Director: Tan Chui Mui | Hong Kong, China/ Malaysia | Color | 106min | Fiction
Working on his next film, Roger invites his long-time collaborator Moon to a writing retreat in a seaside town.
While Moon had not been acting for 10 years, her recent divorce had made her decide to take on Roger’s offer, a lead role in a do-your-own stunts Southeast-Asian Bourne Identity…
Director: Yang Xiao Wang Jiaqi Su Xia Chen Lianhua | / | / | 61min | Short Film Collection
THE MOUNTAINS SING
“Hawfwen”, a traditional gathering that once-popular where the Zhuang people sing folk songs. It often takes place around the clan temples or under the old trees. Singers are divided into male and female groups. They improvised their lyrics to sing in correspondence with one another.
Traveling along with the songs in antiphonal style, the camera has found different singers and gatherings, lingered in the rural areas and urban cities, trying to find the broken echo of “hawfwen”.
THE DRAGON HEAD TREE
This film is about a dead dragon. It’s about how he has been caught and been eaten. He was a magical creature from the ideal world. After he died, he becomes a symbol for people.
GOLD IS EATING PEOPLE
There is an old saying in China: “People die for wealth; birds die for food.” When someone discovers gold, people of different identities and classes fight to get the gold for themselves: brothers shoot each other, and friends murder each other. This is a parable about greed, exposure, satire, and reflection on the evil of human nature.
THE SIX
A man, a woman, and a crane, in six repeating scenes.
Director: Lee Yong-Chao | Myanmar/Taiwan, China | Color | 79min | Documentary
This seven-years-documentary tells a family’s changing and the current situation of the society in Myanmar. The pandemic had been spreading in 2020; a major collapse happened at a jadeite mine, many miners were killed and injured，, and Ah Tian was forced to go back home from the jade mine in the rainy season. Heavy rain causes the family and the entire village to soak in the flooding sewage. Masks getting wet and dry over and over again is like people in Myanmar tucking in the life dilemma. Nobody knows when will the muddy water be gone and the calm after the storm is…
Director: Yang Yanjin | | Color | 100min | Fiction
Xia, a nearly blinded man, visits Zhong at home to introduce his unfinished script: Ten years ago, Xia was a successful auto repairman. He met a young man Yu by accident. They became close friends after a while and went to collect herbs together for Xia’s mother who is suffered from cancer. However, Xia found out that Yu was actually a woman. Yu has to hide her gender and live in fear during the ten-year turmoil due to her mother’s occupation. She has shaved her hair and lived as a male ever since. Xia decided to steal a wig for Yu, but he injured his eyes in an incident. After he got out of the hospital, he found Yu and her entire family has disappeared. The script stops right at this moment, therefore, Zhong and Xia decide to continue the open-ended story…
Director: Jun Li | Hong Kong, China | Color | 112min | Fiction
Under the flyovers of Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong live a group of down-and-outs. Despised by local residents, they are regularly forced to move due to the city’s redevelopment projects. One winter night, the authorities clear all their personal belongings while they are sleeping. Sick of being evicted, Fai and his companion decide to build wooden fences around their living space. Meanwhile, Ms. Ho, a young social worker, helps them take to court to demand compensation for their losses.
Director: Zhang Jie | China | Color | 66min | Documentary
Zhang Yonghong is a papercutting artist with osteogenesis imperfecta. His daughter also inherited the disease. A family of three came to Beijing in 2008 for her daughter’s treatment. From then on, they stayed in Beijing by selling handmade papercutting for a living. After divorcing his wife, Mr. Zhang struggled alone in Beijing. In recent years, because business is not good and Beijing’s cleanup of “Holes in the Wall”, Mr. Zhang has difficulties finding a house and frequent move. Despite the enormous pressure to survive in Beijing, Mr. Zhang is reluctant to return to his hometown. To stay in Beijing, he dated a Beijing girl and hoped to marry her and have children with her. But the road to becoming a Beijinger is fraught with difficulties…
Director: Xia Gang | | Color | 90 | Fiction
Liu He works temporarily for a film crew. After the break-off with his girlfriend, he acquaints Xiaoqing who just graduated from college. Xiaoqing tells him she got cancer and has not much time left. Even though being dubious, Liu He wants Xiaoqing to enjoy life so he helps finish off her bucket list. When the doctor confirms Xiaoqing’s health condition, Liu He feels extremely guilty for doubting her. He decides to help raising money and save her.
