Discoveries from Taiwan World Cinema

This film traces Arizona’s desert as it is reshaped into a hub for data centres and semiconductor manufacturing. Moving through altered waterways, the film exposes tensions between technoutopian visions and drought-stricken ecologies. Guided by offscreen voices and Tohono O’odham poet Ofelia Zepeda’s ‘Cloud Song’, ancestral knowledge counters the rise of industrial ‘cloud’ infrastructures.

Jing, a 35-year-old radiologist, copes with grief by immersing herself in work and fleeting encounters. Her twin brother, Hao, a nomadic veterinarian, last updated his YouTube channel a while ago. Despite staying connected, they both grapple with the loss of their father individually. One day, an unexpected horse appears in Jing’s apartment, turning her life upside down. Jing forms a unique bond with the horse, from initial resistance and fear to eventual acceptance. An unforeseen event prompts the siblings to engage in dialogue and rebuild trust. Ultimately, Jing bids farewell to the horse, blending the old and new within her home, and embarks on self-discovery.

A group of village kids pass their time playing with toy guns on the railroad tracks. One of the boys, Gao Gao, decides to visit a friend’s home and is changed by what he sees. RB

After a devastating breakup, Hsing becomes emotionally numb, feeling unable to move on. To end his agony, Hsing decides to set out from southern Taiwan to Taipei to demand an apology from his unfaithful ex-boyfriend. But in the bitterly cold northern city, tangled desires bloom like a thorned flower—hurting him in return. While his ex finally offers him an olive branch by expressing remorse with kisses, Hsing just snaps. In that moment, apology, forgiveness, and revenge collide, leading to an irreversible act…

Yue is a focus puller who suffers from eye floaters. On set, he sees his ex-girlfriend Ting Yu through the monitor. She leads him on a search for a meteor shower that will never appear. In the end, Yue begins to see the reality beyond the frame.

Can a feeling be explained? Two embark on a motorcycle journey in pursuit of an elusive feeling. On a dark night of hunger and winding roads, the convenience store becomes an illuminated oasis.

An island, isolated yet sovereign, where humans and nature coexist between the ebb and flow of the tides — rising and falling, supporting one another in quiet balance. Through the beauty and sorrow of an island, we reflect on the gendered dynamics of power in contemporary island life. What does it truly mean to live freely? And how do we know which choices in life are the right ones?

Portrait of a relaxed and friendly gay bar in Taiwan in the weeks before it closed due to police harrasment.

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?

Taiwanese horror movie from 1979.

We found Ishikawa's sketching route by following the 1909 travelogue of Kinyichiro Ishikawa's "Tataga's Memories" (タッタカの思出): the Nantou mountainous area was once a battleground for the aboriginal people and the Japanese army, and because of the need to contact the farm for filming, we learned that in 2016, the Meifeng Farm in Taichung University accidentally discovered the site of the garrison in the park, and so we decided to take the members of the Southern Art Association and their friends to go there and make a two-day and one-night sketching tour. The trip was a two-day, one-night sketching tour. For this sketching trip after 110 years, a few young Sedgwick men working at NTU's Mountain Experimental Farm cleaned up fallen trees and weeds in the park after the typhoon, and worked continuously in the forest, waiting for the upcoming team of painters and a team of photographers.

Mentioning Diao-yu-tai evokes an immediate patriotic response in Taiwan due to the territorial dispute between China and Japan, sparked by a 1968 oil field survey in the East China Sea.

An experimental message to the parents. Or the life in the big city as seen by a homesick young director.

The director's pregnant sister moved to Hsinchu upon marriage and hasn't returned to Taipei in a year. Their mother hoped to tend his sister during postpartum confinement, but instead, this made their relationship deteriorate even further. The director also uses the camera to search for traces of his father, a Taiwanese businessman in mainland China who has been absent since his childhood. The film tells the story of how their family fell apart more than 30 years ago and then came back together.

Measurement of optical distance collides with psychological proximity. The experience of an eye test retreats to insect visual motion experiment observers. We walk through a camera obscura to a Lacanian anecdote. Interior and exterior space blurs. It’s a process of anchoring yourself from the outside.

