Discover Movies

“Journey into the Mine” (礦之旅) is a 1981 documentary directed by Chang Chao-Tang (張照堂). Part of the “Journey Through Images” series (映象之旅), it documents the Ruìsān Coal Mine (瑞三煤礦) in Houtong, Ruifang (瑞芳侯硐). Using a portable ENG camera, the crew descended 600 meters underground to record miners working amid heat, coal dust, and gas hazards. Rejecting elite-centered television perspectives, the film foregrounds the resilience of working-class laborers. Its essayistic voice-over is paired with ECM jazz and blues, creating a distinctive tone. In 1982, it won the Golden Bell Award (金鐘獎) for Best Educational and Cultural Program. A rebroadcast added footage of the Neihu Futian Coal Mine disaster (內湖福田煤礦災變), producing a stark dialogue between policy narrative and industrial tragedy. Its footage was later used in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 1986 film Dust in the Wind”(戀戀風塵).

Through an abundance of 8mm stop-motion animation and montage, Hong Kong The Feeling documents the urban landscape of Hong Kong in the golden age of the 80s. With multiple angles, the camera travels through city blocks, the crowds and the traffic at peak hours. From symbolized graffiti to popular culture, all images vividly portray the era of economic prosperity.

Animated film.

One day, a junior high school girl named Iko Kawai encounters an alien and is given a device called the 'Super Income,' which can grant any wish. She also learns about the existence of Martians plotting to invade Earth. To protect the planet, Iko joins the Earth Defense Force 'LTDT,' using the power of the Super Income.

A group of children saves the galaxy.

Top agents of the KGB and CIA battle to posses a startling new scientific discovery. In the right hands, the discovery will create an end to famine and war. In the wrong hands, it's misuse will certainly destroy the world. The KGB supported "Ninja Organization" headed by the infamous "Number Zero" gains possession of the secret. CIA agent Tommy must single handedly defeat the Ninja and get the secret microfilm back. It seems a hopeless task, but being as brave as he is, Tommy tries every means.

This landmark 1981–82 documentary series consists of weekly 25-minute episodes filmed across Taiwan using an ENG (Electronic News Gathering) camera. It documents local customs and social textures through a distinctly humanistic lens. The project also marks an early collaboration between Christopher Doyle and Chang Chao-Tang.

Erotic drama distributed by Nikkatsu for home video.

Para" means "paranoia", "paradox" and "paradise". The protagonist, "I", has a tendency to take things too seriously, or perhaps he is too pure, but every day is a battle of worry and reckoning. He has an unusual knowledge of SM for a high school student and is even picked up by a beautiful boy... This is a documentary-style film essay of his youth, coloured by various ironies such as "quantity over quality" and "compromise is a virtue".

The 1986 live-action TV special was a one-time broadcast on Fuji Television's Monday Drama Land series on December 8, 1986. Loosely based on Nintendo's Famicom Disk System game of the same name, the special starred Masaki Kyomoto as the protagonist Takamaru and featured members of the popular 1980s J-Pop idol group Onyanko Club.

Boonchu did not pass the entrance exam for the university so he went back home. With the help of Head Monk at Suphan, Boonchu was able to return to Bangkok to prepare for his next entrance exam.

Wim Wenders talks with Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto about the creative process and ponders the relationship between cities, identity and the cinema in the digital age.

A LaserDisc-exclusive sound and image ski fantasy from 1981 by Japanese producers, soundtracked by the pop rock band Talizman.

A woman works as a nude model for vinyl books. She breaks up with her cameraman, and starts living with a cute male university student. One day, she goes to the supermarket to buy a change of lingerie for a shoot, but realizes she doesn't have the money, so she shoplifts. There, she meets a middle-aged man that also shoplifts. She goes out drinking with the middle-aged man because of their affinity, and they end up in bed. The two start dating. The woman decides to invite the middle-aged man to her room because she thinks the two-way relationship between a college student and a middle-aged man is fun. When the two men run into one another, they are surprised. It turns out they are father and son! From there, the strange cohabitation of the three begin... And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Shirasaki is a physical education teacher who is also popular with female students. However, Shirasaki also had worries that he could not tell anyone about. It was his fiancé Kuniko's cleanliness. Still, Shirasaki tries not to disappoint her expectations for him. Even when Yuki, a female student who has a crush on Shirasaki, suddenly approaches Shirasaki in an attempt to attract his attention, he never crosses the line. However, one night, as he walks in the same direction as a woman who got off the bus, he is mistaken for another man and Shirasaki's life begins to take a turn for the worse.

