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A sleeping city, streets without people. A figure in a red robe walks slowly — across a carpet of leaves, over cobblestones, along the cold pavement. Autumn night fog descends upon the city. In the cinema, people watch the monk’s slow steps and fall asleep. Can phantoms meet and understand each other? Night Journey was created in just ten days through a collaboration between Tsai Ming-liang and FAMU students — a tribute to cinema and to Jihlava as a place of silent dreaming.

In a city of endless deliveries, two thirty-year-old riders, one weighed down by debt and the other driven by hope, cling to a quiet yet enduring friendship as they dream of escaping a life caught in constant motion.

In 2016, Taiwan's film and television industry was in a recession. This made life even more difficult for the lowest-level performers, the extras. The story begins with Kehan Zhang, a man who loves acting and works as a full-time extra. He had been working as an extra for three years and paid NTD 500 in cash every time. His daily routine includes searching for various audition opportunities, submitting resumes, and only receiving audition notices every now and then. To fulfill the dream of becoming a leading actor, he decided to venture into the film and television industry in China and started his Don Quixote journey with pals. The documentary also films other actors and actresses - the girl from the south and Brother Long, and how they experienced gender and age limitations in the industry. Besides the stereotypes in the industry, they also faced challenges balancing work and family.

Young Taiwanese worker Lin spends his days crafting intricate paper houses for funeral offerings. When his boss arranges a blind date for him, he begins to envision his future through the burning paper houses. What does an ideal life look like?

Tsai Ming-liang's new film, Back Home, depicts Anong Houngheuangsy and the daily life of his home village in Laos. We witness buildings in varying states of habitation and disrepair, farm animals, rice fields, religious sites, domestic scenes, a sun-dappled food market, and a dog adorably trying (and failing) to escape a carnival ride.

On the outskirts of Taipei, there is a leprosy sanatorium built by the Japanese occupiers in 1930 to seclude thousands of patients and maintain sanitary conditions on the land. For the last two decades, Taiwanese authorities have decided to turn the sanatorium into a museum to commemorate the history of leprosy medicine. However, the sanatorium has slowly been destroyed due to constant construction that has overwhelmed the remaining aged patients. To cope with this struggle, they protest and build landscape models with their gnarled hands representing their accurate memories and experiences. They continue to fight against the authorities’ efforts to erase the history of segregation and discrimination and have not given up.

Each bookstore forms its own poetic landscape: gentle hands restoring old books, a bookstore owner guiding customers on herbal hikes, an eco-activist protecting mountains through reading, and a woman from a fishing community preserving local memories. Director Hou Chi-jan captures these intimate narratives through lyrical imagery, portraying 15 independent Taiwanese bookstores and preserving fading stories and quiet cultural resilience.

16 years ago, Chen Huo-sheng was a captain and the central figure in a drug trafficking case. He believed the justice system would eventually clear his name, not knowing that the clouds of injustice were harder to escape than the pirates at sea. While a wrongful conviction may seem complex, a closer look reveals its stark clarity.

A Tayal family faces emotional and spiritual challenges after the passing of their grandfather. Their unfamiliarity with Gaga, the ancestral ethical system, reveals deeper cultural dissonance and generational gaps shaped by decades of assimilation policies and influences. Set against a postcolonial backdrop, SPI traces how one family, caught between modernity and indigenous memory, strives to carry forward the Tayal spirit left behind by their elders.

Cheung Chau, once a fishing village in Hong Kong, has transformed into a tourist spot. Ri-Tai, a food stall run by A-Cheung, reflects local life, absurdities, and societal realities. A-Cheung spends his days playing games with customers like Plumpy, forming bonds that transcend generations. However, the onset of COVID-19 disrupts this sense of community, leaving the island deserted and questioning whether Ri-Tai's simple way of life will vanish.

The once prosperous mining town of Houtong. The film collects voices of elderly folk who lived through those times—encounters with the supernatural. Their stories are lights cast down into the darkness of that near-faded history.