Director: Merhaba Israyil Zhou Haoran Huang Chi Yung Dante Jiayu Liu | / | / | 64min | Short Film Collection
THE CUCKOOS
Zeynep followed her mother to the countryside, wanting to see the cuckoo mentioned in the legend related to her name. In the countryside, she met a boy named Ekper and chose to believe in him regardless of everyone’s rumors. However, the loss of an earring broke the relationship between the two. Before leaving, Zeynep decided to face her mistake and went to look for Bayer in the woods. In the woods, there are cuckoo sounds everywhere, but Ekper is nowhere to be seen.
PADDY
Is there always an answer up there? To find his favorite toy, the little scarecrow started the adventure. Along the way, everything is strange to him. Lost paradise, immigration tide, assembly line, and parade…He kept asking the world the same questions, but there was no answer. Finally, the toy returned to him, but something different had taken place in him.
LIFE OF LAI
One sunny morning, Mr. Lai, a longtime background actor, is lying rest on a bench. People are walking in and out of the film set, the noise of the crew getting ready to shoot can be heard everywhere. All of a sudden, Mr. Lai wakes up coughing. Aside from this warning sign of his physical health, he also receives a call from the hospital bearing bad news. To make matters worse, he just gets notified that the scene today, besides playing a dead body, also requires him to lie in a coffin. Looking at this seemingly real mourning hall built for the film set, Mr. Lai can’t stop having mixed feelings. After being teased by other background actor friends and mistreated by the film crew, this memorial service rehearsal somehow inspires Mr. Lai to find a perfect condition to lie in a coffin.
GRANDMA’S HOUSE
Busy at making dinner in the kitchen of a family restaurant, Raul gets a phone call from his grandma in Mexico.
Director: Han Meng | China | Color | 90min | Documentary
A deputy director of the Environmental Protection Bureau and his assistant are trying to change the air quality of the city. How do they continuously improve the air quality of the city when they face pressure?
Director: Jiang Jiachen | China | Color | 108min | Fiction
In a northeast city, the director of the morning newspaper Zuo Shouquan knew that his daughter Zuo Mingming, who always lived with his ex-wife, started a “problem band”, ignoring her studies, and would be punished by the school. Zuo wanted her to have a stable job in his hometown, but his daughter disagrees. Zuo failed to persuade her and had to seek help. Zuo Mingming’s English teacher, Lv Yourong, asked Zuo about her son’s school transfer. They buried the hatch with sympathy. Zuo Mingming thought they had a sexual relation, feeling embarrassed and rupturing with her father. Zuo’s friend, principal Niu, was suspected of violating the discipline, implicating Zuo in suspension. Lv lost her job due to a drinking video. It’s the last chance for Zuo Mingming to pass the CET-4, which is crucial for getting the diploma. Zuo decided to ask a favor from the daughter’s guitarist Ma…
Director: Ge Xiaoying | | Color | 92 | Fiction
A movie theater bicycling staff accidentally crashed to a pregnant woman Zhao Xia in a rainy night. He sent Zhao Xia to the hospital immediately. At the hospital, Zhao Xia held him back and told the doctor that he was her husband. The staff was unable to leave, and the hospital withheld a copy of the film as a deposit. His wife at home also misunderstood him because he had to pay for a pregnant woman’s surgery.
Director: Gao Qisheng | China | Color | 104min | Fiction
“A river of spring water” quietly flows through a woman’s seemingly boring life. The murder that happened 18 years ago often upset her heart. When her son finally came of age, she was willing to atone for his misdeeds while “the dead” lived a peaceful and happy life.
Director: Chen Dongnan | China | Color | 99min | Documentary
After hiding in the mountains for a century, a Miao ethnic village choir is discovered by an outsider and becomes a national sensation. Two young Miaos and all the villagers must reconcile their faith, identity, and love with the real world of China.
