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Although the Chinese government promised that Hong Kong would retain separate status until 2047, in recent years the Chinese state has consolidated its power over the metropolis. Large-scale protests by the populace have been brutally suppressed. This mix of documentary, fiction, and visions of the future reveals the current state of desolate depression among the people of Hong Kong. “A desperate attempt to capture the final moments of a sinking island”, as maker Chan Tze-woon himself puts it.

A young photographer wanders through the city as Taiwan is preparing for the presidential election. Constantly questioning his talent as an artist, he suffers from the uncertainty facing his future as he is about to turn 30 - a watershed age in one's life according to traditional Taiwanese culture. His accidental encounter with an ex-girlfriend propels him to reconsider his past, present and future in the river of time.

The life of the epoch-making master of martial arts cinema, King Hu.

The ninth opus of his Walker Films series, which was shot at Centre Pompidou.

Brash and opinionated, Christine Choy is a documentarian, cinematographer, professor, and quintessential New Yorker whose films and teaching have influenced a generation of artists. In 1989 she started to film the leaders of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests who escaped to political exile following the June 4 massacre. Though Choy never finished that project, she now travels with the old footage to Taiwan, Maryland, and Paris in order to share it with the dissidents who have never been able to return home.

Fewer number of indigenous people in Taiwan still believe in Shamanism. Shamans bore responsibility for communicating with the spirit world, and relied on rituals to help others to avoid misfortune. However, both the suffering patient who wishes to have a ritual performed and the shaman performing the ritual have their own troubles. Can these wounded spirits find healing in beliefs?

A documentary short about a B&B owner with right hand cut off.

Dancer SHEU Fang-yi’s career has been told through her modern dance dramas such as Sparrow, Stranger, Wall, and Martha GRAHAM‘s Heretic. Martha GRAHAM once said: “A dancer dies twice — once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful.” At this intersection of her life, SHEU Fang-yi commemorates her glorious past two decades with a funeral, to farewell her past self, and to get ready to move toward her unknown future.

Chu Chen, the 27-year-old lead singer of the indie band "The Land Reborn", is always performing and practicing. He doesn't want to waste any moment of his life since the misfortune inherited from his family is lurking in his restless blood.

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.

Lingtan Street is home to several shops, where the owners keep their secrets. A woman who has lost her family, a lesbian running a bookshop, a vegetable stall owner controlled by her husband, a piano teacher relying on a cleaning job, a young mother separated from her son and a music store owner about to have a home birth. Their lives become entwined as they go through the highs and lows together.

An old downtown hotel had been visited by people with secrets. Each of them was assigned a number, and it was guaranteed that all the secrets would be forever kept in the hotel. No. 287 is quite a unique case. She hides her secrets in this hotel as well as a grand palace where her memories with her lover remain intact. Years later, the old hotel was relocated, and the palace was devoured by fire. All the secrets have thereby disappeared.

After beginning his transgender journey at age 18, Tyler has become a young man who will no longer be mistaken for a woman. Having finally achieved harmony between mind and body, can the pain Tyler felt from his earlier gender identity struggles be cured? Tyler’s family also must come to terms with their child as he begins a new life as a son, brother, and boyfriend.

This documentary film follows the journey of former student activist and current political staffer Chen Ting-hao after his decision to escape the cynical politicism of Taipei City to the political backwater of Matsu, an island group administered by Taiwan less than a dozen kilometers off the coast of China. The narrative follows Ting-hao as he reflects on how his political idealism fits in with everyday political reality and ponders Taiwan’s complex political landscape, Taiwan’s relations with a meddlesome yet surprisingly indifferent China, and the perspectives of Matsu residents on Taiwan-China affairs.

“I Remember” tells the story of sister writers Chu Tien-wen and Chu Tien-xin, from co-founding the San-san magazine to their respective creative and political efforts up to the present.

Since 2009, the filmmaker has spent 12 years documenting the ever-changing times of three townships along the coast of Tainan County, namely Beimen, Jiangjun and Qigu. Through the lenses, human activities are seen closely connected with the surrounding nature, while maintaining its own charm. The film subtly captures a singular way of life and a sense of time suspended in the past, present and future.

A documentary short about a couple dedicating to marine environmental protection.

Can both your parents with mental disorders affect you being a teacher?

Twenty years ago, LIN Sheng-hsiang was a successful athlete who enjoyed glamor and glory. Once a child abandoned by the education system due to his unimpressive academic performance, LIN has redeemed himself in the modern pentathlon, an obscure sport in Taiwan. Now a coach, LIN tries his best to serve disadvantaged children who have a similar background to his own. This year, he meets CHEN You-hsuan, a talented young girl from a remote village in eastern Taiwan. LIN devotes himself and all the resources he can find to train You-hsuan. If he manages to help You-hsuan qualify for the Olympic Games, he will have realized his dream of bringing Taiwan’s modern pentathlon team onto the international stage. But everything, including time, funding, the system, and the wayward adolescent, all seems to be going against his wishes. But LIN never expected that this would be just the beginning of the cruelest and toughest challenge he has ever faced.

