Discoveries from Taiwan World Cinema

At seventeen, our body gets restless and our head gets hot. We try to feel ourselves; we influence ourselves, and we collide with ourselves.

Cram school, concerts, capsule machines, arcades—Ning and Rou, the both of us, now and the future, a decade from now. The sound of fireworks—just like fireworks.

Zhang Ya-Ting wants to switch to a gender neutral name. She goes to her best friend Hong Jia-Hao but interrupts him in the middle of hooking up with someone from a dating app.

Six o'clock in the morning was the time when Taiwan's executions of death row criminals was executed in the early years

As the proverb goes: two boys are half a boy, and three boys are no boy at all. In a secluded, sea-eroded cave, three monks faced a constant water shortage. The thin monk suggested using "Abhijñā (supernormal powers in Buddhism)" to solve the issue. To gain Abhijñā, one must meditate undistractedly, granting powers to create anything, including water. The young monk practiced diligently, but the lake they relied on for water suddenly dried up. He realized that the legend may be a fabrication…

Through the fire of Yuja Wang's piano performance, step inside a surreal human odyssey — a multisensory mixed reality concert where music takes shape before your eyes.

A Chip Odyssey features interviews with over 80 key figures who witnessed and shaped the development of the semiconductor industry — from the first generation of engineers and female factory workers, to policymakers and technology veterans, and today’s young engineers facing new crossroads. This feature-length documentary chronicles how Taiwan built its semiconductor industry from scratch and transformed it into a global technological force, capturing a vital and transformative chapter in the island’s modern history.

On a mountain climbing trip, a man falls into a mysterious forest. In a trance, he beholds a woman in white approaching. Tempted to stay but yearns to escape, he repeats this cycle day and night. Failing to locate the exit, he gradually wanes and ages, finding himself lost both in the forest and in time.

This short documentary begins with the script. Its author is also the protagonist who works as location scout. The story is about the author himself, his mother who died before her time due to overworking and “that man” who abused his mother.

Hanni and Ziyou have a crush on each other that reaches the height of its intensity. Hanni is inseparably glued to Ziyou and takes care of everything in her life, but a misunderstanding makes Ziyou want to avoid Hanni. Like a silent waltz, the two enter a speechless game. Back and forth, one takes a step forward as the other retreats. Can they ever share a brighter day?

Chang Er, a fairy maiden, embarks on a journey to the dark side of the moon to search for her lover Ho Yi, a sun-shooting archer who vanished on his quest to save the dying sun.

Set in 2040, a mysterious actress mistakenly breaks into the audition space of a Malaysian Director who lives in Taiwan.The incident not only forces the director to keep her, but also seemingly bring back the nostalgia of not being able to return home several years ago.

Chunmei, away from home, she boards a taxi in the city. She goes to see the sea, to the hair salon for a youthful haircut, and is invited to dinner with her taxi driver. They go to karaoke and drink wine. The taxi driver finds Chunmei's behavior bizarre, but he knows she is a dissatisfied woman, and he begins to feel pity for her. When dawn comes, looking out the window, searching in the busy crowded city, can they find their way back home again?

As a Taiwanese in France, I have learnt a few things. There are three things I would like to share with you the most. French is difficult… but there are certain things more difficult than French.

In order to explore the new space, a red bird try to overcome its fear and jump from the cliff.

On a winter night in 2002, a couple in their early 20s is breaking up atop a bridge, when the woman falls down. Is it a suicide or accidental death? The man asks a friend to call an ambulance, but the woman dies. The man and his friend are imprisoned for murder when an eyewitness reverses her original statement and says that she saw the two men throwing the woman from the bridge. After more than a decade, director Shih Yu-Lun collaborates with the ‘Taiwan Innocence Project’, a private organization that helps innocent people who have been unjustly convicted, to re-investigate the case.

A short documentary directed by Chang Chao-Tang (張照堂) while working as a cameraman at China Television Company (中國電視公司), produced for the television program News Highlights (新聞集錦). The film documents the group exhibition “Womangraphy” (「女展」), organized by V-10 (Group Visual-10).

The Guardian Lions of Fushun Temple reminisce about the annual Lantern Festival and Budaixi puppet show.

In 1997, the Taipei City Council abolished the Licensed Prostitute System without any compensatory measures. For over 2 years, Miss Guan was one of the leading figures that organized over 500 protests to defend the prostitutes’ work rights. Yet under huge pressure from their mounting debts and governmental crackdown, she finally threw herself into the ocean….

Spy Red Rose

After learning his mother’s sudden death, a rebellious Hwagyo (Chinese in Korea) teenager sets out on an unknown journey to Taiwan in order to fulfill his mother’s last will, and to seek for his identity…

A coast guard rookie, CHANG, was on patrol when he found a tunnel. He encountered ghost in it, so he ran away in fright. WEI, the senior at the sentry post, was smoking cigarettes calmly. The lights started flashing until the power went out. During the time when they took the shift, a corpse floating on the sea brought all kinds of strange things. It seemed that some kind of force was intervening, and it became more and more out of control...

Back in his old family home, a couple expecting their first child is thrown into a standoff when a pipe bursts—fix it with money, or hold on to something harder to let go.

In order to commemorate the Republic of China's former President, almost every city in Taiwan has a road named after him. But people have different views on his legacy, making the existence of the "Chung-cheng" roads controversial in the island nation. Driving on the Chung-cheng roads all over Taiwan, we explored and listened to the thoughts of people living on these avenues. More importantly, we collected testimonies in the service of justice of Taiwan's transformational justice path.