Director: Ling Zifeng | China | B&W | 103min | Fiction
Before the liberation of the whole country, the Taxiu tribe and Ali Cang tribe live in the gold band and wulan meow separately. The two tribes had bitter disputes over the silver grassland for years. Liu Huimin, the northwest office commander of the Nationalist Party, instigates the Ali Cang tribe to move to the silver band in order to incite the battle between those two. Later, under the instructions of the special agent of Chiang Kai-shek, Liu forms a cavalry regiment in an attempt to pin down part of the main force of the People’s Liberation Army in the northwest. In order to recruit 1,500 horses from the two tribes, they recruit the leaders of both tribes and issued licenses to two sides to own Silver Band, which intensifies the fight.
Duobulong, a young man of Taixiu, and Zhuoma, a young lady of Ali Cang fall in love with each other. They cannot bear the kill and hatred of each community so they tell the leader about Liu Huimin. However, it does not stop the fight. Zhuoma’s father is injured in the battle.
Later, two tribal leaders comprehend Liu Huimin’s plot. When the People’s Liberation Army of China march into the grasslands, the remnants of the Kuomintang flee. The army enters the two tribes’ garrison, patiently reconciles the long-standing contradictions, and finally beat their swords into ploughshares. In the 1960s and 1970s, THE GOLD AND SILVER RIVER BAND was shown at the Xining People’s Cinema, the first cinema in Qinghai after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Director: Zhang Zhongchen | China | Color | 113min | Fiction
Fang Lujun, the father of Fang Yuan, who was born deaf and mute, suffered from mental illness and was missing for many years. Recently, he was wanted by the police for homicide. The police went for an investigation, which led to the separated fate of three generations of Fang Yuan’s family.
Director: Wang Xiaofeng | China | Color | 100min | Fiction
Zheng, a middle-aged man, falls in straitened circumstances after divorce and job loss. However, an incident of his anger venting turns him into an Internet celebrity, “Busy Buddy”. While savoring the unprecedented success in his life, Zheng meets his partner Liangliang, a middle school student. They team up to reveal people who have uncivilized behaviors in the town. A father-son relationship evolves between them. It seems that Zheng has come to a turning point in his life that will end all his misfortune. However, Zheng’s ego and arrogance annoy Liangliang. Their relationship almost breaks down until Liangliang finds that Zheng has been diagnosed with a deadly disease. Zheng has decided to accomplish something meaningful during his remaining time, to save Liangliang from a crisis.
Director: Wang Xide | China | B&W | 113min | Fiction
Gu Qing’s 5-year-old daughter fell in the lake by the mountains and died. She has structured herself into a daily cycle to avoid pain by opening a tailor shop. Apart from the stable operation of the tailor shop and the occasional chats with regular customers, her only outlet has been her lover Luo Bai, with whom she maintains a casual yet distant relationship. Gu Qing’s elder sister passed away early due to illness, and her daughter, Sun Yue, has grown into adulthood under the care of her father. On the pretense of coming to Gu Qing to learn her crafts, she went for a boy she has been seeing. The arrival of Sun Yue has caused subtle changes in Gu Qing’s life, and the ripples effect extended.
Director: Xun Weiping | China | Color | 104min | Fiction
Guang was left behind for ten years, live with his grandpa, then the cattle were lost, grandpa was dead, the land was destroyed.
Director: Liu Guoquan | China | Color | 88 | Fiction
Liangzi is a salesman at a clothing company. He often receives the manager’s praise for being enthusiastic and dutiful. However, he has the most assured love for the film industry deep down in his heart. As suggested by Xiaoqing, Liangzi, Xiaoqing, and a girl, Zhang Lingling, who he only met once, go to the training class runs by suspicious teacher, Ge. Shortly after, Liangzi gets his first turning point of playing a role in Xie’s new film. Even though he does not show up in the final version of the film nor receive the credits, he feels closer to his dream. Since then, thanks to his endeavor, Liangzi receives more opportunities and slowly grows into a well-known comic star.
Director: Li Songming | China | Color | 94min | Fiction
At the age of thirty, Xinggui has not only lost his job and love, but also has lost his health. As his body gradually recovers, his perception is slowly returning. In the process of looking back, he is surprised to find that the reality of life in his grandmother’s eyes is very different from what he has felt over the years. His memory gap prompts Xinggui to reexamine the past. He is learning to accept the past, to accept himself and others. He is discovering love while losing it at the same time.
