Discoveries from Taiwan World Cinema

Lianqing and Guo, who hail from Burma, flee their country and seek refuge in Thailand. Gho's feelings for Lianqing may just surpass her feelings for him.

Three graduating seniors, Willy, Fatty and Yaya, who have no ideas what the future holds for them, are now facing the biggest challenge beyond their imagination: their friend Kaka is back from Australia with a baby in her arms! The baby disrupts their lives and also puts their friendship to the test. Three new "Daddies" are learning the responsibility of life while taking care of the baby...

Xiang Wei-xin, a 17-year-old high school sophomore, regards eating as the most important and most healing thing in life. The first time she met her senior Tao You-quan was in the school's welfare agency. At that time, Xiang Wei-xin lost 5 yuan and could not buy her favorite pineapple bread. Tao You-quan made up the money for her, which made her feel deeply indebted to her.

Hsiao Chiu-shu returns to his home village after a nine year long hiatus. He quickly gets accused of a gold theft in the emperor's palace by a high ranking soldier, and a well payed assassin is also after Hsiao's head.

This one has ghosts, hoppers and magic shennannigans!

Yu Ching seduces the innocent Yuk Lam and sells her to a brothel where she gets the attention of a general and eventually has his child. But Yu Ching schemes again and more disasters befall Yuk Lam, until finally, her sister must take revenge.

Three key events during three different time periods, in three seasons, and on three nights culminate to change the life of Zhang Dong Ling.

Wan Zhen (Janine Chang) is an editor of a fashion magazine where she is competent that she can do her job successfully but was very clueless in real life. Since her boyfriend Hao Jie (Peter Ho) works from home, he looks after her so well that they adopted a golden retriever (Li La) which drastically changed Wan Zhen’s life that she begins to woke up early and cook for Li La. Wan Zhen is soon promoted and begins to devote more to her work but as her career soars, her time become hectic. Will Wan Zhen choose the job she loves or Li La who has become family to her?

Year of 2399, after 300 years of drifting in the space, the spaceship STS Eternal is reactivated to return to the now deserted homeland – Earth. Inside STS Eternal, Adam awakes, too. As a vinyl floats up, spins up and begins to play the music, Adam's memory as a human being gets clearer and clearer... Will he meet the girl again? Is there still a paradise to be rediscovered?

A young man, Chan Che, takes a business trip to Bangkok, where he bumps into lovely Thai girl Chuma, who just happens to be a witch, and the daughter of a wizard. She casts a spell on Che, so that he'll love her. Che returns to HK and his wife, and he starts to act strangely. Through her evil statue-god, Chuma turns the man into a raging wife-killer.

John Woo's melodramatic tragicomedy The Time You Need a Friend (1985) stands at the crucial crossroads in the director's career. Woo had been churning out innocuous comedies for more than a few years, and after establishing the "heroic bloodshed" genre, he'd never look back. But this tale of two comedians - estranged former pals who bury the hatchet for one last show together - blends the pathos and male-bonding of Woo's later dramas with the silliness and pratfalls that marked his early works. At their peak, Ku Ren and Shem Bien were an unstoppable screen comedy team, the undisputed stars of the silent era. But a major falling out has kept the duo offstage for decades. Despite the urgings of family and friends, Ku and Shem refuse to reconcile. As both men approach their twilight years, one last chance for a reunion presents itself in the form of a televised charity benefit. Ku Ren and Shem Bien struggle to come to terms with years of bitterness, and bring the house down once again.

Doris simply wanted to open a refined, stylish coffee shop in a bohemian Taipei neighborhood, but when she's stuck with a load of useless gifts from the opening celebration, her younger sister Josie turns the café into a burgeoning bartering business. There, even a soulful song (by Japanese singer Atari Kosuke in a cameo) is a tradable commodity. One day, a traveler brings in 35 soaps from around the world with a story for each of them, awakening Doris' imagination about the outside world that she has never seen.

A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.

Xiao Hong is a shy 29-year-old man who works in an aquarium fish store and lets his overprotective mother boss him around in all aspects of his life. His cousin decides to take him to a seedy hotel where Sister Lele oversees the prostitution business.

