Discoveries from Taiwan World Cinema

The only child of the rich second generation, who loves to hide in the comfort zone. His only interest is in designing women's underwear, so he has the title of "Prince Bra". His comfortable life changed someday.

A man goes to hell after driving his car off a bridge and returns to Earth as a vampire.

Ghost story.

In this bizarre story, a young woman is led to believe that men only have one thing on their minds. To avoid being taken advantaged of, she goes on a rampage, doing what others deem to be acts of the deranged.

Adventure / fantasy / horror from Taiwan.

taiwan films

The inhabitants of a small village call on a new chief to protect them from bandits. The latter with the help of his two daughters make every effort to thwart the multiple attacks and looting launched on the village.

A hacker named Intoxicant is threatening to destroy a famous internet forum. While people are gathering in the system and expecting something to happen, six different users begins to suspect each other. When the countdown of annihilation begins, the chaos between trust and truth is about to grow.

Chi Kuan Chun (Shaolin Temple, Men from the Monastery) trains with the White Haired Scholar in the Beggar Style of Kung Fu. His training is amazing, his duels are legendary!

Just as the young members of the swimming team spend another day training in the pool, the cusp of early puberty threatens to turn innocent friendship and camaraderie into something much more. Sixth-grader Yu-Hsuan has a closely guarded secret, but this tide of feelings inside is brewing into a storm…

Fang, a young and innocent female dancer, has a pure love for dance. Her experienced and strict female teacher, Xue, who used to capture the spotlight on the dance floor, has an extreme pursuit of performance. The power of obsession, however, has almost driven her crazy. The relationship between master and apprentice becomes entangled with mutual obsessions, causing a great change in both their lives. Will an unexpected failure transform Fang's own obsession into paranoia? Life is an experience with various obsessions. But is obsession the motivation of living? Or is it simply the reason why we exist?

Taiwan Drama starring Ko Chun-Hsiung

Hsin-He, a high school sophomore who can get along just fine on her own, lives with her father. At school, the days pass slowly by, until one day, she is assigned to be the student teacher. Since she loaths math, her teacher orders Ke-Lei, student teacher from another class, to tutor her.

Great independent Kung Fu movie with James Nam, of 5 finger of death playing the good guy. Much like some of the better American Westerns of the 50's and 60's. Some very poignant scenes in this film, highly recommended!

A headless ghost haunts a mountain village.

A middle-aged loser son is stuck caring for his disabled dad, his life going nowhere—until an accidental soul swap forces them to trade places. Amid hilarious mishaps and absurd daily struggles, father and son come face-to-face with each other’s hidden hardships, discovering the quiet sacrifices and unspoken love that have bound them together all along.

A thriller by Karen Yang Chia-Yun

After taking on an entire army to avenge the murder of his master, a tenacious kung fu swordsman (Tang Wei) is forced out of retirement to fight again.

Taiwanese crime film.

A modern-day film telling of an ex-convict’s attempt to go straight and being dragged back into the underworld.

"The very first Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival was held here at Zhongshan Hall. During my university days, I volunteered as a ticket seller in order to watch films for free. Many years later, I received the top award at the Taipei Film Festival in an award ceremony held here as well. I have also run a coffeehouse here and often held small screenings of classic films during that time. Last year, I shot my film, Your Face, inside Guangfu Auditorium. The film was composed of thirteen big close-ups. Each of those thirteen faces was filled with the passage of time. Now, I am given a chance to film Zhongshan Hall again. I switched off all the lights and allowed the warm winter sun to shine on her face."

An Autumn Diary, a winning modern romance which takes inspiration - and even some footage - from the classic An Autumn's Tale, which starred Chow Yun Fat and Cherie Chung! Wing is a young woman who has patterned her romantic ideals after an old diary she discovered fourteen years ago. Within the diary's pages is recounted a heartwarming romantic tale of a young woman, who finds love with an uncouth country hick who, deep down, is a true gentleman.

The story of how a high school teacher overcomes all the problems and difficulties with problem students as well as other unfavorable circumstances in his teaching.

A group of young people are helped to illegally immigrate from China to Hong Kong by a local gang, but when they arrive they are immediately abused by the gang and paid little for the tasks they are given. Struggling to survive, the group turn to petty crime to make ends meet. When one of the group accidentally picks the pocket of a chief detective, he decides to use the group of desperate immigrants to help him infiltrate their gang.

A young man preparing to move into the city, a woman about to leave the city, briefly cross paths during a house viewing.A fleeting moment, too insignificant to mention. As if nothing had happened, yet not entirely so...

A bizarre hitman with a soft spot for animals and a taste for cowboy gear gets handed an outrageous assignment. A gambler and a jockey have cooked up a scheme: rig the race, push a sluggish long shot to a shocking win, and walk away with a fortune from the racetrack owner’s pocket. But the owner gets wise to the plan. Determined to shut it down before it starts, he brings in the killer to clean house. Now faced with a fat payday and a moral dilemma, the hitman stands at a crossroads — stick to the job, or help the poor sap escape the crosshairs? One horse sets off a chain reaction that lays bare the greed and humanity buried in every heart.

Actor & Singer Richie Ren personally produce, direct, and starred in this documentary, to showcase the eventful annual nine days Mazu Procession.

To get his team to play a clean game, a high school baseball coach must put his life at stake.

A Lau Brothers Film Company production from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“Like wild geese flying together, we will be with each other for the rest of our lives and never ever separate.” During the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, Ma and Ping were a young couple deep in love, yet their relationship started to change with the birth of their daughter Yen-Yen.

