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Dr. Rao died on 29Th of September 2010.The funeral ceremony in Sichuan, Southwest China, lasted two days and two nights and was recorded in a rather unconventional way: 5.957 single photo shots, combined to a 7 minutes short film. It shows the funeral of an ordinary Chinese man, surrounded by his family. One witnesses the enshrined body, the cremation of the deceased and the immediate handing over afterwords of his remains to the family members. The film provides a very intimate perspective on contemporary Chinese culture, where Taoist burial rites are blended with modern secular customs. The process brings to mind a theater performance with stage, acting and scenery, embodying the transition from the living to the death.

The Chiwen is a legendary animal decoration used on the both ends of the oriental ancient buildings’ roof ridge. Known as the dragon’s son, it is good at spewing waves and making rain, which helps prevent fire and bring good fortune to the house. Tears of Chiwen is a metaphor. Tears symbolize water, happiness and sadness. Since the recent history of East Asia began, each country has absorbed Western cultures in its own ways, and now takes on a new look of Westernization. The work Tears of Chiwen is a reflection on the modernity of East Asian Culture in the context of globalization.

“To see a girl I fell in love with at the first sight, I imitated my idol Herzog to start a journey on foot.”

Contemporary Shanghai, the young gathering. A mega-structure under rapid development. Ubiquitous screens, fragmented materiality, masked crowd. We keep performing ourselves hard. Living in a space-time construction created by the times and us. Seeking for blending in and communication In many moments. We have no clue in which layer of space are we in: Virtual space, dream space, daily space, urban space, bodily space, cellphone space, social space.

In August 2015, the second Antwerp Queer Arts Festival took place in Belgium. Organized by the Antwerp LGBT umbrella organization “Het Roze Huis – çavaria Antwerpen”, the Festival focused on China. Chinese queer artists and activists Yuan Yuan, Siberian Butterfly, Xiaogang and Tony were invited to showcase the life, activism and art of LGBTI communities in China. They screened documentaries, held conferences and talks, and participated in the exhibition “Queer Arts in China” which featured photographs and paper-cuts manifesting China’s queer culture. During a marvelous week of festivities, they bonded with their Belgian colleagues and walked proudly together with them in the Antwerp Pride parade. The documentary “Queer East Meets West” takes you to the heart of the festival, and lets you participate in the joy of Belgian-Chinese comradery. Antwerp Queer Arts Festival ahoy!

The Education Department has decided to end the practice of the local teacher being cooked meals in rotation by the villagers as a mark of respect, and sends a cook Chu Zhenghe to do the job. At the same time a younger, university-educated teacher Han arrives to replace the middle-aged Zhang who’s been in the job for 30 years. Chu is happy to return to his native village so he can finally marry childhood sweetheart Qing who’s now a widow; but the locals are not happy at this break in an age-old custom. Some of the schoolkids led by Guang and Yue decide to sabotage his job.

In April 2018, 15 Chinese people set foot at the base camp on the south slope of Mount Qomolangma in Nepal in a last-ditch effort to realize their Everest dream. They are civil servants, workers and bosses, men, women and children from all over China. Why do they want to climb Mount Everest? As we slowly approach the top, we also step into their hearts.

A Burmese-Chinese family struggles with their life between Taiwan and Myanmar. Where should they settle down?

In a deserted mountain village, an old man digs grave for himself. He is my father, an anti-socialist opposing the Communist Party. He had a promising job in the city but was sent to the rural area for eighteen years and then retired as a labourer. When he was seventy, the privatisation of factories made him return to the countryside again. Now in his eighties, he is preparing for his own decease.

The film portrays two Lisu brothers aged 10 and 17 living in the Biluo Mountain where Nujiang River passes. After their father died, their mother remarried and settled at the foot of the mountain, leaving the boys to her mother and brother. There is no school on the mountain and kids spend their time shouldering the family chores. Even with the misfortune and hardship, simple happiness is never far from their life.

The story describes a group of ordinary young people with all kinds of human weaknesses. In the process of treasure hunting, they experienced a lot of horror and unexpected processes.

In ancient times, a powerful demon rose to threaten the world, bringing chaos across the land. Yan Chixia, a young cultivator with a strong sense of justice, begins a journey of growth, training, and battle. With the help of his allies and a legendary sword, he stands against the forces of darkness to protect the innocent and uphold righteousness.

The bride, Qin Xiu'er, died suddenly in the candlelight night of the bridal chamber, and a beautiful head disappeared. Is it murder on earth, or is it carried by ghosts? Confusing and confusing... Husband Zhao Ye loves his wife deeply, vowing to find his wife's head. Adapted from the short story "The Mysterious Head" of the novel "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio".

Peter Jochimsen, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Baltic Sea University in Germany, suffered from leukemia. For more than ten years, he had relied on medicine to survive, but he has been mentally and physically exhausted by his disease. In 2008, Peter began to financially aid to construct a primary school in the mountains of Guangxi, in Southwestern China. The picturesque scenery, simple and unadorned culture, miraculous herbal medicines and traditional Chinese shadow boxing, Taijiquan, made Peter’s life radiate with luster. After the serious earthquake in Sichuan Province, China in May 2008, Peter travelled to the disaster area, hoping to help the affected children with their studies. Facing an incurable disease and the natural disaster, Peter and the children showed to the world: with love as a bridge, happy life will continue forever.

This documentary, directed by Beijing-based writer and filmmaker Xu Xing, tells the love story of a married couple against the backdrop of political events in China since 1949. Xu Xing aims to use the couple's personal fate to reflect the history of a nation and to preserve a narrative that has been overlooked in the official version of Chinese history.

Hongkou in Shanghai in 1995, a woman carries washing as she sings. Turning a corner she sees a vampire feeding on someone. The vampire launches at her.

Short animation by Tian Yulin

Haunted by post-socialist nostalgia, 25-year-old director Hanwen Zhang returns to the cement-factory town in northeast China in which he was born and raised. The town’s official name is Sheep Pen Town, in the Shuangyang District of Changchun City, Jilin Province. People don’t really use this name, but currently refer to it as ‘the cement factory’. According to oral history, the town was known in the 1990s as ‘the first line of China’. Throughout the film, the director explores this clue to reveal a half-buried story. The town was a product of China’s rapid and radical industrialisation in the 1980s, having been constructed simultaneously with a state-owned cement factory to house the workers who migrated there. With a subtle irony and a nuanced but brave approach, Hanwen explores the history of his country and its ideology through the lenses of his own family and hometown.