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"I'm a cultured woman, travelling about footloose and fancy-free…”So begins a lilting tune from Taiwan's“Dance Age”of the 1920s and 1930s, a paradoxical time when the island's occupation by Japan also brought youth culture and a measure of artistic freedom. Women smoked cigarettes, love scandals were rife, and risqué Taiwanese pop was born. Embarking on a voyage to visit the surviving singers, composers and record aficionados of the era, this lively historical documentary mixes engaging interviews with catchy songs, haunting period footage, and reenactments of the unrequited romance between the adored chanteuse Chun Chun and her songwriter CHEN Chun-Yu.

A boy working in a supermarket develops a strange relationship with a shopping cart.

Taiwanese movie

Should women be ashamed when they breast-feed their children in public? A female film about women's problems and men's taboos.

The story is about an old women with a drawer on her body. This drawer is full of the memory of her passed husband. She puts things into the drawer every day to look for the shadow of him.

Huang Hsin-yao began studying documentary filmmaking in order to make a difference as an ecological activist. While attending Tainan University of the Arts, Huang made this film as a continuation of a previous documentary about the salt evaporation ponds near Tainan. But instead of filming the ponds once more, Huang turned his camera around to capture the state of the mangrove habitat surrounding the ponds. The result marks an important evolution for Huang as an ecologically-minded documentarian.

This short film was shot in 2002 during Bilan du Film Ethnographic for the purpose of introducing Jean Rouch to the audience at 2003 Taiwan International Ethnographic film festival. Unexpectedly, Jean Rouch passed away in 2004. In this film Jean Rouch talked about his new marriage, his anger towards the moving of the artifacts of the Mankind Museum, his anarchistic nature, his dreams and fantasies, etc.

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.

Times were hard in Taiwan after 1949. Thousands of refugees fled to this mountainous island escaping the communist army. Still, Taiwan became a fully self-sufficient country in, for example, rice production. This documentary follows the daily life of old farmers, whose lifestyle and rhythm has not been affected by any of the turbulent changes in the Taiwanese society. tradition, hard work – an almost lost world, which has been keeping the entire society alive for almost 60 years.

"Wild Cursive" is the third piece of Taiwanese dancer and choreographer Lin Hwai-min's Cursive trilogy, a captivating series translating the development of the fascinating art form of Chinese calligraphy into dance. As Lin says himself, the final part marks the climax of the trilogy, because it corresponds to the completely detached, free and highly abstract forms of “spontaneous” calligraphy. The performance contains elements of Tai Chi and is musically accompanied by compositions by Jim Shum and Liang Chun-mei. The performance was recorded in 2009 at the National Theater in Taipei, Taiwan.

Taiwanese documentary about the life of Tao, a Lanyu tribesman and how the director's life and relationship has grown and changed.

This film is a mix of documentary and drama, featuring interviews, acted scenes, and imaginative elements. It delves into Taiwan’s fashion scene and way of life, combining the perspectives of designers, workers, and consumers. The movie shows how individuals pursue ideals influenced by media and trends. Through its portrayal of fixations on youth, beauty, and consumerism, it raises the question: do we discover ourselves through fashion or lose our sense of self?

Taiwanese movie

This landmark dance film presents Legacy, a defining work by Lin Hwai-min and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, directed for screen by Chang Chao-Tang. Premiered in 1978, the work marked one of the first major theatrical productions centered on Taiwan’s own history, leaving a powerful and immediate impact. Built on a strong sense of ritual, Legacy evokes collective memory and identity, reflecting Cloud Gate’s commitment to engaging with society and history through dance. This documentary captures a 2003 performance for the company’s 30th anniversary. With live percussion by JUT Percussion Group and the voice of Chen Da, the dancers push their physical limits in an intense and deeply emotional staging.

In an old photography studio, an old man and a group of young men meet. The old man has seen everything, but is determined to live a full life until the very end. The young men have just begun their lives, but feel aimless, lost and insecure. One man's story is ending, while the young men's stories are just beginning. Between their differences, a lesson on life is found.