Director: Yang Chenghua Ji Jinglu Ma Weijia Zhao Danyang | | | 63min | Short Film Collection
SELF SCRATCH
Following a break-up, Wen sinks into melancholy. She can’t talk to anyone and therefore speaks to herself a lot. By understanding that it is not the love she has lost but her confidence, she will be able to reconcile with herself and feel ready to love again.
MARIPOSA APARTMENT
November 2019, In the Mariposa Apartment, I recorded a soundtrack of a fight between my boyfriend and me. Starting with a therapy room, the therapist helps the young couple return to the time when this “original soundtrack” happened. At that time, the young couple doesn’t feel like themselves anymore…
STEP INTO THE RIVER
This is a story about two girls who survived. One was born because her elder brother died; it was luck from natural choice; The other was saved when she was abandoned by her biological parents; it was a man-made result. But no matter what reason they survived, they all feel inferior for their own existence. The two girls cherished each other, and their friendship gave them the strength to live.
AN EXCESSIVE DAY
Seowoo goes back to a convenience store where she’s been working part-time to claim her late payment. When she arrives, a new part-timer seems somewhat clumsy.
Director: Jiang Jiachen | China | Color | 108min | Fiction
In a northeast city, the director of the morning newspaper Zuo Shouquan knew that his daughter Zuo Mingming, who always lived with his ex-wife, started a “problem band”, ignoring her studies, and would be punished by the school. Zuo wanted her to have a stable job in his hometown, but his daughter disagrees. Zuo failed to persuade her and had to seek help. Zuo Mingming’s English teacher, Lv Yourong, asked Zuo about her son’s school transfer. They buried the hatch with sympathy. Zuo Mingming thought they had a sexual relation, feeling embarrassed and rupturing with her father. Zuo’s friend, principal Niu, was suspected of violating the discipline, implicating Zuo in suspension. Lv lost her job due to a drinking video. It’s the last chance for Zuo Mingming to pass the CET-4, which is crucial for getting the diploma. Zuo decided to ask a favor from the daughter’s guitarist Ma…
Director: Wu Xia | China | Color | 82min | Fiction
In a small town in the north, Xu Maomao suddenly found herself in the pursuit of beauty. To find the true self, she tailored a special skirt with the help from her friend, Little Tailor. The parents and teachers are concerned about this, but Maomao tries to achieve understanding.
Director: Chao Fan | China | B&W | 86min | Fiction
Zhusheng’s father suddenly died under the watchful eyes of the old dog. The dog witnessed the whole process of Luo’s arrangement of his father’s funeral. When Luo is embalming his father’s body, outside in the forest comes a gunshot. As the forest ranger, Luo has to put down his father’s body and patrol the forest. During the night, Luo sits alone on top of the hill, and he can’t help crying bitterly. On their way home, Luo and the old dog rescue a lamb that has almost been eaten by a wolf. Luo takes the injured lamb home, give it herbal medicine, and the lamb gradually recovers. Luo continues to handle his father’s funeral affairs in an orderly way. He digs the grave, prepares a hearth, makes dough figures, and the coffin. He follows the ancient rituals handed down from generation to generation in every process. At this moment, the dog, his companion, smells danger outside the door. The wolf is approaching…
Director: Kong Weineng | China | Color | 100min | Documentary
My grandparents lived in the countryside，they still farm although they are over eighty, the old house they lived in has become dangerous, grandpa was crippled by a stroke. They guard the old house all year round. What will they experience? What is their life like? What is their love like? What would their story be like if they were young and turned back in time?
Director: Shi Dongshan | | B&W | 124min |
In the all-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression on August 13, patriotic enthusiasm was at an all-time high. A college girl Jiang Lingyu joined the national drama club regardless of her family’s objection. The drama club performed around the country to propagate the war of resistance to the public. During this tough trip, Ling Yu and Gao Li Bin, who was a musician from the same club, fell in love.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Ling Yu married Li Bin and returned to Shanghai, penniless. Li Bin even got the lung disease while Ling Yu kept being sick after pregnancy. However, they did not bow to life.