Haunted by the tragic death of his father, Juan Martín Hsu, a young Argentinian filmmaker of Taiwanese origin, returns to Taipei to film the reunion with his mother. Reality and fiction blend in a moving personal quest in which an incredible portrait of a Mother Courage stands out from the picture of a family saga marked by uprooting.

A documentary about Taiwanese legislator.

A film producer, an assassin, and a patriot. These aren’t three characters in this film but three ways of describing Wu Dun, a member of the United Bamboo Gang who murdered the Taiwanese-American writer Henry Liu and became a producer of wuxia films. Hsu Che-yu, who previously brought Single Copy (IFFR 2020) and Re-rupture (IFFR 2018) to Rotterdam, visits Wu’s abandoned studio to restage the events with forensic scanning techniques.

Following Karen, a Malaysian teenage boy of Indian origin, this film documents his youth in a period of six years. Through Karen, we explore the hardship his people have endured and the eventual breakdown of his family both caused by the racial discrimination and education inequality in Malaysia.

Son and father are driving on the highway. The son keeps asking questions until he finally notices the changes in his father's body. The dialogue in the animation is taken from a recording of a real conversation between the filmmaker and his father.

23-year-old young artist aims to build a settlement in Central Taipei, offering the artists a place to work with total freedom. As a result, he sets up a tent on the Huashan Grassland and carries out an experimental project called the “120 Grassroots Self-Autonomous Zone.” As the settlement gets bigger and bigger, the Utopia gradually takes shape. Nonetheless, when the shocking murder and dismemberment of a woman happens on the Grassland, the authorities demolish the settlement and these young artists are chased out of the Grassland by the public opinion. Having experienced the rise and the fall of the 120 Grassroots Self-Autonomous Zone, where would this group of young people go as they are forced into exile?

A snooze alarm clock cannot wake a sleepy person. The bell of the alarm clock hence becomes a hypnotic trigger. Such an ordinary sound is redefined in our drowsy moments, and we are also liberated from the sounds that condition our lives—queue management systems, electric scooters, air raid drills, and public demonstrations. These sounds are released from the soft soil of our consciousness and grow into a new scene. And we sail with those who cannot be awakened on a boat drifting off course into a new realm projected by frequency. This is a film you can watch with your eyes closed.

From the world to Taiwan, 2020 has been filled with turbulent crises. This documentary records how anti-epidemic hotels play a vital role in the severe test of the COVID-19 epidemic, how they stand up, and what tests they encounter during the process. Director Chen Yujie spent 10 months recording the worries of Chinese people and students who returned from abroad when faced with an unfamiliar epidemic situation; the staff of the epidemic prevention hotel went from fear and fear to enthusiastic reception when they were entrusted with important tasks. From a perspective you have never seen before, every decision made in the battle against COVID-19 will be a piece of history deeply imprinted in your heart.

Before the pandemic, I did a series of street shoots in Wanhua, a place out of my comfort zone. Then, I got Covid-19. During the quarantine, I looked back at the photos, wondering if the people are doing well or not. I seemed to have a shared time with them, so I returned to Wanhua with the question: Do you know where is Zhen Zhen now? I let the residents tell their stories.

This is a story about a father who drifted from New Zealand to Taiwan to look for his missing son. Although his son was never found after many fruitless searches, he gained love and friendship from many Taiwanese. This documentary tries to trace a father’s journey for searching his beloved son as well as to present how he recovered from his initial pain of losing son and turned it into his love for Taiwan at the end.

A documentary about a Taiwanese poet Wu Sheng.

"Politics and religion are not allowed here. We only talk about women." But after a few glasses of Kaoliang liquor, CAO's rules are naturally forgotten. Every night for 30 years, CAO would sit in front of his house and have a few drinks, and it has become a place for older men to gather. After retirement, their conversations are full of conflicts between old and new values and "masculine" topics. CAO and his buddy LAI chit chat about their inner feelings that have to be spilled out.

Hundreds of offshore wind turbines are being built in proximity to the habitat of endangered white dolphins, as a cetacean scholar tries to find a balance between development and marine ecology.

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.

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.

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".

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.

In 1987, Su Ping-kun was found guilty of armed robbery and attempted murder, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In the era of Martial Law, he endured abuse and torture from the authority. In 2000, Su received a presidential pardon but still remained guilty in Taiwan's legal system. He refused to have a tainted name and continued fighting for over 30 years, just to clear his name.

The special bond between filmmaker Mei-ling Hsiao and her daughter, who has Asperger syndrome, is meticulously recorded over a period of 12 years. As a result, we see Xiang Yun/Elodie grow from a creative girl into a young adult preparing for a career as a pâtissier. This means leaving her mother in Taiwan and moving to France, where her father lives, and where there is better training. But the distance between mother and daughter puts a strain on their relationship.

Planet A is a metaphor for human arrogance, in which humans destroy nature and other beings, justify their behavior as "development", evaluate themselves as "good"(A), and are flattered to be on top of Earth. An experimental musical documentary project, presented as an omnibus of 15 music videos, was created with the goal of challenging the status quo and revealing the truth that lies behind what is happening on this "fantastic" planet right now, along with fighting against all discrimination within it.

