterious deaths. The prosecutor claimed the defendant was a serial killer. Her lawyer said she was innocent. The evidence was limited, and the lay judges had difficulty reaching a verdict. Learn about the problems real lay judges face.

During World War II, Unit 731 secretly developed and used biological weapons in Manchuria. Due to the destruction of evidence and the silence of its members, its full activities have remained largely hidden. Newly uncovered audio from the Khabarovsk Trials reveals that core members justified their research as serving national interests, while using Chinese and Soviet detainees as human test subjects. Archival materials further show that many scientists were involved, reflecting close ties between academia and the military. Based on extensive evidence, this work explores how Unit 731 was formed and how medical researchers became complicit.

Elin McCready and Midori Morita have been married for 20 years, and live in Tokyo with their 3 kids. In 2018 Elin filed to change her gender in the US, and shortly thereafter proceeded to change her gender and marriage documents in Japan as well. However, Japan has refused to recognize her transition as it would result in the de facto acceptance of same-sex marriage. To put it simply, Elin broke the Japanese legal system- a system that does not allow transgender people to have children, a system that does not allow same-sex marriage, and a system that does not recognize queer people as people with the same lives as those who identify as heterosexual.

The silence capturing all the surroundings of Mt. Buko. Documentary directed by Minoru Shinojima 1979, 8mm.

Short Film from Himeda Tadayoshi.

Two families in Awat County, southern Xinjiang, China, the Uyghur family of Aierken and the Han family of Guan Xiaoyan, make a living by growing cotton. During the busy cotton picking season, they encountered various unexpected situations such as difficulty in finding harvesting hands, injuries, and continuous rain. But with the concerted efforts of their respective family members, the year's hard work of the two families finally paid off satisfactorily. This film uses the shooting and narrative style of real movies, with the connection of local folk songs and music, as well as the exotic audio-visual language, to show the real life texture and simple family values of Xinjiang cotton farmers in an idyllic way.

Two athletes from opposite sides of the world rise above discrimination and pressures of race and nation to stage the greatest duel in Olympic history and forge a lifelong friendship.

The protagonist sets out to find ways to survive without money. She lives in squats, feeds herself by skip-diving and works in organic farms. Leaving the UK, she hitchhikes across Europe. Travelling with hippies, she reconnects with nature and opens herself to go with the flow to find peace. She continues her journey toward the East and becomes closer to her true home.

Government-made hate against foreign schools, technical intern trainees, refugees, immigration authorities, etc. The essence of discrimination against foreigners. In March 2021, a Sri Lankan woman, Wishma Sandamali, 3, died at the Nagoya Immigration Bureau. Her death reveals the darkness of immigration that has been veiled for many years, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is an incident that symbolizes the history of discrimination against foreigners by public authorities. After the war, the Japan government enacted the Alien Registration Law, which was mainly aimed at managing Koreans, who accounted for 9% of the foreigners living in Japan. In later years, as the number of residents from other countries increased, legal and institutional immigration policies for all foreigners were strengthened. Foreigners suffering from human rights violations complain unanimously. "We are not animals, we are humans!"Read less

The first year after the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in eastern Japan.

MAD Video mondo film exploring the Nazi death camps.

What happens when 300 lesbians from around the world attend the largest United Nations conference? How did two busloads of lesbians headed to an underground nightclub help spark the birth of a lala (LBT) movement in China? At the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the first ever lesbian tent at an UN NGO Forum was created. Emerging from hidden shadows of shame and invisibility, Chinese lalas began a hard-fought path of deliverance from themselves, from family, and from an apprehensive environment. In doing so, they sought empowerment and change as they explored concepts and issues from self-affirmation to rights consciousness. The film powerfully moves forward to the present day and shows the drastic change in today’s young feminist lalas – their challenging of sexism and homophobia with daring public street actions on subways – a parallel action to their forerunners in 1995, with much vigor and defiance 20 years later.

A woman makes clothes in a basement but someone keeps interfering with her. She is angry but she doesn't know who she's being angry at. 'She' is actually a manikin and she's about to kidnap someone to ask for ransom money. The energetic and lively editing and sound are much alike Kim Gok and Kim Seon's previous work but their message to society is very direct and straightforward. The highlights of this movie are the unique narrative structure that twists the typical customs and the eccentric images.

The Over the Rainbow project initiated by Shenzhen Songhe Growth-caring Foundation, along with some music professors in Yunnan or around China, went to some minority areas to guide local children' s chorus . On July 22, 2016, among 16 minority areas children's chorus the sponsored by the Songhe Foundation, over three hundred minority music teachers and children have performed their wonderful music with national characteristics for domestic and overseas audiences in Yunnan.

A documentary on a Korean painter Lee Jungseob. After the Korean War broke out, Lee and his family left Wonsan to flee to Jeju. While his wife and sons stay in Tokyo, Lee settles in Busan by himself.

A documentary film looking at the work of Shiko Munakata, a woodblock artist. His prints are based on Buddhist philosophy and are highly original and Oriental in style.

There are children in front of the beach. Hye-sun sends a letter to Gwang-hwa, conveying her love and mentioning the foods she ate and her health condition. Gwang-hwa replies to the letter. The two people read letters sent at different times together. And they are heading to the same place.

LaserDisc released in 1984 that features cute kittens and puppies.

After Self-Portrait: At 47 Km, Zhang Mengqi pursues her contributions to the Folk Memory Project, relentlessly questioning the survivors of the 1959-61 famine in her village, “47 kilometres” (47 km from Suizhou, in Hebei Province).

