Discoveries from Taiwan World Cinema

Taiwanese Wuxia

Tenten, Watermelon Head, and Dragonfly reside with their wise Grandpa. Their tranquil life takes a turn when Grandpa receives a letter about the death of a legendary Daoist, the father of their neighbor Dohei. Determined to seek justice, Tenten and her friends embark on a journey to attain Buddhahood to confront the killer. Shockingly, they uncover that Dohei's father was slain by the notorious Bat Vampire. Fueled by a relentless quest for justice, the children brace themselves for a final, gripping battle to avenge Dohei's father in this poignant tale of tragedy, friendship, and retribution.

College student Gei (Hou Yan Xi) lives with his mom Zhen Ying (Miao Ke Li) in Tamsui. His father, nineties idol Bone, disappeared 24 years ago, leaving behind a half-written song. Because of this, Zhen Ying won't let Gei play the guitar or pursue rock music, leading to constant arguments between the two. Though he has no money himself, Gei is always trying to help out his buddies, and even secretly uses his mother's property to guarantee his friend's debt. One day, after enraging both his mom and girlfriend (Beatrice Fang), Gei gets super drunk and on his way home, he sees a man crying for help in Tamsui River. Gei rescues the man (Chris Wu) and finds that he looks exactly like his father! Bony's sudden arrival changes the family in unexpected ways, even as he constantly badgers Gei to help him return to the past.

CHEN Ming-chang, exposed to Western music, from The Beatles to Bob Dylan, often taught himself to play and sing with a guitar when he was young. In the closed social milieu of martial law in Taiwan, he became immersed in music and yearned for freedom, arousing his desire to become a musician. Later, he decided to set out on a journey to learn more about the music that has been passed down through generations. Traveling around Taiwan, he learns traditional opera music from prestigious musicians and integrates it into his artistic creations, composing music and stories that belong to Taiwan…

It is often said that those who make films are madmen, and those who watch them are fools. A group of individuals strives for the next box office hit, as the director creates a memorable allegory in a tense yet humorous atmosphere.

Xiaoyu is an aspiring dancer who becomes inspired by the music written by Sizhou, a talented cellist. She helps Sizhou rediscover his passion for music, and the two fall in love. However, when Sizhou finally makes it to the big stage and Xiaoyu is nowhere to be found, he decides to tell the secret he has hidden for years in his heart.

Focusing on Mark Lee Ping-bin, one of the most talented and prolific cinematographers in Asia, the movie details the itinerant lifestyle of a deeply observant and philosophical artist and the tolls that his profession takes on his family life.

騰遠相隔了二十年，帶著懷有五個月的妻子回到台灣尋親。 眷村與夜市是他最深刻的記憶圖騰， 但滄海桑田、人事全非， 騰遠只憑著當初小學二年級匆匆離開時， 書包裡的一篇還沒有交出去的作文「我的爸爸」的內容開始按圖索驥， 尋找八歲以前他生命中的回憶…… 到底，騰遠是否能順利找回他失聯已久的父親與哥哥呢？

Taiwanese action film.

The forces of good and evil clash in this martial-arts picture, as personified by warriors and overlords from the Orient's past.

A grandmother is looking for her grandson, a teenager for his grandfather.

The movie "Bad Boys Symphony" describes a group of young prisoners learned to play music...

A rich young woman's world collapses in one night, when her apparently respectable businessman father is killed by gangsters, who turn out to be former members of his gang.

A story of three childhood friends who grow up to live starkly different lives, and how their lives intersect - one being a cop, one a gang leader, and one a destitute gambler.

A high school student and a pop singer meld reality with fiction as they both fantasize themselves as characters in a Ming dynasty tale of seduction - "The Peony Pavilion."

This film is set during the Japanese occupation of China circa WWII. In it, the Japanese occupiers (and the Chinese Quislings who work for them) are portrayed as total monsters who kill children and rape all women. The heroes are resistance fighters who oppose the occupation.

Seven child martial arts experts try to return a stolen diamond to its rightful owner.

