Discoveries from Taiwan World Cinema

Two independent stories involving chess wizards are interwoven to satirize the politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as well as Taiwan's capitalist boom of the 1970's.

During a period of upheaval, an itinerant performer has a troupe of four children, one of whom is his daughter Mu-Lin. Jump ahead 15 years, he's ready to retire and has arranged Mu-Lin's marriage. Someone he recognizes enters his house and murders him. Mu-Lin is brought to a fancy bordello where the most beautiful prostitute, Yeh Hong, takes a special interest in her. One of Yeh Hong's lovers, Kim, who is an assassin, also develops a relationship with Mu-Lin. He and Yeh Hong may be working with the emperor's eunuch; all are power hungry. Things seem more than coincidental: does Mu-Lin have a history with this trio? If so, what is it?

Set in the early 1970s, it tells the story of a Chinese-Japanese student who returns to her native Hong Kong after graduating from a university in London. Once she arrives back home, she and her family begin to fight, largely due to cultural and societal conflicts between her mother and herself.

When a spirit medium is called to exorcise a demon from a possessed man, he is unknowingly captured in the act by two students looking to document the process. When the students accidentally release the devil fish demon into the world, it is up to them and the spirit medium to send it back to the hellish world from where it came.

In 1950s, Chinese Civil War ends with the defeat of Republic of China and the establishment of Communist China. The 93rd Division's soldiers take their families with them, exit southwestern China and enter northern Burma (Myanmar). The hike through forest is full of disasters and short of supplies, but the survivors reach and settle within border of Burma. They build a village, and ally with local armed gang to resist Burmese government's attacks. Later, the relocated government of Republic of China offers to take the soldiers and dependents to Taiwan, but some are disappointed with the government and decide to stay.

A Team of Prisoners, famous thieves and great fighters are assembled by a shadowy government agency to steal a top-secret file. Their destination the island of the Women Warriors! Suddenly, they find themselves in a deadly trap-if they succeed with their mission. Will they uncover an even bigger secret? Prime-time Jackie!

Upon their invasion of Taiwan in 1874, the Japanese team up with a sinister tong to hold a martial arts tournament in a plot to root out and assassinate the region's top resistance fighters, thereby breaking the spirit of Chinese patriotism. Two local kung-fu masters prove more than a match for the invaders.

A story about a karaoke-addicted old woman struggling with her self-worth and a sense of betrayal at her long-lost husband's funeral where she encounters his younger and more sophisticated girlfriend while she finds out her kids might have been secretly in touch with her late husband all these years.

Manchuria 1941: Caught sleeping with his Japanese major's mistress, Manchurian collaborator Tung Fei (Jackson Liu Hsiu-hsien) fatally shoots the man and flees for his life. Overcome by fatigue after hours of travel on horseback, Tung eventually awakens to find himself under the care of hunter Suen (Dick Wei) and his daughter, Ironic (Hsu).

In 2013, the Golden Horse Film Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary. The ministry of Culture commissioned director Yang Li-chou to make a documentary about the history of Golden Horse. What is unique to this film is that it's not an ode to celebrities but about the role cinema plays in ordinary people's lives. It's a love letter to cinema, filmmakers and audiences.

Sammo Hung is a poor village orphan called 'Filthy Guy' for his unwashed / diseased head whose ambitious landlord's son becomes king and wants to kill him as a prophecy predicts Sammo Hung will replace him

The "Godfather Of The Kung-Fu Film" created this rousing epic of a seemingly suicidal mission to destroy the Japanese Navy's flagship in 1937, featuring many great actors he had worked with over the years. Their courageous and desperate attempts to do just that comprise the remarkable action in this rousing epic, featuring some of the greatest actors Chang had ever made, was making, and would ever make famous. (IVL)

Elder sister, Spring, seeks her origins before heading to university, Autumn, the mother, grapples with conceiving a child through artificial insemination, Summer, the younger brother, tries to engage with a paternal figure he barely knows just before his military service, and Winter, the father, desperately tries to change his fate as problems mount up.

Han and Hao are about to get married soon when Hao picks up a strange red envelope on the street and then all hell breaks loose with a vengeful supernatural bride wreaking havoc on his life.

As final exam approach, a shocking “suicide notice” appeared in Enshan high school. It accuses the exam system of crushing students and threatens suicide on the exam day. The school is afraid of triggering more anxiety among students, and worried about its reputation. At the same time, they urgently try to identify the person. As the truth slowly unravels, it turned out to be a scandal in the education system.

On Mother's Day in Taipei, Chen Mo makes a date for dinner with his wife, hoping to bring their estranged relationship back together. While buying a cake on his way home, a car unexpectedly double parks next to his car, preventing his exit.

Kai (Jack Yao), who works at his parent's noodle shop by day and spends his nights in a bookstore to learn French, decides to go to Paris after his girlfriend, who recently left for Paris, dumps him by phone. Then the local neighborhood mafia boss offers Kai a free plane ticket to Paris if he takes a mysterious package with him.