A short documentary about Jimmy, a black Taiwanese drag queen. The film considers the socio-cultural complexities of the protagonists's mixed parentage. With a contemporary urban narrative, it incorporates animation to create an affectionately comical insight.

Reorganize the memories of blood and tears and truly present the historical scars. Over the past three years, re-interviews with the victims’ family members and full DV records. An introductory guide to understanding modern Taiwanese society.

In order to excel at his recycling job, Ali, a person with intellectual disabilities, had a brilliant idea but it turned into a big blunder. His colleague, Shan Shan, was infuriated by Ali's unintended actions. However, this incident unintentionally sparked a new secret plan. Throughout this process, Shan Shan realized that everyone has their own aspirations, including Ali, who fantasized about becoming a superhero. As Shan Shan observed Ali, a warm feeling began to rekindle in her heart.

"Qian-Yu, is this mine too?" Yong-Hua and Qian-Yu started an unexpected day with the "thing" they found in the car.

Taiwanese comedy.

A time of crisis with a pandemic raging––these are dark days. Nevertheless, on a special errand, a little girl resolves to get through a city filled with viruses, made worse by people’s indifference. The little girl’s special errand is bringing her mother a magical rose. Her mother is courageously working in a hospital on the frontline against the pandemic. As with the battle against the pandemic out in the world, her journey is bumpy and frustrating but hope is never lost.

Taiwanese horror movie from 1987.

A same-sex couple, He Jie and He Yun, deeply in love, face the challenges of living together. Their differing personalities and habits create tensions, with He Jie being more reserved and rational, while He Yun is expressive and spontaneous. As they navigate cohabitation, the couple struggles with communication, compromise, and emotional growth. The series explores how they learn to adjust to each other, balancing their love with the realities of daily life, and how living together tests their emotional bond while revealing the complexities of modern relationships.

A documentary short about a B&B owner with right hand cut off.

After being diagnosed with the last stage of liver cancer, Ma-luo decides to go back to his son, reflecting upon his busy, meaningless life. At his last few moments, he gains a new perspective on life through his son.

The little place is Hsiao-Chun’s home and country. As many young Taiwanese, she is torn apart between leaving or staying this place. Expecting a baby, her chances of finding a career abroad are fading, though her connections to the little place are changing like the bustling city that surrounds her.

Inside every taxi driver’s heart, there is a wild cowboy. Da-wei doesn’t want to be confined at home during the pandemic, so he tries every possible way to get back on the road with his taxi. Can he eventually overcome all the obstacles to finish this knightly trip that no one witnesses?

As a storied apartment complex awaits its eventual demolition, its inhabitants teeter on the edge of poverty in an invisible city hidden in plain sight.

Since Taiwan’s opening of cable TV in 1993, the number of channels has increased by 30 times, including 8 24-hour news channels. TV news and newspapers are trying to fight for ratings, grab advertisements, invade people’s privacy, make up for news, and seduce gossip. Is there really no cure for this media monster that is damaging the eyes of the audience? Is publicization the last salvation for the failure of the media market? Through the interviews of a number of audiences from all walks of life and the experience of frontline journalists, this film combines the context of the media reform movement to sort out the root causes of media chaos and the possibility of prescribing the right remedy.

An older woman and her mentally disabled son arrive at a train station. Even the dispatcher wonders what they are doing there, as they sit and watch passing trains. The film will remind you how nice it is to stop and look around. Best short film at IFF Venice in 2005.

In 1991, a gruesome double murder was committed in Hsihchih in Taipei. Wang Wen-hsiao, a soldier whose fingerprint was found at the crime scene, was tried, convicted, and executed the following year. Prosecutors apprehended three additional young men and were suspected of torturing the suspects to extract confessions. The three’s death sentences have been appealed repeatedly over the years. Today, they are still waiting for a final outcome. This case of the century has proved to be difficult work even for forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee. Eighteen years of trial have hounded the three men and the victims’ son. They all yearn to unearth the truth and uphold justice. The truth, however, is elusive due to the passage of time and Taiwan’s flawed judicial system. The four young souls held captive in different forms can only continue to spend their lives trying to pursue that taste of freedom that no one else can truly appreciate.

