Discover Movies

6,623 Matches Found

Let it be

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.

Let it be

NR 2004
Taiwan Alishan Forest Railway Journey

The documentary "Taiwan Alishan Forest Railway Journey" offers a diverse array of content, with every detail highlighting the distinct features of Alishan in Taiwan. It includes many impressive elements. In addition to employing the latest filming techniques, the team captured stunning landscapes and remarkable railway construction methods, such as the figure-eight design, Z-segments, horseshoe bends, and the restoration of a century-old steam locomotive. They even filmed the domestically produced cypress train, named Formosensis, which has yet to enter service. Both Japan’s NHK and Taiwan’s Public Television Service provided their award-winning teams and enlisted the participation of renowned Japanese composer Kiyoshi Yoshida and Golden Horse Award-winning actress Gwei Lun-mei for the Chinese narration, enhancing the documentary’s international appeal.

Taiwan Alishan Forest Railway Journey

NR 2024
Nine Shots

Ah Fei, a Vietnamese who left home to work in Taiwan, escapes from his Taiwanese employer in hope to earn more money to send back home to his father. One day, he runs into Ah Hai, a police patrol officer, at the beach. Ah Hai sees Ah Fei in possession of syringes and uses the baton on him without giving him a chance to explain. By the beach, nine shots were eventually fired at Ah Fei. It’s the first time Ah Fei’s father is travelling out of Vietnam, only to be bringing home his son’s lifeless body.

Nine Shots

NR 2019
Condemned Practice Mode

HSU Tzu-chiang was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death in a 1995 kidnap and murder case despite the lack of forensic evidence. After a 16-year effort by NGOs, HSU was released with a life sentence in 2016. Now he continues to fight to prove his innocence. Director Chi has been documenting Hsu's story since 2012. The journey brought Chi face-to-face with the shortcomings of human society and inspired his investigation into why the judicial system failed HSU.

Condemned Practice Mode

6.0 2017
The Islands

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.

The Islands

NR 2022
Taivalu

Tuvalu, This defenseless nation of 26 square kilometers will be the first island nation to be submerged by the oceans once the sea level rises due to global warming. The director Huang Hsin-yao left his hometown after the 88 flooding disaster in Taiwan in search of this disappearing island called Tuvalu. While aboard this swaying ship in the Pacific, various fantastic spectacles of Taiwan emerge in the mind of the director… Once out at sea barbecuing, he found under the sea…

Taivalu

6.5 2010
In Memory of The Chinatown

May a building have its own reincarnation? Once upon a time, there's a region of canal's dockyard in the center of Tainan city in Taiwan. Later in 1970s, the canal gradually lost its function and the large residential and commercial mixed mall "China Town" had been built at the site. China Town was once the most prosperous mall in the city, however, by more than three decades of rise and fall, the city's authority planned to demolish the building for urban renewal plan. The China Town makes no exception of those failing shopping malls all around this island. As for those residents who have lived in the China Town for a long time experience most of the death and life of the city.

In Memory of The Chinatown

NR 2015
The Secret of Beauty

Newlywed and heartbroken, Zhen-zhen flees her home and her husband, Da-wei. He chases after her, but he can’t stop her tears. Zhen-zhen confesses that she feels unworthy of being a wife. Seeing her pain, Da-wei finally admits that in his student days, he was infatuated with an anonymous woman. Her rejection led him to escape reality by obsessing over erotic photos, struggling to find a balance between love and lust within their marriage. What he doesn’t know is that Zhen-zhen has a secret past of her own...

The Secret of Beauty

NR 1970
Happy Valentine’s

On Valentine’s Day, two long-time girlfriends meet in a cafe. One of them dominates the conversation as the other silently listens. As we learn about their stories, their joys and sorrows, tension slowly escalates between the young women, until the truth comes out in the end. Who has the upper hand in this female friendship? Adapted from Swedish playwright August STRINDBERG’s 1889 one-act play The Stronger (Den starkare), the short explores the age-old theme of female agency in contemporary Taiwan, accompanied by Valentine vignettes of the other young people in the cafe.

Happy Valentine’s

NR 2023
Hidden Treasures in the Mountain

Righteous mountain patrol officer Xin Lan (Esther HUANG) grows tiresome of the stable but repeated boring life, without realizing any of her dreams. She plans to break up with her boy friend Ah De (Ta SU) and leaves this place. But before the discussion of the breakup, Ah De tries to persuade Xin Lan to go up the mountains with his hunter buddy Dumas, in search of the valuable cypress that they stashed away from the wood thieves. The three of them run into artist Patrick Star, who tries to hang himself. To prevent him from committing suicide, they take him along and then rescue a newborn deer on the way. When they finally reach the spot of hidden cypress, Ah De is dumbfounded by what he sees. Xin Lan also feels that, as a patrol officer, she must follow the protocol and stop Ah-de’s illegal activities. The wood thief that stalks them also shows up, trying to take the cypress from them. With all of them fighting one another, how will this journey end?

Hidden Treasures in the Mountain

NR 2018
Experimental Taiwanese

Hebei origin, air-force officer retiree, Mr. Chou, now diligently learning Taiwanese, met “Chang Jiang No. 1,” China’s top secret agent during Sino-Japanese war, on a Peking opera’ seminar. Chou’s flat moon life has then been sparkled. He started to talk around about the heroic accomplishments this “Chang Jiang No.1” had done. This person, “who contributes most to China,” gradually becomes Chou’s only mark on the Moon. Is “homesickness” a gene? Inheritable? Transplantable? Can be parted or chosen? Contagious? Needs regular purging like computer viruses? … Through the story between Mr. Chou and “Chang Jiang No.1.” the film uses lively rhythm to represent the interesting homesickness issue. The director adopts a humorous way to re-present these new Taiwanese in Taiwan. As for whether “Chang Jiang No.1” is a real person or not is up to the audience to decide.

Experimental Taiwanese

NR 2003
Stilt

On the surface, Min is a man who lives a dream life. He has great looks, a job he is passionate about at the Taipei wild bird conservatory and a loving wife. However, the expert of the Black-winged Stilt harbours dark storms within. There is daily growing tension between him and his wife over family planning. He and his brother, who were once in good terms, have been cold-shouldering each other for years. Last is the past he left behind to soar to where he is. All tension is released and mayhem unleashed when a crisis brings him back to his old home Yun-Ling, the town he came from. Meanwhile, oblivious to the life of the man who studies them, the migratory Stilts continue their annual ritual. Hidden with their feathery actions is a message of love waiting for Min and his family to uncover.

Stilt

5.3 2012
The Clown and the Swan

The expression hidden underneath the makeup is sad, but the clown forces a smile on his face. Kun, the clown in a dance troupe, performs the warm-up act but always gets booed by the audience, who cannot wait to see the sexy girls. In the end, the troupe owner fires him. Fortunately, Chu, the most popular dancer in the troupe known as “Swan”, is willing to leave the glamour on the stage behind and start a new life with Kun. However, although Taiwan is undergoing an economic boom, the fortune doesn’t trickle down to the bottom of society. Kun, who has been struggling, decides to leave Chu since she has a better chance to succeed on her own.

The Clown and the Swan

NR 1985