On the journey to depict "borders," Because Watching Pacifies captures two KMT military dependents' villages established for surveillance purposes following the Chinese Civil War. In the mountainous region traversed by Taiwan's Central Cross-Island Highway and the highlands that border Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos, the villages were established in conflict zones along ethnic frontiers.

The Tai-Hwa Ferry is a ship that sails between Kaohsiung and Penghu in Taiwan. Once, visiting Grandpa in Penghu was a yearly routine for the director and her mother. However, with Grandpa's departure, the ferry is also about to retire. As delayed messages slowly appear on the phone, it signifies the boat nearing its destination. In this journey of becoming survivors of suicide, what truly constitutes nearing arrival?

My mother left our home when I was nine years old. For about ten years, it was just my father and me. When I turned twenty-one, she came back—moving into the master bedroom that had been locked for a decade and digging out countless old photographs from the past.

After her birth, Nien-hua never met her father and was raised solely by her mother. She lived with her mother and older sister in a community building named “Viva Family.” To outsiders, her mother seemed to excessively pamper her children, but in reality, she used various forms of violence to discipline them. At the age of 23, Nien-hua receives a strange message on Facebook from her father, who had never been present in her life. He talks about their brief marriage in a way Nien-hua has never heard before. This regret of never having met her father leads Nien-hua to decide to meet him. As the director seeks to unravel this repressed event, she discovers that each person remembers it in a vastly different way. In the search for truth, everyone reveals their own secrets and inadvertently confirms a recurring dream.

For over 70 years, Kai has lived in a military dependents’ house frequented by monkeys. He has spent years maintaining the almost 90-year-old house. In facing monkeys’ intrusions, typhoons and the unpredictable nature of life, can he weather the trials of nature and time?

Hero! Hito! tells the true story of Chinese Taipei, the team that represents Taiwan in international baseball competitions, and their eleven-year climb from the heartbreak of the 2013 World Baseball Classic to a world championship win. With powerful tournament footage and candid player interviews, the film shows how an underestimated team overcame doubts, pressure, and tough odds to defeat Japan and unite fans in a moment of unforgettable pride. A heartfelt and uplifting documentary from director Lungnan Isak Fangas.

Step into the daily life of Muslims at Longgang Mosque—from the steady rhythm of everyday routines to the solemn rituals of significant religious occasions—and witness how faith shapes and strengthens a community. Through their personal journeys and spiritual practices, the film offers insight into how Islamic cultural traditions are preserved or tested in contemporary society, and how different generations navigate questions of identity, faith, and family in their search for belonging.

In Taiwan’s struggles for housing justice, it is always the women who hold on until the very end, standing guard over the home. For them, it may be their grandfather’s home, their father’s, their husband’s, or the future home of their children—but rarely their own. These women support one another, refusing to yield, and with resilience they resist the state, the law, and powerful corporations under a patriarchal system. Told from a female perspective, this film asks: what does “home” truly mean to them? Why can they endure for so long, refusing to leave? And, at the same time, it confronts another question—where are the men?

The film, which took five years to make and was initiated by Senate President Vystrčil's visit to Taiwan in 2020, maps the current geopolitical situation of this island nation and seeks not only historical but mainly current parallels between Taiwan's position vis-à-vis China and Russia's position vis-à-vis smaller countries, including Ukraine, the Baltic states, and even the Czech Republic. China's pressure on Taiwan is intensifying, and this island state is increasingly under threat. Will it maintain its freedom and independence in today's complex world, where conflicts are on the rise and, with the possible help of the democratic world, it is becoming increasingly complicated?

Recipe for C is a collaborative creation by visual artist Jie-Huai Yang and graphic designer Changwei, inspired by their shared experiences with a mutual ex-boyfriend, C. As a restaurant chef, C centered his life around experimental cooking, with his notes and recipes serving as the foundation for this project. Though a recipe book and a cooking tutorial video, the work transforms intimate emotional memories into a public sensory and visual dialogue. Cooking becomes not only a retrospective of a past relationships and sexual roles. By kneading and blending ingredients, the work reinterprets fragile yet profound memories, showcasing the vulnerability and resilience of emotions. Recipe for C unveils private stories hidden in the shadows, like a dish releasing its lingering aroma, challenging viewers' perceptions of emotions and gender roles.