An image synthesized version of Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans, in which many colorized images flow slowly left to right as the parade of the floats goes by in front of the camera with the decorated messages. The title Scared to Death is one of them. The development of the images is somewhat similar to the old Japanese scrolled painting: Makie.

Naughty Cadets 3 aka Big Headed Recruit 3 is a Taiwanese Comedy staring Eric Tsang.

Kiyoko's Situation articulates the deeply embedded cultural roles of Japanese women through the parallel stories of two female artists, Kiyoko and Tani. In Idemitsu's narrative-within-a-narrative, "Kiyoko's situation" is played out on a television monitor within Tani's drama. Tani is paralyzed in her attempts to paint by her feeling that, as a single woman, she has failed in society's eyes. Kiyoko, a young mother viciously criticized by her husband and family for her fierce determination to paint, eventually compromises her art for "maternal duty." As Kiyoko complies with the family, Tani, isolated and despairing, is driven to suicide. Idemitsu's chillingly omniscient television monitor, which acts as the psychological "other," metaphorically and literally condemns Tani to death. In the final cruel irony, she hangs herself, using the television monitor as a jumping-off point.

Taiwanese comedy.

Oh Ka-hi is a popular madam in a nightclub in Mu-gyo-dong street. She supported her widowed mother and sister by working in a factory. Ka-hi and Tae-su, an honest boy, were in love. Then Dal-su, an animal of a man, raped her. With that, Ka-hi went from working at a bar to becoming a hostess at a cabaret. Ka-hi meets Hyun-wu and gets pregnant by him. She gives birth to Suk but learns too late that Hyun-wu is a married man. Dal-su persistently hounds her. He steals her bank account and takes the money she had earned with her tears and blood. To be worse, Suk dies from gas intoxication. Ka-hi falls into despair. Duk-sam, a driver, takes care of her. Ka-hi slowly rises from her nightmarish reality. In the end, she accepts Duk-sam's marriage proposal.

In this second film compiled from episodes of a Japanese TV serial, Captain Joe, reformed interstellar marauder Ken and the rest of the crew of the Bacchus-III set off to destroy an alien race's super-weapon.

An office lady who works at a department store, is having an affair with her boss, but she feels empty inside. One day, while she was on her way home, she heard the sound of footsteps and felt the eyes of a stalker on her. She rushed home, but contrary to her feelings of anxiety and fear, she felt a strange joy. The next day, she went out in a bold outfit to attract her stalker.

Perverted detective Ippei seizes an opportunity to win after repeatedly losing at Sudo's gambling den, but a thug barges in and steals about 10 million yen of the den's money. The thug is Shozo. He goes to a hotel with his mistress Keiko and they get into a fight, but Keiko strangles Shozo to death and steals his money. The whole incident is recorded on video in the room.

The first short film by Chinese sixth generation filmmaker Hu Xueyang.

A girl who dreams of herself being molested realizes the intense desire that lies dormant in her through hypnotherapy... The desire that has been awakened is unstoppable.

A traitor betrays the anti-Qing forces.

One day a red paper arrives for Takao, and he disappears. His girlfriends Yoko and Keiko search for him. Eventually, they find him abducted by two men, and their relentless pursuit of him begins. The frequent use of long, light moving shots and the unearthly reticence of the characters gives the film a strange flavour.

Kim Hae-suk and her friends run away from their homes and come to Seoul. There, they find men to support them but soon abandon them once they find jobs. They soon marry other people. During her honeymoon, two women are killed by a psychotic killer. Hae-suk knows that the body is being kept in preservative liquids in the criminology laboratory. But she finds out that the body is missing from the lab. The heart from the body which is in a separate container begins to pump and the evil hands reach towards Hae-suk.

Pink film by Kan Mukai, based on the Sanwa Bank fraud case of 1981.

Pinku from 1980.

Echizen Fukui Domain. Futago Rokubei, who backs down even at the sight of a gecko, is called "Coward Samurai" by others. His sister Kane blames him for not having any marriage proposals. One day, the lord's martial arts instructor, Nito Kouken, kills one of the lord's attendants, Kano, and flees, leading the angry lord to issue an order to kill him. However, there is no one in the domain who can match the swordsmanship of Nito. Rokubei, in order to clear his long-standing dishonor, volunteers to be the one to kill Nito and sets out on the journey, leaving behind Kane who tries to stop him in tears.