A traveling scholar, intent on translating a Buddhist sutra that is said to have power over the creatures of the afterlife. He slowly finds himself entangled in a mysterious plot involving witchcraft, demons, and a battle to preserve his own soul from the attacks of the supernatural underworld.

A reworking of the classic Chinese novel "All men are brothers"; Lin Chung (Roc Tien), a loyal general, who falls prey to a plot that exiles him and leaves his wife dead. But thanks to a good hearted brigand-monk, justice is served and the conspiracy upended... Fantastic Action, and the addition of a hideous demon creature, makes this one of the most original Kung Fu films of the 80's

In seven days, a young man must learn how to fight from a master, because, for the girl he is in love with, he have to challenge the current grand title owner, whose father is rivaling the smuggling business of the young man's father.

David Loman, a simple country bumpkin who accidentally becomes a big boss in the criminal underworld. A decade passes, and life seems to go on as usual - solving daily problems for locals and receiving "protection fees" - until one day a deity tells David through a medium that he needs to find a double to avoid a catastrophe. Panicky, the boss seeks help from Old Ho, who agrees to pass as David for a few days, but is assassinated when attending a gathering with fellow gangsters.

Three flatmates share a luxury flat. A philandering hairdresser meets his match. A young stockbroker meets his boss's soon-to-be-ex-wife. A pregnant lady unsure over the identity of the baby's father.

Ah Zhe falls deep into drugs, losing himself in the chaos—until he meets Xiao Fei. In a world of addiction, some return. Others vanish for good.

He Man awakes from a coma thinking that she’s still on her honeymoon with her husband Xie Yu, but she gets a rude shock: there’s a five-year gap in her memory, and during that time the couple has divorced. Confused and desperate to figure out how their marriage crumbled, He Man seeks out her ex-husband and her ex-best-friend for answers.

A Taiwanese drug mule has his foolproof smuggling method thrown out of whack when he catches a ride with the wrong cab driver.

A small town is plagued by a hopping Chinese vampire. A clumsy traveling warrior becomes aware of the vampire's sinister presence however the skeptical locals and their arrogant Taoist priest discredit the traveler. Meanwhile, a group of orphaned children, who are taken care of by a loving yet stern middle-aged play actor, befriend the vampire's son without realizing his true identity.

Stretching across the canvas of the Sino-Japanese War of the 30s, the subsequent Japanese surrender in 1945, and the onslaught of Communism, this film depicts an ill-fated romance between a talented lady novelist and a Chinese traitor working with the Japanese who fall victim to the mayhem of war and their tragic inability to reconcile political differences.

Wei is nowhere to be found one day before his grandma returns from her own strange missing incident. Wei's girlfriend desperately searches for his whereabouts and discovers that a little girl in red followed them before their disappearance. Based on true events and long-circulating urban legend in Taiwan.

Yunpeng and his servant stay at a country inn one dark evening to escape potential robbers and ghosts. But Yunpeng chances into something far more dangerous! He accidentally happens upon the comely Anu naked in bed, and to make up for his rudeness he has to marry her. Because of her beauty, the request is not too difficult to fulfill...until she is introduced to his aunts and uncles, who notice her ghastly green glow and deduce that she's a spirit from the netherworld. But there's something even darker about her appearance, and it may be revenge on his in-laws.

The film consists of three stories: One about a 5-year-old girl, one about a teenager, and still another about a 30 something woman involved in an affair with a married man. Without providing a definite answer whether the three leading actresses are playing the same person in different stages of life, the movie instead hovers on several consistent themes that keep on emerging in all the stories. For example, the image of drops of blood on the clothes, in the shape of maroon flowers.

Fong, a Taiwanese woman has relocated to Canada with her husband Kwok. Fong suspects that Kowk is cheating on her on his regular business trips to Taiwan.

This early Brigitte Lin film is based on the same Chinese folk tale that Tsui Hark later used as his source for The Green Snake. It is the story of two sister snakes that want to feel what it is to be human and one of them needs to know what it is to feel human love. It is a sweet magical but ultimately tragic tale of breaking societal taboos. - brns.com

Love intertwines at the wrong time. Sei and Ling, former masseuses in Macau, in retrospect, had the best time together. Decades after, Sei learns that her late best friend has kept a secret she never knew...

A woman who has owned a barbershop for over 40 years determines to embark on a long journey to cut the hair of an old customer who has moved away and is too sick to travel.