After training in the United States, instructor Yu Da-peng comes back to Taiwan to train the first batch of pilots to receive new fighter jets.

A web of connected stories on crime, sex, and love in Taiwan, including a 17 y.o. boy with a porn obsession, three hoodlums, and a self-righteous police officer.

Four Taiwanese women are tricked and forced into sexual slavery in Japan. However, they manage to escape. They now seek revenge.

A man from an upper class family with a promising future gets into an accident and becomes blind. The accident causes apathy toward those close to him. One day, a nurse comes to attend him, leading to many ups and downs in his life.

A hideously ugly witch casts spells on her victims which turns their insides into snakes and worms.

Cheng-han and his three buddies grew up in dysfunctional and poor families without adults protecting them. One weekend, they meet Pin-ran, who is traveling alone. They have a great time together and Pin-ran joins their “Robinhood” activities and commits crimes: Theft and robberies. However, the boys soon realize that Pin-ran belongs to another world. Cheng-han discovers that he has feelings for Pin-ran. His buddies have other wishes and desires…

A young swordsman is sent to the city of Lo Yang to help his father's benefactor Inspector Chang from the four monsters-which are causing him a lot of grief. Four of the most violent martial artists in China.

Jimmy Wang Yu leads revolutionaries against the Manchus featuring his trademark huge fights.

Based on the true story of a 17-year old Atayal girl called Sayun Hayun from Nan'oku village, Giran district, Taihoku Prefecture (in current Taiwan) who went missing and was thought to have drowned whilst helping carry the luggage of her teacher Masaki Takita during a storm in 1938.

From New York City to the farmlands of the Midwest, there are 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., yet one dish in particular has conquered the American culinary landscape with a force befitting its military moniker—“General Tso’s Chicken.” But who was General Tso and how did this dish become so ubiquitous? Ian Cheney’s delightfully insightful documentary charts the history of Chinese Americans through the surprising origins of this sticky, sweet, just-spicy-enough dish that we’ve adopted as our own.

Top star, Chang Yi plays a swordsman, who is out to avenge his father and uncle. The story starts with a lecherous young master who wants to rape the daughter of Chang Yi's uncle. When they resist, the young master and his goons kill the uncle. Chang Yi appears and kills the young master and his goons. The young master's father goes to Chang Yi's home to take revenge and kills his father in the process

Two assassins get involved in a bloody gang war over the control of the... textile industry.

Hsiung is an honest inspector who finds his career jeopardised by his mother, prostitute Fung's presence in the district he polices. The ambitious Hsiung finds himself torn between duty and love.

In Shanghai, Hai-nan, son of a Chinese official, is found stabbed on the street. But when the culprit, Li-fang, is apprehended, she refuses to reveal her motives. Meanwhile, a police officer grows suspicious of the officials’ rush to close the case. As he searches for leads in the case files, a shocking truth about Li-fang is revealed.

Jackie Chan and Arthur Huang are on a mission to test the Trashpresso, the world's first fully mobile plastics recycling machine, in the harshest environment of the Tibetan Plateau.

Queen of Gambler is a Taiwanese crime movie starring Kara Hui.

A woman leaves her cheating boyfriend and goes to a remote village in the Taiwanese mountains to deliver a blowfish to a man who won it on an online auction. Immediately, a quiet and unusual relationship develops between the two.

Liang’s simple, humdrum life in his deceased father’s dilapidated boathouse on the Shezi island takes a totally unexpected turn when he saves a mysterious young woman from drowning. A woman with her own painful past meets a man haunted by nightmares.

Carefree days, youth and summertime. It is on a day like that when Hsin-lun meets Wendy and Johnny meets Bessie. Love blossoms. Hsin-lun and Wendy are married but Bessie is jilted by Johnny. After college, Hsin-lun joins a construction company. He is unhappy, what with the company's corrupt ways and a domineering manager. On the point of resigning, he learns of a traffic accident in which Wendy and his brother are injured. Wendy has a miscarriage. The need for money changes Hsin-lun completely. He becomes part of a gang...