During the Sung Dynasty, there is an order of monks enforces their own regulations harshly. Even when the evil Jins attack, and martial arts supremo Zhi Xing helps fight them off, he is punished for practicing fu without permission. The local militia, loyal to the Emperor, is led by a sword fighting beautiful woman, who teams up with some of the monks. One of these monks also has the power to summon animals and birds to help in the fighting.

A junior high school boy drowned in the local sea. After that, his mother accidentally finds an examination sheet in the house that doesn't belong to her son.

FeiFei, a married writer that has just released a best-selling novel, starts an affair with her publisher AiKi. As FeiFei becomes more and more infatuated with AiKi, she starts to wonder whether she is lesbian or bisexual.

Returning to sell her old family home, a Korean Guatemalan immigrant confronts buried memories and lingering emotions, ultimately finding closure within its familiar walls

Arranged by a smuggling syndicate, A-Hong and his young teen sister along with a group of Burmese youngsters sneak across the Myanmar/Thailand border and arrive in a remote town called Dagudi in Northern Thailand. A-Hong's sister is taken away by the gangs as her mother has sold her to them. A-Hong goes to Bangkok and works under a tour guide, a wildcatter from Myanmar who has lived in Thailand illegally for years.

Inspired by a true incident rooted in Taiwanese folk beliefs, To Set a Spirit Free begins with a religious fish-release ritual that takes an unexpected turn—someone brings a fish home instead of setting it free. Days later, an elderly man named Sheng-Bo mysteriously disappears. A local temple deity declares that he may have blocked a wandering soul’s path to reincarnation—and has been taken by a ghost. What begins as an act of kindness spirals into fear, accusation, and superstition. As rumors multiply and blame shifts from one person to another, the community slowly confronts an unsettling truth: sometimes, there is no one to blame. When facts fail us, what do we choose to believe—and why? With dark humor and quiet spiritual tension, the film explores faith, folklore, and the stories people create to make sense of the unknown.

An author travels to a remote library in search of inspiration.

A young man reunites with his long-lost mother during a high-stakes Asian game show, only to discover a terrifying secret: at night, his mother transforms into something monstrous.

In 2012, Taiwanese architects Michael Lin and Liao Wei-li invited Tsai Ming-Liang to create moving visuals for their exhibit at the Venise Architecture Biennale. Using the space at their preview exhibition in Taiwan, Tsai Ming-Liang made two short films, "Sleepwalk" and "Diamond Sutra", using the "Walker" concept. "Diamond Sutra" was later selected to be the opening short film for the Venise Film Festival. Tsai-Ming Liang said that gazing at the steam rising from a rice cooker reminded him of his mother's face as she laid dying, exhaling her final breath.

It narrates the sad experiences of the people around Huang Mingzhu who cannot enjoy freedom and live a peaceful life even though they live in the 1960s.

Also known as The Blind Swordsman's Revenge, this is Zatoichi Versus The Flying Guillotine (1972). Zatoichi is "born Wu Ching Hui, he was kidnapped by pirates as a youth and taken to Japan, where he learned his cane sword skills. He appears to be widely known in China by his Japanese name, but as the film opens he is just returning to China to look up his long-lost brother, Tieh Hou. To his dismay, he learns that the brother has been killed in a sword duel with one Chu Yen Jieh. The grief-stricken prodigal blubbers in mourning and vows revenge."

Young Meng Rou-lan loves ballet, but cannot perform as she has polio. She is raised by her father on an orchid farm. His unconditional love sees Meng through her recovery. As she matures to adulthood, Meng learns to treasure her independence.

Yuan Shaohu, who wanted to be a policeman since he was a child, was praised by his superiors and learned that he had been promoted. He happily went home to celebrate with his roommate Yang Qi’an, but found Qi’an left already without saying goodbye. At this time,Yuan Shaohu receives an order from Xiao Qin to help Congressman Yang’s son as a security guard on the wedding day. On the day of the wedding, he discovers that Qi’an, who he thought was an orphan, turned out to be the illegitimate son of Congressman Yang. Congressman Yang wants Qi’an to come back and marry Fan Xiaozhen, the daughter of the chairman of the construction company. Because Congressman Yang was involved in a lawsuit, marrying the Fan family was the last way out.

Taiwanese comedy.

Li Zhenghong (Zhang Zhehao) is unwilling to be blind and can only be assigned to do word processing work in a law firm. He strives to participate in litigation, but always hits a wall. One day, he finally received a civil claim suit, but did not expect that the defense lawyer in this case was actually Zhao Dingbang (Ban Tiexiang), the boss of his law firm. If he helped the plaintiff, how should he face his boss? What is more difficult is that this case is not a general lawsuit. It is actually a multinational class action with 531 plaintiffs. Li Zhenghong has not even fought a single lawsuit, and is a blind person. How should he win the lawsuit?

A comical look at the preparations and anxiety associated with marriage. As a young man searches for his ideal mate, he reflects upon this madness and has second thoughts about matrimony.

Qing soldiers invaded the Indigenous Amis Village of Cepo’ in 1877. Kacaw is riddled with guilt after he’s unable to save those who flee to Cilangasan. His wife is pregnant, and their people are starving. Kacaw eventually convinces Mayaw, the head of the community, to harvest rice for Qing soldiers in the lowlands. But will everyone return home after such an arduous journey?