For 45 years, Jen-Shiu Hsu has used photography and writing to explore the intricate universe of nature. He has tirelessly shared his discoveries with the world, exposing both its beauty and the destruction caused by human civilization. But in 2019, after undergoing surgery for the first time in his life, he became acutely aware of time. Suddenly, his lifelong rhythm of exploration faced an unavoidable limit. His final, unfinished expedition—will it be the closing chapter of his journey, or the start of something new? This documentary observes a man who has always sought the core of nature, now faced with the reality of his own mortality. As he embarks on one last great adventure, the film also captures how the filmmaking team, through their own journeys, begins to question their relationship with nature and their understanding of life itself.

In the 1980s, Taiwanese families arrived in Argentina; years later, many who felt Argentinean ended up in Taiwan. Parents leaving, their children returning; identities and memories divided, worlds we build to find each other.

A Taiwanese Odyssey resulting from the assassination attempt by three expatriates in April 1970 on Chiang Ching-kuo, heir apparent to dictator Chiang Kai-shek. The story is told through the life of Cecilia Huang, a gentle and quiet participant previously unknown. With memories shared by people across three continents, the film explores complexity of the human condition, love, betrayal, defiance, regrets, trauma and the possibilities of poetic closure from pain and loss.

Ting-ying was diagnosed with a brain tumour. After years of pain, she wrote to Dignitas, a Swiss assisted dying organization, for help. Through 93 letters, she navigated her way toward assisted death, torn between love from her family and partner, and the unbearable pain.

In 2002, Cheng's father murdered his mother. He is both the son of the perpetrator and the beloved son of the victim. That afternoon, he met the children of two other death row inmates. The three of them talked about life, about marriage, and about their greatest fear: their fathers, and the death penalty.

In a tender yet gripping portrait of resilience, the film follows Zane, a 10-year-old Indonesian boy, navigating life as a quiet pillar for his struggling family in Taiwan. As his parents wrestle with buried trauma and cultural dislocation, Zane finds strength in unexpected places, shaping a powerful tale of migration, identity, and belonging. Interwoven with stories of fellow migrants and a poignant radio broadcast, this emotional journey speaks to anyone who's ever searched for home. A hauntingly beautiful ode to healing, "Tuned In" invites us to listen closely, to what's said, and what's left unsaid.

How does a piece of sugar taste of history?⁣ A century ago, in Erlin, a land susceptible to winds and floods, the Erlin Sugarcane Farmers' Association was born. It was Taiwan's first modern organization to advocate for farmers. They held lectures and established rural schools, but ultimately faced imprisonment.⁣ A century later, many have forgotten this history. On the crimson monument at the site of the incident, only the faded inscription "Erlin Sugarcane Farmers" is visible, reflecting against distant chimneys.⁣ What kind of future awaits Erlin's rural villages? Looking back at history, what can we learn?⁣ "Before Crystallization" tells the story of how people were treated before sugarcane became a symbol of sweetness.⁣ "Before Crystallization" discusses what efforts we still need to make before memory becomes a collective identity.⁣ Let the Erlin Sugarcane Farmers' Association lead the way, as we travel through time together and begin a century of reflection.⁣

This film is like a person standing naked in the middle of a square, covered in wounds, holding up a sign that says “Free Hug.” Many people come to embrace him, and he embraces many in return. Yet this does not mean that those who embrace him are unscarred—it is only that they are clothed. — Director Zhang Yu

A Chip Odyssey features interviews with over 80 key figures who witnessed and shaped the development of the semiconductor industry — from the first generation of engineers and female factory workers, to policymakers and technology veterans, and today’s young engineers facing new crossroads. This feature-length documentary chronicles how Taiwan built its semiconductor industry from scratch and transformed it into a global technological force, capturing a vital and transformative chapter in the island’s modern history.