An industrial film on two kinds of labour: socialist and capitalist. A poetic investigation of human relations with the soil and the Earth. A striking journey from Poland to Taiwan that makes us think, contemplate and dream. Pure film.

Wily ace thief Trinity steals the dragon ball from Shaolin Temple. The dragon ball gets misplaced. Trinity joins forces with gruff, determined Interpol agent Bambino, formidable karate master Meng Ray, and feisty tour guide Wen Ling to retrieve the dragon ball before it falls into the hands of the wicked Paschy.

A melodrama story co-directed by Bai Ke and Lin Tuan-chiu in Taiyu (Taiwanese language)

Secret policeman Agent Seven, tasked with surveilling underground reformist agitators, falls in love with their outspoken leader. Following a mass arrest, he barges in on her brutal assault by his colleague. He kills the malefactor and she escapes. Agent Seven follows a trail of her blood down a secluded forest path and loses his way, bringing him to a mysterious village of damned souls.

When a reporter visits a temple to interview a folklorist about a local legend, strange events begin to occur.

After A-luen watches a TV show with the footage of a real-life murder late one night, the dead woman's corpse seen in the footage begins to follow him everywhere. At first she appears in a distance; slowly, she gets close - on his street, in his room, sitting next to him...how close could she ultimately get?

River Without Banks (2014) takes poetry and war as its main theme. As homage to Death of a Stone Cell, the film is structured into ten segments; each led by the first lines of the first ten stanza of the poem. Correspondences between the poet and his friends are incorporated throughout, taking the audience back and forth between Lofu's youth and middle age, only to eventually depict a full picture of the protagonist. The camera follows Lofu on his trips back to the bomb shelter and tunnel in Kinmen and his hometown Hengyang in Hunan Province of China, while also capturing his daily life in his adopted country of Canada. Acclaimed as the "Wizard of Poetry", Lofu shares through the film of the most insightful reflections.

The story of two girls, Alice Zhang and Fan Chung Graham, who grew up together in Taiwan in the 60s and dreamt of pursuing math.

This film is constructed upon the visual poetry between what you hear and see, and a sensual fluidity that is not based on the cause and effect relationship. It casts away the practicalities and the functionalities commonly defined in real-world objects by returning things to their raw state, and guiding the viewer’s awareness to the finer details, while intertwining layers of poetic imagery.

The last bus has already left the station. Frustrated, the young man reluctantly gets into a nearby illegal taxi with a grandma, a migrant worker, and a talkative driver, and they drive from Changhua City along Zhangshui Road all the way to Erlin. The wheels roll forward, and the scenery of the hometown is reflected on the windshield and constantly receding. Where does the fleeting light in the young man's eyes come from?

Danny, who dreams of being a star in Hollywood, makes his living as an escort. During the day, he wanders around in extraordinary clothing. At night, he plays at bars and discos. His beauty attracts cravings for him from a wealthy married woman to an award-winning producer. His gay friend shows affection to him as well. Everyone yearns for having him, but he loves nobody until he meets an adorable girl Trissy one night. Love and sex drive the two into ecstasy. However, the burden of intimacy also raises the question: could the lascivious nature be tamed with devotion?

Once upon a time, the Magical Tank Fairy delivered tanks of gas (with plenty of sass) to the home of young Jojo, a lonely dreamer in need of a glittery godmother…

The titular anthropology student Fan Fan decides to temporarily take up a job as a sexy karaoke girl at a local gentlemen’s club, after a disappointing realization about her love life. When one of her clients treats her with a kindness and respect rarely seen in the sex industry, the lines between business and pleasure start to get blurry...

A story of two best friends with very different personalities. They're an indispensable existence in each other's lives, but the lines are blurred between dependency and a genuine liking. These indescribable feelings are built up for 10 years, and it all comes crashing down on a drunken night. Now, can the two finally face their true feelings?

A bold, big-budget Taiwanese action adventure film by Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu (Little Big Women), reimagining iconic folklore figures as empowered modern legends — the first of a new, pan-Asian character universe.

Lights shining, drums rolling, here starts the show. Curtains falling, winds howling, sheds swaying, up there sits the moon. LIANG-JUN gazes silently at her mother, not daring to say a word.

Fire Concubine takes up Thai boxing to avenge her brother's death. This does not go down well with the local mafia who arrange for a witch to put a deadly curse on her.

The townspeople of Meinung inherited their Hakka ancestors' stamina, diligence and optimism. They continue treasured traditional practices, notably the production of oiled-paper umbrellas.

Gin, a little girl, wakes up in an abandoned temple which is filled with wretched divine statues. Out of the blue, a dark shadow slides into one of the statues, and the holy goddess, Mazu, starts speaking from above.Following the blockbusters “The Tag-Along 1&2”, Golden Horse Award winning director Wei-Hao CHENG creates a whole new piece in virtual reality. This time, the mysterious creature will go beyond the screen, whispering, fleeting and digging into the horror secret of Gin with you.

In 1949, the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan. But some went into hiding, waiting in the jungles of northern Burma and Thailand for orders from Taiwan. President Chiang Kai-Shek told them to keep hiding out in the jungle and to wait until the time was ripe to “retake mainland China” from the communists. They ended up waiting for fifty years and became a lost army.

A documentarian's prison interview with a serial killer triggers mysterious dreams and encounters with a dead student's ghost.

A mother working hard and taking care of her husband while they wait for their son.