Discoveries from Macau SAR China World Cinema

At 17, Xin lived a simple life in Macau. She enjoyed exploring the “world” with her DV camera, understanding the value of ordinary life. However, everything changed when she met her senior schoolmate Fei, who brought a new rhythm to Xin’s life. At 22, Xin embraced a free life in Taiwan, studying journalism and living with her girlfriend, Qing. Despite seeming ordinary, her life was also marked by graduation uncertainties. Xin wanted to stay in Taiwan but faced obstacles, and returning to Macau meant confronting her family. At 34, Xin lived a busy life shuttling between Hong Kong and Macau. Anxious to break free from the curse of being an assistant director, she felt pressured by her eligible actress girlfriend, Bei, to become independent. Facing external worries and internal conflicts, Xin finally realized that embracing her true self and being carefree might be the best way to survive.

A video essay about camrip created by a Macau's indie-film maker called Thohoyandou Toh (aka Toh Lap-Yu). When the director helped run the private torrent servers for movies in the early years, he saved some camrips for commercial blockbusters. The camrip is a kind of video file that is ignored and despised by people. In Toh's first video essay, he tried to explore the various meanings of the camrip in the operation of film propaganda, capital circulation, network circulation, and version comparison.

An ultraviolent cops vs. gangsters bloodbath leaves casualties on both sides. Twenty years later, surviving team member Madam Fong leads a new squad in pursuit of reckless young anarchists terrorizing Macao.

A man falls in love with a woman from Shanghai, who's come to Hong Kong to look for long-lost-mother, but problems arise when her wealthy father assumes she's been kidnapped.

Martha Horgan is a withdrawn, mentally disabled woman who lives with her aunt, Frances. One of Martha's unusual traits is that she doesn't lie, a quality that leads to her getting fired from a dry-cleaning shop thanks to the actions of the shifty Getso. Conflict seems to follow Martha, since she also becomes romantically involved with local fix-it man, Mackey, who is sleeping with Frances as well.

A casino broker who funds wealthy gamblers drops her guard when she falls for an artist with a gambling addiction.

The film is based on the best-selling suspense novel "The Long Corridor" by Keigo Higashino. There are countless secrets hidden in the cloister pavilion mansion. After the rich merchant died of illness, a fire murder case that occurred a year ago was revealed, involving the first heir of the estate, that is, the illegitimate son of the deceased, making the distribution of the estate complicated.

Former Macao police captain Liang Jinghui has left the force due to concerns over his mental health. He now works security at a hotel, but spends his spare time trying to put together evidence to solve a three year-old case that left one of his colleagues dead and a criminal mastermind free. When he stumbles across a cyber finance company trying to create a new financial platform in Macao, he smells a rat. He resigns from his security job and gets hired by the heads of the “Sim coin” company – Simon and his alluring partner Guo Wanjun. The keen-nosed Hui sniffs out a conspiracy that could also lead him to close the case that haunts him.

As Macau approaches its return to China, Sandy, a local girl, meets Qiao Mingzhuang, a university student from Beijing. They share a brief romance, but circumstances and distance cause them to part ways. Years later, their lives intersect once more.

Inspired by the classic movie Blade Runner and the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Jeter is an android hunter who is investigating a moon bus hijacking that crashed near the coast of Macau. But when he becomes friends with a female android Marie he starts to second guess his job.

A painter has the worst night of his life after leaving his violin artwork in the back of a taxi in Macao.

On the road of life, can you press the pause button for someone? This is a trip back to her hometown that she had to take. Aoli, who has been living in Beijing, rushed back to her hometown of Macao. Her grandmother, who had raised her since childhood, was seriously ill, and her family was busy with their own affairs, making Aoli, a freelancer, the best person to take care of her grandmother. The two of them spent a wonderful time together in the Lucky Pavilion, but the stagnation of their careers made Aoli feel anxious, as if her grandmother was becoming a drag on her... Amidst the complex emotions of love and patience, the two generations searched for answers to happiness.

Based on famous game Durango Wild lands. A lonely banker named Tom is leaving for a hunting trip, but when his flight goes through an unusual turbulence he wakes up in the jungle but not any jungle, a jungle filled with dinosaurs, the hunter becomes the hunted.