Hamakichi was a former detective respected by everyone but he was arrested after he helped a criminal flee for money, which he needed for his child’s medical treatment. Five years later, he is allowed to enter Edo with a fresh start. He make ends meet by selling toys. One day, he meets Otoki, a woman who is a lookalike of his late wife and who is being pursued by a mysterious man.

A certain Takabei house. In the dark, mansion, a perverse show unfolds between a beautiful woman with a birthmark (Shima Izumi) and a girl in a sailor uniform (Yamaji Miki). The gazes of men stare at them...

It is early summer in the Nekushiro Plains of Hokkaido. A scientist, Ogata, who was dispatched to the same research institute, meets a 14-year-old girl, Maya, in a fog-shrouded forest. The two gradually become friends. However, one day, as the end of summer vacation approaches, Ogata's lover, Tomonori, comes to visit.

"Apartment Wife" pink film distributed by Shintoho.

Kohei Akiyama, a popular master swordsman, and his son Daijiro live in the town of Edo in good faith. While running a dojo, Daijiro and his father find themselves wrapped up in a series of events with the town's people.

BDSM-drama for home video

Takarazuka Revue's special performance including all troupes.

Ross, Farris and Lee are star pupils of the Ninja Master, but Ross is secretly building his own ninja empire and dealing in the slave trade, headed by two slave masters Old Fox and Kong. When Ross kills the master, the two brothers must battle their way through an army of ninjas to bring the wrongdoers to justice. Hong Kong cut and paste edit of the 1986 Korean film "아라한 " (Arahan) with new ninja scenes.

Two young men are hungry, so they decide to rob a bakery. Adaptation of a short story by Haruki Murakami.

Abandoned in a wooden box, Bun-Bun is an innocent new born puppy. Picked up by a stray dog called Uncle Tyke, Bun-Bun is taught how to look for food, heal sickness, fight off other stray dogs and, in general, how to live on the edge of society.

Taiwanese crime film.

Su-haeng finds that his much-valued popularity may not save him when his family cannot afford the open heart surgery he requires.

First Moon (37 min., 1987) looks at lunar New Year celebrations in the Chinese countryside.

The Acorns and the Wildcat is a unique short film in picture-book format from the creator of Night on the Galactic Railroad and Gauche the Cellist. Unusually for an anime, a narrator reads Kenji's story aloud while the action is played out on the screen by a succession of warm and evocative illustrations brought to life by subtle touches of animation. If the film feels somehow familiar yet you can't put your finger on the reason why, it's probably the sumptuously minimalist animation by Yasuhiro Nagura, who was the animation director of Mamoru Oshii's artsy 1986 feature Angel's Egg. That, and Kenji's wildcat is said to have been the inspiration for Miyazaki's Panda/Totoro creature. The idea of reading Kenji's story aloud instead of playing it out as a drama is quite refreshing, and Kenji's magical language and narrative style are entirely sufficient to sustain interest. Combined with the spacey music and breathtaking art, the result is a pleasantly unassuming little gem of a film.

A wronged woman takes sadistic revenge on a professor, his wife and his lover.

Lesbian pinku from 1984.

Fong, a fresh graduate and ardent teacher, starts her career in a secondary school. The school is full of problems: not only are students engaged in gambling and smoking, their vices are ignored by teachers who are too busily involved in stock market speculation to take any notice. In Fong's eyes, even the most enthusiastic teacher is no exception. Fong is disappointed but, against all the odds, she decides to remedy the situation. Hui Bun, who has been guilty of misbehaviour in school, tries to lure his girlfriend, Ng Ching-man, to work as a night club hostess. Another girl, Ho Ching-ching, who was originally a very good student, becomes desperate for money when she has to take up the responsibility of supporting her family. She must attend to urgent expenses, such as paying for a wheelchair for her handicapped sister, so she decides to work with Ng and another schoolgirl, Lo On-nay, as a night club hostess.

The wandering swordsman, Ino Heihachiro, defeats Ichima, the youngest of the famed swordsmanship trio, the Nikis, but sustains an injury. In the mountains of Tohoku, he is aided by a young boy named Shosuke. Heihachiro finds refuge in the home of the boy's parents, Magoichi and Shino, only to discover that Magoichi was a skilled ninja from Koga. The peaceful days with the family are short-lived as Ichima, bent on revenge, along with his brothers Kurodo and Ryuma, pursue Heihachiro. Heihachiro and Magoichi head towards the duel's location, but the village headman, Seibei, blinded by the allure of gold dust in the mountains, abducts Shino...