Director: Ematjan Memet Zhang Linhan Guan Haotian Guan Tian Lin Junjie Cai Yuanqing | / | / | 91min | Short Film Collection
THE ACCORDION
The money Erpan saved from part-time job was divided up by his father, making him unable to buy his beloved accordion. Erpan and his friend Musa fool around and beaten by a group pf people lead by Kamil , he had to fellow his mother home. Finally, Ayisha helped Erpan to got an accordion, in this process, the relationship between them became closer.
CHILDREN’S CORNER
The protagonist lives at the base of Mount Helan, in a place known as Gangchang, Northwest China. He often imagines that he had been to the other side of the mountains. His mother was about to take him away from Gangchang. When summer came to an end in the story, something unusual happened on the boy…
THE LAST FERRY FROM GRASS ISLAND
A Hong Kong hitman retires as a fisherman on the peaceful Grass Island. One day, his Chinese apprentice shows up, tasked to kill him before the last ferry departs.
COFFIN
A man comes home and wants to go to bed. A bunch of noisy roommates. A crowded city in southern China.
THE ARRIVAL OF ALIENS
A group of people is cleaning a spotless unknown space. The emergency message about the coming attack of aliens is repeated on the broadcast. A sandstorm invades the space as the foreshadow of the arrival of aliens. However, one person accidentally discovers the mystery hidden in the sandstorm.
Director: Xia Gang | | Color | 90 | Fiction
Liu He works temporarily for a film crew. After the break-off with his girlfriend, he acquaints Xiaoqing who just graduated from college. Xiaoqing tells him she got cancer and has not much time left. Even though being dubious, Liu He wants Xiaoqing to enjoy life so he helps finish off her bucket list. When the doctor confirms Xiaoqing’s health condition, Liu He feels extremely guilty for doubting her. He decides to help raising money and save her.
Director: Yan Bing | China | Color | 118min | Fiction
A father who cannot cure his own stubborn illness, a professor mother who struggles with existential questions, a son who is confused and precocious, a giant tortoise that suddenly leaves, and a sentimental grandfather who passed away. The uncle cannot finish reading THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. The aunt won’t get married. The grandfather is his own daughter’s enemy. The uncle does not want to return from the Philippines. And an unborn child. Summer goes, and autumn comes. Things remain, but people change.
Director: Ling Zifeng | China | B&W | 103min | Fiction
Before the liberation of the whole country, the Taxiu tribe and Ali Cang tribe live in the gold band and wulan meow separately. The two tribes had bitter disputes over the silver grassland for years. Liu Huimin, the northwest office commander of the Nationalist Party, instigates the Ali Cang tribe to move to the silver band in order to incite the battle between those two. Later, under the instructions of the special agent of Chiang Kai-shek, Liu forms a cavalry regiment in an attempt to pin down part of the main force of the People’s Liberation Army in the northwest. In order to recruit 1,500 horses from the two tribes, they recruit the leaders of both tribes and issued licenses to two sides to own Silver Band, which intensifies the fight.
Duobulong, a young man of Taixiu, and Zhuoma, a young lady of Ali Cang fall in love with each other. They cannot bear the kill and hatred of each community so they tell the leader about Liu Huimin. However, it does not stop the fight. Zhuoma’s father is injured in the battle.
Later, two tribal leaders comprehend Liu Huimin’s plot. When the People’s Liberation Army of China march into the grasslands, the remnants of the Kuomintang flee. The army enters the two tribes’ garrison, patiently reconciles the long-standing contradictions, and finally beat their swords into ploughshares. In the 1960s and 1970s, THE GOLD AND SILVER RIVER BAND was shown at the Xining People’s Cinema, the first cinema in Qinghai after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Director: Fan Jian | China | Color, B&W | 115min | Documentary
After a massive earthquake razed a Chinese city to the ground, thousands of parents who lost their children are encouraged to give a new birth so that they can move on with their lives. AFTER THE RAIN follows two of these families for over a decade. Haunted by fear, resentment, and unspeakable grief, the families find hope beyond their intergenerational trauma is hard to build.