In 1956, the U. S. Naval Medical Research Unit No.2 built a pure white building in Shuilin Township, Yunlin County, and began a seven-year research project. The building was white, clean and bright, so that local residents call it the "American White House." The various things in the research process made the residents quite curious and suspicious of this mysterious building. The adults even reminded the children not to approach it. However, Taiwan didn’t know much about this project. After the project ended, all relevant materials were taken to the United States and stored at Johns Hopkins University. So the team went to America to find research materials and bring them back to Taiwan. The director’s father was one of the members of the research project then. Therefore, the shooting process is not only to dig out the past, but also to evoke the youthful memories of those elders.

After surviving a Ponzi scheme resulted from an information gap in Myanmar, a Taiwanese shrimp farmer, Du, collaborates with a local Chinese-Burmese, Su, to keep his shrimp business going. It is a story about how they work from the beginning to the end.

The film focuses on Cao Liou, a 25-year-old drag queen. The explosive creative energy he delivers is stunning, but at the same time, he also displays his egotistical nature and wanton lifestyle. Director Pan Hsin An is the same age as Liou. He peeps into Liou’s life through a camera lens, questioning and exploring. During the filming process, the two often fail to understand each other, and each has his doubts about the other. But in the end, at opposite ends of the scale, they find the same desires behind huge differences.

Haunted by the tragic death of his father, a young Argentinian filmmaker of Taiwanese origin returns to Taipei to film the reunion with his mother. Reality and fiction blend in a moving personal quest in which an incredible portrait of a mother stands out from the picture of a family saga marked by uprooting.

Chishang Township is known for its superior rice quality, golden rice waves, and unique cultural ambiance. From its initial struggles to the historic achievement of cultivating the highest-priced rice, the film traces the town's rich history and profound humanistic depth.

This film follows a girl who has been living with depression for many years, and explores the concept of “I’m sick” through different points of view. Everyone has experienced low moments in their lives or been through dark times in the past that are rarely talked about. It is hoped that this film can transform these emotions into positive energy in our lives.

After more than a decade in the financial industry, Jeff HUANG decided to leave his comfort zone at the age of 33 and changed his job from an analyst to a mixed martial artist without a regular income. Jeff walked away from it all, moved to Brazil to train. Upon his return to Taiwan, Jeff entered the professional world of MMA and became known as "The Machine". But In the face of his family's doubts and marriage crisis, will he be able to continue to follow the path he has chosen?

Taking place on Victory Lane in Keelung, this film delves into the lives of three Korean women in their 70s, shaped by war and identity struggles. Unable to return home after migrating during the 20th-century Japanese colonisation of Taiwan, they endure the physical and emotional toll of living between Korea and Taiwan, forgotten in the divide between the two countries.

An Indigenous Amis family hunts snails by headlight after a midnight rain on Taiwan’s eastern coast. Back home, as they butcher, clean, and cook them, family members pass on their endangered language to a younger generation and trade ghost stories that echo the fragility of inherited identities.

HUNG Chun-hsiu spent seven years filming three residents of Kinmen island: an owner of a local photography shop, a retired officer and a Chinese woman from Sichuan province who came to Kinmen with the hope for a better future. Using photographs and archival materials, HUNG explores the personal stories of three residents and how they reflect upon the upheavals between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

More than 60 years ago, my father followed his parents and took the train to Kaohsiung. Little did he know it was a one way trip and grew up in Liuhe Night Market ever since. Then he became a Japanese tour guide, traveling around and accompanying countless families. The most complete time we spent together was to go out with my father’s group–a way to improve intimacy. Due to the pandemic, his work has been suspended. If the past is a kind of scenery where sight-seeing is laid above; this film is a journey of himself.

The villagers of Longsheng Village, Zaoqiao Township, Miaoli, have persevered through the threat of mob violence to protect their hometown from being polluted by business waste. After 20 years of struggle, victory is now in sight. However, cases of illegal dumping of business waste are still occurring near villages everywhere in Taiwan, and we are all implicit. How will the future of Taiwan look?

Situated in the middle of a traditional three-section compound, “tangˊhaˊ” is the shrine where the Hakka worship their ancestors. The tangˊhaˊ fire burns all night everyday, leading generations of offspring home—except for the married daughters. As responsibilities are passed on to the younger generations, some Hakka clans have begun to relax the restrictions, although there are still many hurdles to overcome....

Filipinos are frequent winners of global beauty pageants. They craze over pageantry not only in the Philippines, but everywhere the two million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) work. Factory OFWs Robin, John Louie and Raymond are candidates of the Ginoong Taiwan pageant held in Hsinchu. Can they grasp their dreams as they embark on the journey of companion and competition for the crown?

Through conversations with his grandparents, the director uncovers family conflicts from 60 years ago and reflects on how life choices shape perspectives on aging and living. The film delves into the causes and consequences of choices, exploring themes of helplessness and resilience. Woven through memories, it reveals the complexities of life’s final stages and the pursuit of meaning.