"I'm interested in the topic of homeless people and… there are a lot of things in this world that do not make sense." – Singing Chen Bundled is activist filmmaker Singing Chen's fiction/verite reflection on homelessness in Taiwan.

In 1949, the KMT government retreated from Mainland China to Taiwan, bringing along an army of 600,000 people. The director’s father was one of them. They thought they would be returning to the Mainland before long but ended up waiting for forty years. A hairpin belonging to the director’s grandmother allows her to walk into her father’s world, and to discover the memories of these old veterans.

In 1991, a gruesome double murder was committed in Hsihchih in Taipei. Wang Wen-hsiao, a soldier whose fingerprint was found at the crime scene, was tried, convicted, and executed the following year. Prosecutors apprehended three additional young men and were suspected of torturing the suspects to extract confessions. The three’s death sentences have been appealed repeatedly over the years. Today, they are still waiting for a final outcome. This case of the century has proved to be difficult work even for forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee. Eighteen years of trial have hounded the three men and the victims’ son. They all yearn to unearth the truth and uphold justice. The truth, however, is elusive due to the passage of time and Taiwan’s flawed judicial system. The four young souls held captive in different forms can only continue to spend their lives trying to pursue that taste of freedom that no one else can truly appreciate.

This film is Taiwan’s first protest music documentary, examining Jiao Gong Band 交工樂隊. Jiao Gong Band initially received attention from their efforts opposing the Meinong Dam project. After a brief pause in the Dam issue, Jiao Gong began following farm and farming issues, with their musical style quickly gaining increased popularity. This film discusses the uneasy situation faced by Taiwan’s farm youth. The youth that sets out to the city seeking to develop themselves carry feelings of homesickness from leaving their farm and land; on returning to their hometown after the bubble economy, they continue to push the elder generation to leave the village. Aside from this, because of their difficult social status, farm youth can often only search for Southeast Asian “foreign brides” when seeking marriage. Within the film, new residents (新住民) discuss their feelings and mindset in moving to Taiwan and collaborate with Jiao Gong throughout the album’s recording process.

This is a story of two girls whose lives for 16 to 30 intertwined. With flashbacks, they went through the maze of memories and the fog of emotions and realized the moving power of sincerity in depressions and sufferings. Father and daughter, female bonds, straight and homosexual romances are all in this profound story of life.

In Taiwan, pigeon racing is not only a sport but also a national obsession where more than 30,000 Taiwanese pigeon racers devote their lives to chasing a dream of fame amd fortune. It's a sport awash with rumor of race fixing, mafia and even kidnappings. Professional pigeon racer Tsai Fong Chi has what it takes to make it big in the next pigeon games. His family is depending on him and much is at stake. With little success since his last big winning streak, his cash reserves have dwindled and he needs to win and win big. Can Tsai's favorite pigeon make it to the final races and bring home the grand prize?

In hope to find his lover, a Mainland Chinese A-Fei, comes to Taiwan. He is mistaken by others to be a missing taxi driver. Seeing all those roads named after Chinese provinces, A-Fei believes he can surely do this. At the same time, a gangster movie is about to shoot⋯

Chen Da, born in 1905, learned traditional Taitung-style songs as a boy. Working as a cowherd and fisherman, he travelled from Hengchun to Taitung. He began his career as a wandering minstrel at 20. Homage to Chen Da portrays his life and singing in various settings, including his hometown and the well-known musical venue in Taipei, Scarecrow Restaurant.

Two men diligently unload equipment and materials from a truck, put pipes together, and build a stage for a puppet theater. No matter how few people are in the audience, the show starts and ends as it always has. Convincingly, as if to impress it on our minds, the camera registers from a corner the dust-covered projector and film lying idle in a warehouse, and the presence of the men steadily going about their business. Quietly criss-crossing people and places with the camera onboard, giving way to cars on the farm road, the traveling puppet theater carries with it the ambience of a bygone era in Taiwan.