Director: Yang Yanjin | | Color | 100min | Fiction
Xia, a nearly blinded man, visits Zhong at home to introduce his unfinished script: Ten years ago, Xia was a successful auto repairman. He met a young man Yu by accident. They became close friends after a while and went to collect herbs together for Xia’s mother who is suffered from cancer. However, Xia found out that Yu was actually a woman. Yu has to hide her gender and live in fear during the ten-year turmoil due to her mother’s occupation. She has shaved her hair and lived as a male ever since. Xia decided to steal a wig for Yu, but he injured his eyes in an incident. After he got out of the hospital, he found Yu and her entire family has disappeared. The script stops right at this moment, therefore, Zhong and Xia decide to continue the open-ended story…
Director: Lee Yong-Chao | Myanmar/Taiwan, China | Color | 79min | Documentary
This seven-years-documentary tells a family’s changing and the current situation of the society in Myanmar. The pandemic had been spreading in 2020; a major collapse happened at a jadeite mine, many miners were killed and injured，, and Ah Tian was forced to go back home from the jade mine in the rainy season. Heavy rain causes the family and the entire village to soak in the flooding sewage. Masks getting wet and dry over and over again is like people in Myanmar tucking in the life dilemma. Nobody knows when will the muddy water be gone and the calm after the storm is…
Director: Shi Dongshan | | B&W | 124min |
In the all-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression on August 13, patriotic enthusiasm was at an all-time high. A college girl Jiang Lingyu joined the national drama club regardless of her family’s objection. The drama club performed around the country to propagate the war of resistance to the public. During this tough trip, Ling Yu and Gao Li Bin, who was a musician from the same club, fell in love.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Ling Yu married Li Bin and returned to Shanghai, penniless. Li Bin even got the lung disease while Ling Yu kept being sick after pregnancy. However, they did not bow to life.
Director: Zhou Hao | China | Color | 96min | Documentary
Tong Meimei, a psychotherapist whose father committed suicide when she was 3 years old, lost her husband in a car accident when she was 40. Yao Shangde, a mime actor who was raped by a strange elder after he went to school on the wrong bus when he was 12 years old, has isolated himself from his family and friends ever since. As time goes by, how do these two people bring their pasts to live peacefully in the present? Deepening their relationships with the film, the influence of their experience began to emerge in the interaction. The director was forced to show up from behind the camera and get involved in this unavoidable conversation.
Director: Cai Yuanqing Ematjan Memet Zhou Haoran Huang Chi Yung | / | / | 70min | Short Film Collection
COFFIN
A man comes home and wants to go to bed. A bunch of noisy roommates. A crowded city in southern China.
PADDY
Is there always an answer up there? To find his favorite toy, the little scarecrow started the adventure. Along the way, everything is strange to him. Lost paradise, immigration tide, assembly line, and parade…He kept asking the world the same questions, but there was no answer. Finally, the toy returned to him, but something different had taken place in him.
LIFE OF LAI
One sunny morning, Mr. Lai, a longtime background actor, is lying rest on a bench. People are walking in and out of the film set, the noise of the crew getting ready to shoot can be heard everywhere. All of a sudden, Mr. Lai wakes up coughing. Aside from this warning sign of his physical health, he also receives a call from the hospital bearing bad news. To make matters worse, he just gets notified that the scene today, besides playing a dead body, also requires him to lie in a coffin. Looking at this seemingly real mourning hall built for the film set, Mr. Lai can’t stop having mixed feelings. After being teased by other background actor friends and mistreated by the film crew, this memorial service rehearsal somehow inspires Mr. Lai to find a perfect condition to lie in a coffin.
THE ACCORDION
The money Erpan saved from the part-time job was divided up by his father, making him unable to buy his beloved accordion. Erpan and his friend Musa fool around and beaten by a group of people lead by Kamil, he had to follow his mother home. Finally, Ayisha helped Erpan to get an accordion, in this process, the relationship between them became closer.