Ti Hung's parents die when she is twelve. When she is sixteen, she determines to change her fate, swearing to rise from her poverty. She becomes famous for her embroidery and eventually marries into a rich family, but tragedy ensues.

The daughter of a queen and a comet is abandoned by her family. One day, she comes across a prince fighting a multi-headed dragon and falls in love with him. However, some wizards try everything to keep them apart.

A kung fu fanatic, Yu Ting (Alexander Lo Rei), searching for the ultimate master, saves a young Shaolin monk, Hsu Shi (William Yen), from a group of mobsters and sees it as a golden opportunity to enrich his kung fu skills. He persuades the young novice monk to smuggle him into Shaolin, but Ting's presence isn't welcome and he is driven out, but remains close to the temple, keeping in touch with Hsu Shi. When Ting rescues a girl from the clutches of the Flying Eagle gang, the Golden Wheel Lama and sworn enemy of Shaolin finds the perfect excuse to lead an assault on the Temple. Realizing Ting's devotion, the abbot decides to bring Ting into the Shaolin order and teach him the deadliest techniques to prepare him for the Lama's merciless fury.

All the CHEN family want is a quiet life but as daughter Lucy's behavior changes from strange to violent, they are forced to confront dark secrets they have hidden for years. One by one, their desperate poverty, the mother's rape and the father's revenge by murder return to haunt them...until a searing TRUTH no one knew is revealed. Will this truth give them a second chance to right the wrongs in their lives or destroy them all?

Cultures meet and values are learnt through the renovation of an inn.

Lu Tai Yeh (Chang Yi) is a stick fighter who uses his deadly “Tzu Wu” stick to make mince meat of his opponents. Lu Tai Yeh, along with his two sidekicks (Fung Long & Cheng Ching) just about closes down all the gyms in Northern China. Never satisfied, Lu and his men travel down south to clean up the region and take out all gyms and fighters who think they may be good with the stick. Lu’s plan is running without a hitch until he meets a new upstart, Ku Yung (Wang Tao), who plans on fighting Lu to take back the family heirloom - a Tzu Wu stick - and regain the honor of his family.

Robert Tai's first film as a director; uses footage from Best and Worst (1974). A ruthless rapist and jewel thief and his gang are brought to justice by a cop and a young avenger.

Believing that writing Cantopop is her God-given talent, Law Wing-sze decides to make it her lifelong career. But as hard as Sze tries to polish her lyric-writing skills and expand her social circle, nothing seems to go her way. What if there’s a will, but there’s no way?

Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, the present day. Master chef Tang Shizhe (Kenneth Tsang) tells his two daughters, the careerist Wa'er (Huo Siyan) and teenage Xiaolan (Jiang Mengjie), that he has decided to sell his upscale vegetarian restaurant, the centre of his life for 30 years.

Police Captain Dragon Leg calls on the services of a known felon and playboy, Snake Fist, to help him infiltrate a gang of Mongolian arms dealers led by the Deadly master of the Spider Fist.

A receptionist at a suicide hotel in Taipei forms a fleeting friendship over the course of one night with a guest who can’t decide if she wants to live or die.

Two fearless martial arts experts investigate a series of mysterious murders, committed by a unknown fighter called the "RED PHOENIX", who kills his victims with an unknown but very deadly technique.

Sammo is a single father and scam artist that uses his son in his scams. He's an alcoholic with gambling problems that likes to fight. He gets arrested, and the woman who arrests him looks after his son while he's in jail.

A bachelor who decides to propose to his girlfriend with his mother's ring only to have the ring accidentally knocked into the gutter by a boy. He experiences the crazy nightlife in Taipei and meets many interesting individuals throughout his mission to get the ring back.

A-Lie and Big D are friends and both virgins. To celebrate Big D’s birthday, A-Lie suggest to Big D that he should lose his virginity. On the Internet, the duo hire an escort called Wonderland. However, in a love hotel, Wonderland dies from a drug overdose and her body leaves the duo in shock. Eager to dispose the body, A-Lie takes advantage of his online celebrity status and asks Xi-Shi, a fan of A-Lie’s, to use her van and help the duo get rid of corpse. They stumble into numerous weird accidents, a journey full of desire, suspicion and betrayal and in the end, the cruelest summertime they have ever had.