​We used to be close. But somehow, we lost contact afterwards.

Mark is a director working in Taipei City who recently lost an important client. Reluctant to go back to his hometown Kaohsiung, an industrial town with severe pollution and no directing job, he decides to earn some quick money by making porn with his friend, Bugsy. However, while they are shooting the sex scenes on the rooftop, the worst smog arrives at the city and devours everything, including Mark’s last hope to stay in Taipei.

31 years ago, the story was written. Origami animation.

A group of Taiwanese who were born before World War II still insist on writing poetry and haiku in Japanese language. Director HUANG Ming-chuan has been documenting them for 22 years since 1994. Unlike Korea, another previous colony of Japan, Taiwan retains emotional and cultural ties with Japan even after the War. Over 40 years, these poets and writers get together discreetly under the ban of speaking and publishing in Japanese. More than half a century later, despite aging, they remain using Japanese in the final years of their lives. This film gathers memories of local Taiwanese who have been ruled by several colonial powers since the Dutch arrived on the island in late 17th century. And the path to obtain their own voice became a long way struggle, and so as the national identity.

In 1960-1970’s Taiwan, when Taiwan Economic Miracle happens, a lot of females sacrifice their future under the pressure of supporting their families. Our story protagonist "Grandmother," was a reflection of countless young females from that era. By using scissor and threads as element of this story, the thread symbolizes the constraints imposed on Grandmother by her past by qualities of entanglement and continuity, while the scissor represents her awaken willing, which cuts off the attachments and regrets she struggles to let go of.

In the magic circle of a higher species, an unexpected creature was born. What would happen to them?

Stones in Chiayi's streams bear the marks of time and the land's memory. Seventy years ago, Zhan Long began carving tombstones, turning cold stone into living art and founding Chiayi's stone monkey tradition. The second-generation sculptor infused family memory and cultural sentiment, making the stone monkey a city symbol. Today, new self-taught artists reinterpret the craft, letting tradition endure and be reborn, bearing witness to the warmth and vitality of culture.

Zhang who has never had any work experience, came to work in a tall building to help with family expenses. He encountered various strange scenes, both among colleagues and between the boss and employees. Zhang seemed to gradually integrate into this environment, until his sister suddenly appeared in a panic. This building seemed unusual, and the two tried to escape from the structure.

This is a behind-the-scenes documentary of "Double Vision", a Hollywood film shot in Taiwan. In 2001, Taiwan was struck by as many as nine typhoons, bringing with them an extraordinary amount of rainfall. That same year marked the first time the Hollywood film industry arrived in Taiwan with substantial funding and manpower. Although this documentary follows a production boasting an impressive international cast, it also captures a more complex reality: when the powerful machinery of Hollywood enters a country whose own film industry has all but disappeared, what should we be questioning or reflecting upon in this model of transnational collaboration? Like the typhoons that repeatedly swept across Taiwan during filming, what else did they bring besides torrential rain?

The director unexpectedly overheard stories about his mother’s family and decided to pick up a camera to explore a century-old history: Topa, a Tayal tribe that once lived in Sanxia but was displaced to Taoyuan’s Fuxing District due to Japanese rule. The main subjects of this documentary are descendants who are striving in their own ways to preserve the memory of Topa. Through their efforts, the connection between their lives and history is finally being brought back to light.

[thóo-kong-á] is a stop-motion short film centered on the Taiwanese tradition of “bone collecting.” The story follows a boy who was raised by his grandfather, a professional bone collector. Since childhood, he was often asked to help with the ritual, though he never understood its meaning — only finding it exhausting and unpleasant. But through repeated experiences, he gradually comes to see that bone collecting isn’t something taboo — it is a gentle, meaningful practice. It’s a way for the living to say a proper farewell to the dead. In the end, with newfound understanding and respect, he personally performs the final bone collecting for his grandfather.

Set in the Taoyuan Aerotropolis expropriation zone, this film traces a home that no longer belongs to us. Before relocation, my mother passed away—her “too late” compelled me to return and document what remains. Through father–daughter dialogue and acts of creation, the film records landscapes on the verge of disappearance, and the fragile traces of “home” that persist in the struggle against erasure.