Director: Chao Fan | China | B&W | 86min | Fiction
Zhusheng’s father suddenly died under the watchful eyes of the old dog. The dog witnessed the whole process of Luo’s arrangement of his father’s funeral. When Luo is embalming his father’s body, outside in the forest comes a gunshot. As the forest ranger, Luo has to put down his father’s body and patrol the forest. During the night, Luo sits alone on top of the hill, and he can’t help crying bitterly. On their way home, Luo and the old dog rescue a lamb that has almost been eaten by a wolf. Luo takes the injured lamb home, give it herbal medicine, and the lamb gradually recovers. Luo continues to handle his father’s funeral affairs in an orderly way. He digs the grave, prepares a hearth, makes dough figures, and the coffin. He follows the ancient rituals handed down from generation to generation in every process. At this moment, the dog, his companion, smells danger outside the door. The wolf is approaching…
Director: Han Meng | China | Color | 90min | Documentary
A deputy director of the Environmental Protection Bureau and his assistant are trying to change the air quality of the city. How do they continuously improve the air quality of the city when they face pressure?
Director: Li Songming | China | Color | 94min | Fiction
At the age of thirty, Xinggui has not only lost his job and love, but also has lost his health. As his body gradually recovers, his perception is slowly returning. In the process of looking back, he is surprised to find that the reality of life in his grandmother’s eyes is very different from what he has felt over the years. His memory gap prompts Xinggui to reexamine the past. He is learning to accept the past, to accept himself and others. He is discovering love while losing it at the same time.
Director: Yang Xiao Wang Jiaqi Su Xia Chen Lianhua | / | / | 61min | Short Film Collection
THE MOUNTAINS SING
“Hawfwen”, a traditional gathering that once-popular where the Zhuang people sing folk songs. It often takes place around the clan temples or under the old trees. Singers are divided into male and female groups. They improvised their lyrics to sing in correspondence with one another.
Traveling along with the songs in antiphonal style, the camera has found different singers and gatherings, lingered in the rural areas and urban cities, trying to find the broken echo of “hawfwen”.
THE DRAGON HEAD TREE
This film is about a dead dragon. It’s about how he has been caught and been eaten. He was a magical creature from the ideal world. After he died, he becomes a symbol for people.
GOLD IS EATING PEOPLE
There is an old saying in China: “People die for wealth; birds die for food.” When someone discovers gold, people of different identities and classes fight to get the gold for themselves: brothers shoot each other, and friends murder each other. This is a parable about greed, exposure, satire, and reflection on the evil of human nature.
THE SIX
A man, a woman, and a crane, in six repeating scenes.
Director: Gao Qisheng | China | Color | 104min | Fiction
“A river of spring water” quietly flows through a woman’s seemingly boring life. The murder that happened 18 years ago often upset her heart. When her son finally came of age, she was willing to atone for his misdeeds while “the dead” lived a peaceful and happy life.
Director: Ge Xiaoying | | Color | 92 | Fiction
A movie theater bicycling staff accidentally crashed to a pregnant woman Zhao Xia in a rainy night. He sent Zhao Xia to the hospital immediately. At the hospital, Zhao Xia held him back and told the doctor that he was her husband. The staff was unable to leave, and the hospital withheld a copy of the film as a deposit. His wife at home also misunderstood him because he had to pay for a pregnant woman’s surgery.
Director: Wang Xide | China | B&W | 113min | Fiction
Gu Qing’s 5-year-old daughter fell in the lake by the mountains and died. She has structured herself into a daily cycle to avoid pain by opening a tailor shop. Apart from the stable operation of the tailor shop and the occasional chats with regular customers, her only outlet has been her lover Luo Bai, with whom she maintains a casual yet distant relationship. Gu Qing’s elder sister passed away early due to illness, and her daughter, Sun Yue, has grown into adulthood under the care of her father. On the pretense of coming to Gu Qing to learn her crafts, she went for a boy she has been seeing. The arrival of Sun Yue has caused subtle changes in Gu Qing’s life, and the ripples effect extended.
Director: Xun Weiping | China | Color | 104min | Fiction
Guang was left behind for ten years, live with his grandpa, then the cattle were lost, grandpa was dead, the land was destroyed.