A ruthless warlord is using his poisonous palm to kill Ming Patriots, and only the Kung Fu Phantom (Wong Tao) has a chance of ending his reign of terror.

The complicated story involves the military conquest of a peaceful island-nation by an evil despot and his sorcerer ally. His victory leaves the island's three heroic protectors dead, but, their young children are hidden away to grow to adulthood with different identities, unaware of their heritage, in hope that, in time, they might challenge and defeat the evil ruler. The charming Polly Kuan stars as one of these children who has been adopted by the conquerer himself, initially as an insult to the defeated hero, later as his protégé.

Alan Tang is forced into a swirling dilemma between two antagonistic drug smugglers. Double crossed, he manages to emerge triumphant. See this kung fu extravaganza explodes in a bloody spectacle of wrath rage and vengeance as Bruce takes Dragon Town.

Androgynous Phoenix Du, the illicit daughter of a presidential candidate, kills the thug who breaks into her apartment to silence her. She comes before prosecutor Jade Liu, guilt-ridden from the suicide of her brother and her strict Catholic upbringing. Before demanding Phoenix’s three-and-a-half years sentence for manslaughter, Jade has a night of passion with her that redirects both their lives. Phoenix writes her hundreds of letters and begs her to wait for her release. In fear of her own desire, Jade marries Meng Ye, the genderless young man she saved from prison who reminds her of her brother…

Bruce Lee (Bruce Li) is assigned to go undercover as Lee Min-Chin to investigate a drug ring. The mob hires an assassin to kill him. They are both great at what they do; as they fight to the death only one will come out alive.

Shaw Brothers star Wang Yu plays Ho Gang, a competent swordsman who takes a job as a hired assassin. Though reluctant he ends up becoming highly successful, but he is wary as one of his targets is killed before he can fulfill the contract, leading him to suspect that he is being double crossed.

As they are going to visit their former teacher, Micky, who is seriously ill, three men who were buddies back in their high school years are reunited. Moreover, they go back to the old cram school, reminiscing about their rebellious youth. In the 1990s, that cram school was known for its strict rules and the trio, who loved making trouble, had given the director a big headache until Micky arrived as a new teacher. He not only tamed the boys but became a good friend to them. Micky often talked about romantic relationships and sexuality to the students and made documentaries to speak up for the gay community. It is because of him that the students got to understand the homosexual or even themselves.

Zheng Xiang reunites with the members of his high school band and reminisces about their lead singer and his past love, En Pei, whose pursuit of her dreams ended in tragedy. He regrets encouraging her to join the pageant, wondering if she would have died if he hadn't done so. Drunk after the memorial, he's suddenly transported back to the past, where he sets out to stop En Pei from making the same mistake.

Adapted from a Tang Dynasty fantasy tale, Sung Chuen-sau used the story of a scholar meeting a female ghost at night, but emphasised neither the killing nor horror but the literary and romantic elements. Scholar Chan (Shih Chun) stays in a remote mansion outside the city. People often fall into the mansion’s well for no apparent reason. Chan looks into it. Later, he sees the girl from the well, Susu (Brigitte Lin), waving to him. She begins to wait on him nightly. Susu was from a wealthy family, but was running away from bandits during wartime, and committed suicide by jumping into the well rather than be caught. After her death, her spirit was controlled by Du Long (Pai Lin). Du Long has forced her many times to harm Chan, but she never has the heart to carry it through. Chan’s pity for her soon becomes love. He goes into the well to retrieve an old bronze mirror, and eventually succeeds in freeing Susu. In the end, to rescue Chan, Susu fights with Du Long and they destroy each other.

A descendant of an ancient tea tribe heads to Taiwan to look for the legendary black tea to break the curse of a tribal rivalry. Meanwhile, in an "underground tea market" somewhere in Taiwan that sells rare expensive tea from around the world, tribe members have other motives up their sleeves regarding the black tea legacy. Each for their own cause, rival tribal members become tangled up in a web of love and hate.

Composed of three separate stories, the film vividly portrays Taiwan during the cold war period when the country developed its economy with help from the United States.

A substitute teacher from Taipei arrives in a country village to teach a class of mischievous students. He soon falls in love with nature, country life and a fellow teacher at the school.