A novelist past her prime, Fang Yuan-Yi accidentally discovers a manuscript at her publisher’s office. She recognizes not just her own signature style in the writing but also its superior talent. Alarmed by this, she steals the work and is determined to find out the copycat intending to replace her. She arrives at an apartment and is greeted by Wang Jen-Yu, a young polio survivor in wheelchair.

In a world split by a gravity wall where time moves differently, a woman from the Aurora Zone and a man from the Evergreen Zone fall in love, despite the impossible challenge that one day for her equals one year for him.

After having to quarantine together during COVID-19, a mother and daughter are forced to confront their personal obstacles and relationship tensions.

A has-been newscaster Liu Li-min is taken hostage by an escaped inmate Zhang Zheng-yi, who pleads his innocence. To Liu's astonishment, Zhang claims that he was smeared by Liu's departed wife. Thus, Liu teams up with Zhang and reinvestigates Zhang's murder case to help his beloved be cleared of blame. However, the more they get to the bottom of the case, the further the truth is beyond their reach.

Five friends arrive at a party, fully unaware that the special night is just a cover for an evening of torture and murder.

Selected criminals are being trained to fill in vacancies for police.

'Such a Life' is quite a sad film. It is set in the sixties, in a village on the west coast of Taiwan, where many are succumbing to 'black foot', a disease caused by drinking contaminated well water. The only 'cure' is to amputate the afflicted limb, and to avoid drinking the contaminated water. Many in the village were already sick, and few could afford to have tap-water installed. At the center of the story is Ah Chung, who lives with his grandfather, who has already lost one leg to 'black foot'. In the same village also live an opera family, who are finding things increasingly difficult there, an oyster farmer, who complains that his oysters are being poisoned by a nearby pharmaceutical plant, and an assortment of children who enjoy swimming in the sea, and who bully Ah Chung. A significant portion of the action also takes place in the village school, where Ah Chung is having trouble keeping up with the fees.

In the last "Big Boss" (AKA "Fists of Fury"), Cheng Chao-On was arrested after killing Hsiao Mi, "The Big Boss." In this unofficial sequel, his brother, Cheng Chao-Chun, visits his brother in Thailand, finds a job at the same ice factory that his brother worked at and avenges the death of their father.

A Qing's wife A Yuhuai finally gave birth to a daughter, the child grew up with strange behavior, violent, and brings a lot of trouble at home. The daughter is possessed by a demon.

CHAI Ya-hui returned to Taiwan after getting married in Japan. Since her husband committed suicide, she lived alone with her daughter Xiao-xiao. They were chased by gangsters. One day, Xiao-xiao and her classmate Ya-hoo were kidnapped, Ya-hui asked the police for help but was troubled, so she decided to save her daughter herself. The kidnappers use high-tech methods to torture her and Xiao-xiao, and unravel mysteries related to past dismemberments, organ trafficking, and historical trauma. As clues are intertwined, Ya-hui discovers the key to solving the case, and finally reveals the truth behind the obsession and trauma, and brings an unexpected ending.

A film about the tormenting presence of absence. A young shop girl named Xiao Mei suddenly vanishes from her usual existence, without explanation or trace. Has she dissolved, or perhaps redeemed herself somehow? Nine people from her immediate surroundings try to fill the empty space left behind by this supposedly insignificant young woman. In a kaleidoscope of meandering memories, projections, confessions, interpretations, incantations and helpless speculations through which the young escapee wanders aimlessly, they attempt to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

Two friends who haven't seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business.

An indigenous clan-based people living in harmony with nature find their way of life threatened when violent interlopers from another culture arrive, intent on seizing their natural resources and enslaving them. Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale - Part 1: The Sun Flag is Part one of the two-part, four-hour Taiwanese edition of the film Warriors of the Rainbow.

Efforts of a grandfather teaching his grandson a style of fighting called "Cooking kung-fu"

When Sid insults a powerful triad boss, his father sends him to Taiwan for safety. Bored and restless, he discovers a community of Zen drummers high in the hills, and joins up - a decision inspired by a pretty face that soon becomes a challenge.

An honourable carriage driver finds love and death when he battles particularly homicidal street punks

Welcome to Ward 816, a place filled with incredible children who are true warriors. Each of them carries a badge symbolising their strength in fighting various diseases. In this bustling ward, there's a special group, including Yuan, Shi-yan, Heng, Nuala, Jia-nong, and Da-shan. Despite their parents' occasional arguments, they always come together to support one another when it matters most.

After falling in love with a traffic cop, a cab driver commits as many traffic violations as he can in order to see her again.

One rainy night, a woman takes refuge in At Cafe 6 after an argument with her boyfriend. She strikes up a conversation with the café owner, who shares a story from his youth.

In a town where pleasure equals being possessed by spiritual beings, Bayu aspires to be the shaman of a trance party so he can fundraise enough money to prevent an impending eviction.

Aspiring to become a parkour influencer, a gifted young man from an exorcist family gets caught up in a swirl of spooky events at an eerie hotel.