In 1871, a ship traveling from Miyako Island to Shuri to deliver annual tribute was caught in a storm and drifted to southern Taiwan. Onboard were 69 Ryukyuan passengers who reached an area inhabited by the Paiwan people. However, some Ryukyuans were killed in a tragic incident that later became known as the Mudan Incident. This event was used as a pretext for Japan’s invasion of Taiwan (the 1874 Taiwan Expedition) and also influenced Japan’s annexation of Ryukyu, significantly shaping the geopolitical landscape of East Asia.

A single act of kindness, involving three DVD players, plunged a father and son into a fate they could never reverse. Like a sinking ship, they desperately tried to slow their descent, but ultimately could not overcome the water rising past their noses and throats.

Fifteen chapters unfold across the Bunun villages of Litu and Wulu in Taitung, Taiwan, and the surrounding mountains and forests. Children dream of chasing — or being chased by — spirit animals; elders recall lives shaped by snake and bear myths; strange encounters emerge in the habitats of birds.

YOSHIKAWA Hayao (1890-1959), pioneer of amateur cinema in Asia, authored over 160 books to share his passion during the 1930s. Years later, he rediscovered a forgotten dream from his youth: to create a sci-fi film set on the Moon.

My mother was born in Kinmen, a tiny island just off the coast of China. Sexism/Male child favoritism is often found in Asian cultures and is even more apparent in a closed off community like the one my mother grew up in. My mother has two younger brothers, so while she carries the responsibility of taking care of my sick grandmother, her efforts are never appreciated by her family, especially not by her mother.

A college student unexpectedly inherits a car left by his father—along with a huge debt. To pay it off, he's forced to put his studies on hold. Driving this car that links two generations, long-avoided family issues quietly start to surface.

Returning to the ancestral home his grandfather built for the family, the eldest grandson finds no trace of his own childhood. Through the rhythmic cadence of his grandmother’s Hakka, he begins to reclaim his identity—stitching together a family history from old photographs and the stories that survived.

Two mixed-race children of the US military in Taiwan, one speaking Hakka, the other Taiwanese. In the ruins of a former military dormitory, they speak slowly, uncovering a history their faces and languages could never fully inhabit, their memories moving like ghosts along the edges of history.

It’s been 10 years since the landlord sold the house and the family lived apart. A portrait of my imaginary family having a reunion dinner in my old home awakened my longing for this lost space. A journey of reunion with my old home and a journey of saying goodbye.

At the peak of his career as a choreographer, Bulareyaung felt lost. He returned to Taitung to work with young indigenous performers. These mostly untrained dancers are fulfilling their dreams in their homeland, and their free-spirited personalities remind him of his youth. Surrounded by dancers who feel like family, Bulareyaung gradually discovers that returning to his indigenous community through dance rekindles the child within him.

On 1st July 2022, as Hong Kong marks the 25th anniversary of its handover, tropical storm Chaba lashes the city. Cyclone captures the resilience and vibrancy of Hong Kong people as they navigate the day amidst historical significance and natural upheaval.

Hua Yang and Afa are two competitive freediving athletes. One is focused on breaking the deepest record in Asia, while the other aspires to claim the crown of Taiwan’s top freediver. Both received invitations to compete in the prestigious Blue Hole Vertical Blue Depth Competition. This documentary follows their journey from land to underwater,capturing their contrasting styles and perspectives as they merge in the tranquil yet mysterious blue depths.

Four Indonesian female caregivers, each from a different generation, share their lives in Taiwan. On their days off, they gather at Taipei Main Station, reclaiming their freedom while facing the struggles of migrant women. This film unveils their stories, highlighting resilience, identity, and empowerment.

Eighty years after World War II, memory clings like frost to glass-blurred, fractured, yet never fully fading. Filmmaker Ming Chun retraces the forgotten journey of Taiwanese soldiers conscripted by Japan, captured by the Soviets, and exiled to Siberia. From departure and defeat to captivity and return, he follows a path of war and displacement-toward a home that no longer felt like home. Across Taiwan, Japan, and Russia, he searches for traces of their lives-abandoned camps, fading photographs, fragments of memory-while opening a dialogue across three generations: elders whose recollections falter, children burdened with unanswered questions, grandchildren confronting fractured identities. When history falls silent, what do we hear? And where do restless souls finally belong?