After years of being away from home, Fan is suddenly summoned back by her relatives to assist with her grandma's funeral. As she reunites with her aunt Yun, amidst the emotional turmoil of the funeral, they find themselves on an unexpected journey of self-discovery and reconciliation within their complex family dynamics.

Mark Cheng plays a police officer who disowns his alcoholic brother when he finds employment with one of the gangs – first training dogs for illegal dog fights, then as a bodyguard. His brother is actually working as an undercover cop. In the same gang another bodyguard “Chang” is infatuated with the boss’s daughter. Although he is spared when he attempts to assault her, he later returns to take vengeance on them.

Ming-Hsang, a deaf college student, meets interesting people as he cycles around Taiwan before he graduates from college.

Two reserved strangers form an unspoken mutual crush as they share their daily elevator rides to work, but misunderstanding ensues as they dare not talk to each other.

Six female POWs lead an escape from a North Vietnamese prison camp, then join the local rebel forces to plan an attack to wipe out the camp and free the rest of the prisoners.

Passionate about life and art, young researcher Ching is in love with museum historian Tung-Heng, but he is absorbed in his work. Then Tao arrives in Taiwan to view an item of historical calligraphy, and they realize why he pursues calligraphy.

Three men and an adopted son struggle in Taiwan after escaping China in 1949.

A crime / revenge movie loaded with gory torture sequences, including acid in the shower, a pick-axe killing and a lovely scene where a man is tied to a cross and killed with the titular critters. Scenes from this later ended up in the IFD / Godfrey Ho mishmash Majestic Thunderbolt (1985).

A young woman moves into a Japanese-style house that's haunted by the ghost of a grieving widow who wants her "daughter" (i.e. whatever female happens to move in there) to join her in the afterlife.

Turn Around is based on the story of Cheng-chung Wang, a passionate Taiwanese teacher who has won multiple educational awards. After graduating from the National Kaohsiung Normal University, he is assigned to teach at a school located at the rural Zhongliao in Nantou County, which is lacking in educational resources. As he is preparing to leave at the end of his assignment, the area is met with the deadly 921 earthquake. Seeing the students breaking down in tears and asking for his return, Wang decides to stay with the school to improve the education of the students.

After her entire family is wiped out by Swordsmen of various clans the young vagabond soon comes of age and sets out on her one woman vengeance trail. One by one she kills all the Swordsmen she dares to challenge with her trusted deadly blade. Her most feared and deadly foe is Peerless Swallow the top Swordsman in China Will she finally meet her match or will fate cast a dark shadow.

Wang Yu as a pimp with redeeming qualities — concern for a hospitalised sister and love for a "good" girl — which throw him into conflict with his boss, with fist-fights and killings, as the inescapable result.

The film begins with footage of Bruce Lee's funeral. The narrator then says that there is a new actor "who looks quite like him" that will become Lee's successor. His name is Hsao Lung. Later Hsao Lung is filming a movie. On the set, he is approached by a group of gangsters, led by a man named George, who want to control Hsao Lung. Hsao Lung declines, so they go after his girlfriend Alice, forcing her poison Hsao. During sex, the poison takes action and Hsao supposedly dies. Hsao fakes his death and pretends to be a chef so that he can watch over Alice. Alice is kidnapped by the gangsters, so Hsao starts looking for her and goes to a shipyard. There he fights off 4 motorcycle-riding gangsters that are wearing multi-colored tracksuits, one of them being the iconic green and black one from Game of Death. He defeats them and goes to the tower of death.

After his wife dies during childbirth, Ku-cheng leaves his children behind in their rural village while he finds work on a construction site in the city. He develops a relationship with a widow but despite their intimacy, he refuses to remarry.

In the eyes of her classmates, Yvette is a rock-and-roll girl. Because of a congenital heart condition, she has dropped out of school and spends most of her time at home with her cat Summer, messing around, playing the guitar, and getting out and about.

Taiwanese movie