Set in China in the 1930s, the film is about the unsettling relationship between three characters, each involved with a performance of the opera Fleeing by Night in a local theatre.

Based loosely on the Monkey King legend, but set before he was sent to languish under a mountain for 500 years. The movie mainly focuses on two kids, a young Piggie (played by a fat kid with quite good makeup and a deadly fart weapon) and a young martial art master whose identity I didn't quite recognise. They get caught up in the affairs of The Dragon Princess Of The West Sea who rebels against her father by refusing to marry the Dragon Prince of The East Sea (or something like that!), and along with the Monkey King they have to fight various "fairies" (immortals) to ensure that justice is done.

Chen and his girlfriend Song encounter the legendary yellow raincoat ghost in the mountains. Song dies tragically every night, and Chen must keep reliving this miserable day over and over.

A multi-lingual tour guide who owns multiple passports one day drives his wife and daughter to a desolate seashore town and checks in a secluded, spacious, ruins-like hotel. From that moment on, he throws himself into gambling, tossing the dice with local residents all day. Sometimes he wins big, but sometimes he loses all. Feeling neglected and uncomfortable, his wife and daughter soon leave him and return home. He stays and wanders in this fishing village and gradually immerses himself in the surroundings—a place rife with immoral vagabonds, outlaws and weirdoes.

This is a story of reminiscence, remembering my long-deceased Grandpa. To remember is to transcend, therefore it’s a story of time and space, overlapped and intertwined. It’s also a quest of love and work, a spiritual and emotional journey; and through which values are re-examined and life reaffirmed.

Silver Fox (Hwang Jan Lee) fights a dark martial arts master imbued with weird magical powers (which include performing strange rituals on captive women) and, of course, fantastic fighting skills. The Fox will need every one of his own prodigious fighting skills to triumph over the forces of evil that marshal against him in this rock 'em, sock 'em martial arts epic. The very formidable Leung Kar Yan costars.

Swimmer Hsuan’s insecurity about his “size” is exposed after a wardrobe mishap. Back at the pool, a crush on junior Fong sparks hope.

Lonely Kevin hooks up with George via a dating app for a steamy night. After a risky choice, Kevin’s cold lingers, and George vanishes.

A theatrical spinoff of the 'Thunderbolt Fantasy' television series which explores the backstory of Shā Wú Shēng, the Screaming Phoenix Killer, and bridges the events of the first and second seasons.

An actress preparing to play in a historical epic is terrorized by someone faxing her pages from her stolen diary; has colorful flashbacks of her affair with a now-deceased man; and imagines black-and-white film-within-a-film scenes of the movie she is about to appear in.

Three students from Jing Mu Girls’ Middle School go missing and turn up dead. Xiao Tong, a special education student with speech impairment, feels like someone is watching her. During the rehearsal for the school’s foundation day event, a corpse falls from the ceiling of the auditorium, and Xiao Tong disappears in the midst of confusion. Her mother, Li Han, who has been working at the school to be close to Xiao Tong, begins her pursuit.

A woman in her 20s, another in her 30s and a third in her 40s must each find a way to navigate the challenges they face in life and love.

The plot centres around Wu Tang villain, Abbot White, who wants to destroy the Shaolin monks and become supreme martial artist. In order to do so, he teams up with a clan of Ninjas, led by three masters – gold lamé ninja, white mustachioed ninja and black ninja – and succeeds in destroying the Shaolin temple and most of its inhabitants. However, there are some survivors. It is their job to pass on the knowledge of the Shaolin finger jab to a new generation, who must defeat the ninjas and Abbott White if peace and order is to be restored.

A high school loser dreams of winning the heart of the principal's daughter, but his chances are slim as long as her bruiser boyfriend's around. Fortunately, a chance meeting with Garlic and Gimmick, renegade cops who cause nothing but headaches for their superiors. Chief Wong Yat Fei decides to send his boys undercover in Wong Fei Hong College to protect a general's daughter from Mainland China, but that's where their problems begin. Their boyish good looks may fool their classmates, but how will the two undisciplined cops pass their classes, let alone protect a girl who's tougher than they are?

A story of a girl haunted by the ghost of her mother, after witnessing her murder.

For a sleepless city like Taipei, the lives of the rich and poor occasionally cross. These people flit in and out of one another lives, in a seemingly endless food chain of love.

The granddaughter of a Taiwanese triad boss becomes a victim of a kidnapping attempt, but she's saved by a team of movie stuntmen. They become friends and work together to fend off one of the boss' underlings who goes rogue when he's overlooked for a promotion.

Lin Shu-Yu's semi auto-biographical debut takes us back to 1996, during the time of the tragic Taiwan baseball scandal, an event that devastated many teenage boys. The story follows Yen and Tang and their gang through the last year of their high school life. From chasing girls to midnight skinny dipping to rooting for their favorite baseball team, they do everything together. When an accident throws Yen into a coma, their world starts falling apart.