In 1994, João a Macanese scientist together with a international team discovered a map that might lead to the secrets of the Atlantis. At the same time he is struggling with some nightmares of what he might find.

A Macau photographed with elegant realism forms the backdrop to the life of Lina, a Chinese immigrant working both as a waitress in a restaurant and as a hostess in a bar in order to save money to join her mother and daughter in China. By chance she meets taxi driver Mada, also an immigrant from China. Both have a past they want to forget and love feels like it might be their last chance to avoid being alone. But as is always the case in a melodrama, the past isn't easily tamed.

Luna, a high school student, committed suicide. Her classmate, Sam, finds her death suspicious. Thus he tries getting in touch with her older sister, Solana, for more hints. One night, Sam finds Solana at the convenience store. Meanwhile a fight between gangsters happens. In the middle of the fight, a pistol dropped onto the ground. Solana picks up the gun instinctively. Sam helps Solana escape from the chaos. Two of them become partners immediately, and embark on a journey of truth - seeking. With a gun, they are determined to denounce the corruption of the school. In the end, they find out the mastermind. Yet, in front of the truth, Solana faces a choice between vengeance and forgiveness.

A character searches, in Macau, for a friend who lived there fifteen years before. Assisted by the letters written to him by his friend, he will reconstitute his past steps, trying to find him.

At the 26th century, Earths core exploded in a mysterious way, humanity was forced to evacuate earth. 65 years later, one of the last survivors spent money on operation return to earth, which has discovered earth is back in shape but in difference by look, other planets gathered around it to give earth air. 2565 is the year we will return to earth. Three pilots from the new Terran confederation space force unit has signed up for the mission to investigate earth. One of the pilots name Li Shuai, on board TCS Macau, discovers a jump point that of some sort of space tunnel that leads directly to earths core. After a brutal attack on the pilots, Li Shuai managed to escape through the tunnel and crash land on an unknown planet, with no idea where he is, at the same time a convoy of 200 passengers waiting for a signal to land on earth. But unknowingly there might be a traitor among them.

A writer who has not written for years is looking for a tenant to share a spare room in his house. One day, an actor comes to rent the room. His clear and innocent eyes have evoked the writer's interest. When the writer finds out that the daily life of the actor is a performance in itself, he begins to refer the new tenant as the blueprint of his novel.

Adapted from the short story "Shopping Cart" by writer LIN Xiuhe. The 31-year-old Tong and her partner return to the place where they met in college, passing through Wufu Road, where she was born and grew up, and recalling the hidden period of history in her life.

This is a tale of a Joker, an eye, and an illusion. A kid blacklisted by the casinos wanders through the city’s dazzling lights, uncovering the King’s secret in a forgotten landfill and a cosmic connection to a mystical tree that holds the fabric of reality.

The story is centered around the transgender protagonist Tzu-chi who has left home for six years and her sister Tzu-chuan with whom she has fallen out of touch for years. From reencountering each other with Tzu-chuan unable to recognize Tzu-chi, to the emotional nuances triggered by the subsequent recognition, the story profiles the protagonist’s gender identity, the contempt and even discrimination she faces from her work and social environment, and conflicts with her family. In the story, the protagonist goes through a series of unfortunate incidents with her sister. Long-repressed emotions and pressures finally pop the cap off, but this also becomes an opportunity for Tzu-chuan to resolve her inner conflicts. This film presents the theme “one can only truly move forward in life by newly confronting the obstacles they did not overcome in the past.”

In the future, government legislation dictates all couples must pass the General Parent Test to qualify their parenthood. Successfully passing candidates are entitled to parenting benefits, guaranteed school districts, and substantial bonuses. Two couple are eagerly trying their best to pass the test. Can they both pass GPT with their perfect "plan"?

Ming is disturbed by his sister's new boyfriend, who occupies the extra bed every night. Ming was going to move out, but unexpectedly uncovers a secret. Jenny, a real estate agent, helps him find a new place, only to be targeted by his sister's boyfriend once again. Feeling trapped, Ming wants to become a plastic stool via reincarnation. Meanwhile, Ming's experiences force Jenny to reassess her own thoughts.