The fate of the three coral atolls in northern Taiwan was decided by the migration history of the humans. A land does not always require human explanations to give it a meaning. "Silent Delta" is a film based on the testimonies of nature. A beached ocean-liner on Pinnacle Island; a lone goat who has lived on Cotton Island for five years; and on Peng-Jia Island, an apparition of a Japanese soldier, left behind from the times of the Japanese invasion. We come to the islands and devour these scenes with our cameras... Wandering between these three islands, we become a part of this silent ghostly landscape.

[The name "Hong Yi" not only represents a local "art" style that has attracted much attention in Taiwan in recent years, but also allows us to witness from a life course that belongs to the "anomalous" features of contemporary society. ]

In the Wulu village of the indigenous Bunun people deep in the mountains of southeastern Taiwan, a visiting Han Chinese director poses a question: "Even this unique culture will disappear sooner or later, don't you think?" The village used to be isolated by the mountains, but since a new road opened to traffic and exposed them to the outside world, the villagers have become concerned about passing on the Bunun language, music and weaving in order to protect their traditional culture.

Wei-Lun is a senior high school student in Taipei. His daily life revolves around school, cram school, and home—or he’s on the way between these places. The only time he can catch his breath is during that short break between school and cram school, when he sneaks off to an internet café. He doesn't take exams very seriously, nor has he ever thought deeply about anything. He simply drifts through each day, living a monotonous and unchanging routine. The future seems distant and unreal. As long as he's with his friends, it feels like these youthful days will go on forever—doesn’t it?

Paul owns a spacious studio, yet he's neglected to furnish it, leaving the vast space eerily empty. One day, his fax machine inexplicably receives an auction notice. Driven by curiosity, he follows the address to a new apartment where he meets Fran, a woman auctioning furniture left by her deceased fiancé who met an untimely death just before their wedding. Compelled by their hauntingly similar pasts—both marked by loss—Paul begins purchasing pieces from Fran's collection, gradually filling his sterile studio with echoes of her shattered dreams. As they navigate this quiet exchange of grief-stained memories, the two find solace in each other's company. Beneath the veil of sorrow, a tentative bond begins to form, fragile as the dust settling on the resurrected furniture—a muted testament to love's persistence amidst life's fractures.

An adult who has a mental age of child. An eccentric middle-aged man wearing a raincoat at the height of summer. In an ordinary morning in Taipei, a group of anonymous people and TV set unexpectedly stage a preposterous breakfast show.

The film was shot in two periods. Initially, during Kuo's visit to Ching-wen rebuilding his parents' home, unplanned as a documentary. Later, funding came, but Ching-wen left for Taipei. Kuo returned to Orchid Island, capturing memories of Ching-wen.

He gained his fame from the internet. His readers call him and he called himself the Nine Knives, a writer that routinely writes 5000 words a day. This is more than a story about a life of young writer who manages to publish 12 books in one year. We will also see the chemistry between internet and writing.

Hao-Yang is a young man that loves the sea and loves to surf, but just as his life was about to begin, he was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease that was from his father. After some time, his body will begin to paralyze part by part, not able to move or speak and eventually he will die. His brother refused to take the test and their single-parent mother still tries to find a cure for her boys. One day, Hao-Yang told his brother he wanted to see the ocean and begged his brother to take him surfing again. When Hao-Yang had finally fulfilled his wish and got on the surfboard, he disappeared in the ocean after a big wave.

My Imported Bride

Stardust 15749001

With Siao-lu’s classmate Yu-Tin’s (played by Gigi Lin) help Siao-lu finds coach Chang who trains disabled player. Siao-lu happens to know coach Chang is Jie’s father. Even though she wants to help them to reconcile, she couldn’t find a way. On the other hand, she has her own thinking towards her dream. On her 20 years’ old birthday, she announces her plan of receiving training to her family. Although her mother is against it, with her sister’s help, Xiao-Lu finally convinces her mother with doctor’s approval; her mother approves her request reluctantly Flinging into the training completely, Siao-lu doesn’t pay attention to the change of her body condition. On the eve of the competition, fate forces Siao-lu to compete with time. Can Siao-lu accomplish her dream? Can Jie and Coach Chang reconcile? Can Siao-lu complete the training and the competition with her love and courage in her heart ?