Park Do-soon, the founder of Suneung(South Korea's College Scholastic Ability Test), had failed in his own university entrance exam. His creation—Suneung—would face similar trials. Although designed to put an end to test-oriented education, his new admissions system would be reshaped by external pressures and societal backlash against his intention. Amid the growing controversy, Suneung and the broader admissions reform faced the threat of being scrapped altogether. Ultimately, compromises were made, such as including science and social studies in the test.

Documentary about the four people make a living by performing barehanded rock climbing in the Swallow Cave.

This documentary retraces the memories of dozens of individuals, exploring themes such as childhood, love and marriage, survival, faith, illness, and death. It serves as a visual taxonomy of memory.

Jade, a Korean-born art student, writes in her diary about encountering anti-Asian racism, sexism, and homophobia in France. Her disillusionment with France, her rage at racists, and the lack of understanding from others all prompted her to reconcile with reality through art.

I finally climbed out of the "cave house" to offer a sacrifice... Home, hometown, the Chinese Incense Burning Acestral Land... An array of half grave half beast faces that follow a collective and tragic fate.

Elke Marhöfer's observational essay takes its title from a Korean Pansori song. One of three musical interludes performed in the film, this song tells the story of a turtle locked in a futile circle of evasion with a hungry tiger. Marhöfer's film is concerned with the formal attributes of Pansori music – its traditions of storytelling and the transmittance of an alternative knowledge. The film journeys through natural landscapes, small town streets, forested mountains and busy shipping channels as it looks at the divide between the traditional and the modern. Shot in 16mm, this measured and lyrical film is an exploration into the boundaries between humans, animals and things.

Liuqiu, a tiny island on the outskirt of the Taiwan Strait, which means ‘floating ball’. Surrounded by more floating balls—’hotels-on-the-sea’ where Chinese fishermen stay. The film depict fate, humanity and destiny of these floating balls.

This video is a short documentary of our first UK tour in October 2023.

An animated tale of how a family moved to Taiwan over a 5000 year journey.

As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search for himself, a long due conversation with his mother dives the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.

Two people who really wanted to see Michael Snow’s new video [Cityscape] travel to Toronto Island where the video was filmed. They each make a video about what they wanted to see, what it might be like, what they couldn’t see and put these two videos side by side. A friend plays the drums.

Eight years in the making, the film focuses mostly on Ming Chuan University’s alumni cheerleading team preparing for their alma mater’s 60th anniversary celebration in 2017, capturing their practices, team building exercises, meetings and other activities with endless playful banter.

Documentary "The Time of the Individual" records records the 7.7 demonstration at Tsim Sha Tsui. To say NO to the Extradition Bill (which is a mechanism for transferring fugitive to Mainland China), Hong Kong protester flooded the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui on July 7 2019. Youngsters use their “own ways” to delivery to mainland travelers the demand of democracy. This shows another peaceful side of the protest as not shown on traditional medias.

Huang Nai-hui has cerebral palsy. He seems to be disadvantaged, but his ambition is much stronger than the general public. To have a family of his own, three years ago, despite people’s look, he married Navy, a Cambodian 20 years younger, and had this cute girl Jing-ci. His dream fulfilled. For money problem, the couple was having more and more fights. Navy wanted to help her poor family back in Cambodia, but Huang wanted to protect his own family. With enmity towards his mother-in-law, the trip back to Cambodia made the couple astray. Later the mother-in-law’ two-month stay in Taiwan worsened the relationship. Huang and Navy are facing a fierce battle between cross-national marriages. With the huge gap of sex, age, culture, and status, is peace possible…

XIONG,Jie-feng is naive but not easily-influenced. Different from other Chinese young people who prefer working in the cities, XIONG decided to go back to his hometown, Pingzhai Village in Yunnan Province, and started to plant the "Red Rice Seed," a kind of ancient species. The so-called organic agriculture has had an age-old tradition in China. The skills have been passed from generation to generation. This is the major reason why farmers connect to the land both historically and emotionally. The "Red Rice Seed" can only be planted in a traditional and organic way. If the plantation was to succeed, the problems resulted from scientific fertilizers and the overuse of chemicals since the 20th century can all be resolved.

Young Masters is an original series commissioned by NOWNESS China focusing on traditional Chinese cultures, and how they continue to be defined by a new generation of the country's youth. Puning City in Guangdong Province is known within China as the 'Cultural Hometown' of Chaoshan, with the folk dance Yingge being one of its most famous customs. Yingge, meaning "Hero's Hymn", combines Nanquan routines and opera acting skills, and is a vibrant and upbeat performance in which dancers don intricate costumes and facial makeup, and play the role of the heroes in Water Margin《水浒传》- an ancient Chinese novel about brotherhood.

A series of documentaries that aim to introduce important Chinese writers to the next generation and to preserve and promote the works of literary masters. The episode "I Remember" is directed by novelist Lin Junying, who has had a deep friendship with the Zhu family for over 40 years. The film focuses the second generation of daughters Zhu Tianwen, Zhu Tianxin, Zhu Tianyi and son-in-law Tang Nuo, who together co-founded the "Sansan Bookstore".

Dremedrema is the chief heir of her tribe. Being the eldest, she therefore, must accept her inheritance of the position and status according to the tradition.Though her mother and children hope that she would disavow the obligation. Even Dremedrema had run away from her tribe once, her ancestral spirits has never given up on her. She is a tribal chief who doesn’t speak the native tongue. At the same time she is a devoted single mother of three. She is a chief without her traditional tribal family house, unable to live within the tribe. She misses home. But despite ten years’ effort, it is a home that she cannot easily return to.