The Red Market in Macao. The red tonalities of blood, flesh, buckets and even of the fish’s eyes, carry the audience into a strange and scary universe but also beautiful and intriguing. Rodrigues and Guerra da Mata’s camera emerges like a driving force giving us the exact balance between what exists and what we see.

This story takes on a group of Filipino domestic helpers, commonly known in Tagalog as ates (older sisters), who are prevented from traveling back home to see their families due to the pandemic restraints. How do they spend the little free time they have?

Ryu is travelling by car but suddenly he enters a black hole and is taken to the future of Neo Macao.

A group of troubled high-school students look to rise above their broken family backgrounds and pursue their music dreams in the diverting, if haphazardly scripted, Our Seventeen.

Ngai is a hardworking restaurant owner who has poured his heart and soul into his business, hoping to leave a lasting legacy for his family. However, when his son Wo expresses a desire to pursue a career in football, Ngai is torn between supporting his son’s dreams and continuing the family tradition. As Wo trains tirelessly to achieve his goal, Ngai grapples with the fear of losing their family’s livelihood if he allows Wo to pursue a non-traditional path. He must navigate the pressures of societal expectations while also balancing the wants and needs of both himself and his son.

A young man from Hong Kong wakes up. He finds his home transformed into a train car. He feels like he is still dreaming. But the woman who speaks Mandarin said this was not his dream.

During a short trip, a young man and his grandmother are confronted with horrible memories. Amidst grandma’s usual nonstop nagging, it feels as if suffering will persist simultaneously in the past and the present.

When the night falls, Luke climbs up to the deserted lighthouse, where he tries to "light up" the memory buried underneath the glass curtain walls of the city's skyscrapers with the old and worn equipment there.

A story about two volleyballs. No genders, merely two objects and souls falling in love. Both were solitude until an encounter breaks their desire to be each other’s loved one.

A mother-daughter’s conversation reveals their own struggles respectively in a night. Instance of the marriage crisis, homo-love, and loneliness which are stimulating them to get deeper to each other and their own-self.

A mesmerizing dancer's eyes are consumed by relentless flashes that haunt his graceful movements. Seeking a remedy, he dutifully eats pineapple, hoping to expel these unwelcome guests. Yet, as time passes, he becomes trapped in a hazy, aimless drift – his dance now heavy with futility.

Coming out of the closet is never easy, especially if you're living in a small city like Macau, where you bump into friends and relatives every day. Two out of the closet girls and their friends and relatives tell their stories.

Being a mother makes one stronger than they could ever be. To fight for a living, Lau, Mei, and Jane illegally landed in Macau from Mainland China in the 1970s and 80s, at the cost of being separated from their families. Now in their elderlies, they once again fight for their families, to protest for the reunion with their children in Macau. This documentary follows the three old ladies as they unregrettably bet on the remainder of their lifetime, to rebuild what they have lost for the past 30 years—a home.

Acclaimed director Hao Zhou journeys into one of China’s vast factories around the time of the pandemic to detail the impact of global supply chains and coercive business practices on workers’ lives.

Ah Ming is a film student in the U.S. who returns to his hometown to try to make the first Macao movie. While using narrative to depict Ah Ming's struggles to complete his own film, the director intersperses interviews of various Macao citizens who speak about their needs and feelings about their city. The final collage expresses the diverse voices of a city that faces a turning point in 1999, when it reverts to China.

Kong is a screenwriter in crisis, who’s trying to meet a deadline. He is nervous, he has to get out of the current stalemate by hook or by crook. He tries but finds himself trapped in something new and unfamiliar.

“In order to strengthen the happiness, sense of belonging and sustainable development of residents in Colaone, the “Coloane Construction and Development Association(Macau)” will hold an opening ceremony for the audience of Macau. Together with representatives of development areas in Coloane, we sincerely invite you to join our ceremony to witness a historical moment of Coloane.”

A couple of next-door neighbours are turning into lovers. One evening, Ola is having a party at home. Maria is next door waiting for Ola's party to end. In fact, the two of them have the opportunity to express their needs and subtle emotions for one another through the remote control of the speaker.