The pastor is shamed by a demon lady that comes in his bedroom (a pigeon is thrown the window and it morphs into her). He can no longer help our hero Brother Vincent. Natasha goes to the spirit world and sacrifices a cat to the little demon to take control of Vincent, and they are married. Not is all well for Dufie and Natasha however, as Vincent gets sick and is taken to the hospital. Vincent's father is very suspicious, and on the advice of the doctor takes Vincent to a Prophet, who sees the witch and can do nothing. At some point the father figures out what happened to Vincent, and the witch shows up (a turkey is dropped off the roof, and it morphs into her) and she throws fireballs at him. Then Vincent is taken to a evangelist priest where a 10 minute laser and fireball ensues as the witch shows up to keep him from being saved. Pure awesome. Dufie is now a more powerful as her soul was taken by the witch, and Natasha is saved by angels before she is killed by the witch.

This film is about instinctive solitude. At a bus stop after a rain, a boy becomes fascinated by the fragility and madness of a girl.

You can almost see this transparent glasses built vendor selling this special Taiwanese chewing gums everywhere in Taiwan. It’s called the “betel nuts stands”. Then a betel nuts girl is there to match the male customers’ sexual fantasies. In the tiny glasses house, the girls talk about stories of themselves.

Stone Dream records the daily life of Liu and his family and, by means of interviews with the protagonist and his neighbours, describes the complex ethnic relationships in Taiwan, where many Chinese live who have started families with native Taiwanese. The stones from the title are the rocks from the river that sometimes, in their polished form, display beautiful landscapes, as a symbol of inner beauty. When his wife dies, the now elderly Liu wants to return to his fatherland, but at the same time he realises that he will no longer feel at home there. He has become too strongly attached to his new fatherland Taiwan, where his son and grandson were born.

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.

Huang Ya-Li debut short film; premiered at the 40th Golden Horse Awards.

Aims to convey an impression of shabiness, constant change and nostalgia, symbolising the absurdity, fragility and hopelessness of life.

Director Tang Shiang-chu first read about the Taiwanese veterans twenty years ago in the Ren-Jian Magazine, realizing that there were other people suffering the same fate as his father which a war took them away from their homes; and it wasn't after the cross-strait opened up forty years later that the remaining soldier were giving a chance to return home.

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.

The TV documentary explores the lives of Taiwan’s licensed sex workers. It follows how, in 1997, Mayor Chen Shui-bian’s sudden abolition of legal prostitution in Taipei stripped more than a hundred women of their right to work, forcing them into a long-term struggle for survival. Through documenting their protests and personal stories, the film uncovers the little-known history of sex workers in Taiwan and examines their struggles under multiple layers of oppression—from political and economic forces to legal and ethical debates.

A bizarre animated film about a girl, who fell out of a toilet.

A boy who is the only child is faced with his father's abandoning the family home.

An older woman and her mentally disabled son arrive at a train station. Even the dispatcher wonders what they are doing there, as they sit and watch passing trains. The film will remind you how nice it is to stop and look around. Best short film at IFF Venice in 2005.

In 1998, Wuqiu was marked as a Nuclear Waste Disposal site despite protests. Islanders question the choice: 'Why dump it here? Why not bury gold?' As a military zone, public access is denied, leaving us defenseless if the government acts further.

This dance film presents Dream of the Red Chamber as reimagined by Lin Hwai-min and performed by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, directed for screen by Chang Chao-Tang. Inspired by the classic Chinese novel, the story centers on the fragile love between Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai, set against the rise and fall of a great aristocratic family. Lin’s choreography frames the tale as a memory: a young man who has left the garden looks back on a vanished world. The Twelve Beauties appear in flowing, embroidered costumes, moving through falling flowers and shifting seasons. Classical imagery merges with contemporary dance, creating a restrained yet lyrical visual language. Premiered in 1983, the work became one of Cloud Gate’s signature productions. In 2005, Lin retired the piece as the company turned toward a more austere, introspective aesthetic. This film preserves a late-stage performance, documenting a key work from Cloud Gate’s early repertoire.