The father, A-Kuang, is jobless but pretends to go out to work everyday. The mother, A Siou, is willing to sacrifice everything to protect the family. The son, Yi-Peng, has a dream to study abroad. They struggle and sacrifice but they never seem to find what goes on eachother's hearts. When it comes to a seemingly happy ending, perhaps nothing is resolved…

A shy boy, who was not good at communicating with others, saw a shining fish in a stream one day and took it home. Since then, his life has changed. The lonely little boy was getting vivacious because of the little fish. But suddenly one morning when he got up, the fish disappeared...

In the Fruit Market of Macau, Ka Kit takes over his parents’ precarious business. Faced with the bad consequences of his parents’ debts over the past 30 years, Ka Kit is overwhelmed by fate; the family’s internal undercurrents and the couple’s denigration of each other make Ka Kit physically and mentally exhausted, and he is unable to cope with the situation.

Critically- acclaimed as the first Macau people’s movie under the Portuguese Administration, “Ah Ming’s Macao” was a touching semi-autobiographical short film about the director who returned to his place of birth from the USA in 1994 to make his master’s graduation film. Through the process of seeking funding from the government and private organizations for this short film, Ah Ming encountered difficulties in the creative work. Through interviewing different walks of people in Macau, Ah Ming also understood their different expectations toward the return of Macao to China in 1999.

Every morning, countless flowers are transported from Kunming, China - 1,311 kilometers away from Macao and one of the world’s three major emerging floriculture hubs. Nurtured with care by farmers, the flowers flourish before being carefully selected by traders at the flower auction center. Only after a successful bid do they make their way to Macao. With the remainder of its life, this bouquet whispers to the world a story of endless love and longing.

Cheung Yuk Fan feels suffocated in Hong Kong after 2019. 2021 Summer, She resigns from her job as an arts administrator and rents a flat in a sub-divided unit in an industrial building. She is determined to hide herself in this small world and start her own online trading business, forgetting about the distractions of the outside world. But one day, the beautiful sound of piano playing next door suddenly leads her into a realm of fantasy and illusion.

Macau is traditionally known as a multicultural city for its European influence and roots. For the past years, the former Portuguese colony has been Asia's main gambling city with a prosperous economy and also a home for many foreigners of different nationalities. There are countless emotions and conflicts in an emigration process; curiosity, novelty, facing other cultural realities, uncertainty; they can even be contradictory feelings. Then there is balance, and the ability to more or less blend ourselves in the other's culture, and take or not habits as if they were ours, in a transformation process, where we also share our customs with the other, in a search for home. SOM TAM is about the Thai community in Macau. Following JJ, Sakol, Kay and her family, Ian Ian and Chatsada we come across a supermarket, a Thai restaurant and a Thai Festival all drawn together in Macau as a background.

On her birthday, little Ting Hsuan had two separate dinners with each of her divorced parents. When the little girl gets in trouble, grandma comes to the rescue reminding that, at the end of the day, growing up is the greatest gift she could ever wish for.

Wa Kin is a man with mild intellectual disability living in Butterfly Valley (Shek Pai Wan Estate). His only wish to live like an ordinary man who is capable of being a good father. Eight years ago, he got married with a mainland woman. His family life, unfortunately, did not go as pleasant as expected. His wife left with his son and another man after successfully getting her ID card. Raised in a single-parent family, Tin Ian is a 7-year-old girl who has recently moved into Butterfly Valley with her mother. Lacking parental care, Tin Ian wanders around the building and runs into Wa Kin. These two social outcasts with their respective unique experience fill each other with the love that they have been long denied.

After a long day at work, Cai returns home as usual, only to find out that his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, has disappeared. In vain, he looks for her everywhere. Worried and not knowing what to do, he posts an appeal for help on a social networking website. In one single night, his life is going to change.

Three women from different generations in Macao face pivotal moments in their lives, while struggling to protect their best friends - three magical balloons.

“All sadness leaves a trace of happiness. All regrets leave a corner of satisfaction.” When an all-powerful repairman meets the girl who has incurable disease, a love story destined to be imperfect re-defines their relationship and regrets.