Director: Zhang Jie | China | Color | 66min | Documentary
Zhang Yonghong is a papercutting artist with osteogenesis imperfecta. His daughter also inherited the disease. A family of three came to Beijing in 2008 for her daughter’s treatment. From then on, they stayed in Beijing by selling handmade papercutting for a living. After divorcing his wife, Mr. Zhang struggled alone in Beijing. In recent years, because business is not good and Beijing’s cleanup of “Holes in the Wall”, Mr. Zhang has difficulties finding a house and frequent move. Despite the enormous pressure to survive in Beijing, Mr. Zhang is reluctant to return to his hometown. To stay in Beijing, he dated a Beijing girl and hoped to marry her and have children with her. But the road to becoming a Beijinger is fraught with difficulties…
Director: | | | |
Director: Fan Jian | China | Color, B&W | 115min | Documentary
After a massive earthquake razed a Chinese city to the ground, thousands of parents who lost their children are encouraged to give a new birth so that they can move on with their lives. AFTER THE RAIN follows two of these families for over a decade. Haunted by fear, resentment, and unspeakable grief, the families find hope beyond their intergenerational trauma is hard to build.
Director: Ma Weijia Yang Chenghua Zhao Danyang | / | / | 49min | FIRST FRAME
FIRST FRAME is a programme co-launched by FIRST and CHANEL this year. It selects several films from this year’s competition titles that are dedicated to portraying strong female characters or telling stories of unique female life experiences. By presenting one extra screening of the film during the festival, FIRST FRAME wishes to encourage female figures and female stories in the filmmaking of emerging filmmakers in Chinese cinema.
STEP INTO THE RIVER
This is a story about two girls who survived. One was born because her elder brother died; it was luck from natural choice; The other was saved when she was abandoned by her biological parents; it was a man-made result. But no matter what reason they survived, they all feel inferior for their own existence. The two girls cherished each other, and their friendship gave them the strength to live.
SELF SCRATCH
Following a break-up, Wen sinks into melancholy. She can’t talk to anyone and therefore speaks to herself a lot. By understanding that it is not the love she has lost but her confidence, she will be able to reconcile with herself and feel ready to love again.
AN EXCESSIVE DAY
Seowoo goes back to a convenience store where she’s been working part-time to claim her late payment. When she arrives, a new part-timer seems somewhat clumsy.
Director: Wu Xia | China | Color | 82min | Fiction
In a small town in the north, Xu Maomao suddenly found herself in the pursuit of beauty. To find the true self, she tailored a special skirt with the help from her friend, Little Tailor. The parents and teachers are concerned about this, but Maomao tries to achieve understanding.
Director: Gao Qisheng | China | Color | 104min | Fiction
“A river of spring water” quietly flows through a woman’s seemingly boring life. The murder that happened 18 years ago often upset her heart. When her son finally came of age, she was willing to atone for his misdeeds while “the dead” lived a peaceful and happy life.
Director: Wang Xide | China | B&W | 113min | Fiction
Gu Qing’s 5-year-old daughter fell in the lake by the mountains and died. She has structured herself into a daily cycle to avoid pain by opening a tailor shop. Apart from the stable operation of the tailor shop and the occasional chats with regular customers, her only outlet has been her lover Luo Bai, with whom she maintains a casual yet distant relationship. Gu Qing’s elder sister passed away early due to illness, and her daughter, Sun Yue, has grown into adulthood under the care of her father. On the pretense of coming to Gu Qing to learn her crafts, she went for a boy she has been seeing. The arrival of Sun Yue has caused subtle changes in Gu Qing’s life, and the ripples effect extended.
Director: Jun Li | Hong Kong, China | Color | 112min | Fiction
Under the flyovers of Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong live a group of down-and-outs. Despised by local residents, they are regularly forced to move due to the city’s redevelopment projects. One winter night, the authorities clear all their personal belongings while they are sleeping. Sick of being evicted, Fai and his companion decide to build wooden fences around their living space. Meanwhile, Ms. Ho, a young social worker, helps them take to court to demand compensation for their losses.
Director: Zheng Lu Xinyuan | Hong Kong, China | B&W | 101min | Fiction
College student Muzi returns to her hometown, Hangzhou, for Chinese New Year. Her divorced parents have both set out on their own paths—one built a new family and gave birth to Muzi’s half-sister, Niu, and the other spends time with her Japanese boyfriend like a teenage girl in love. One day, Muzi takes Niu to school and meets Saking, the father of Niu’s classmate. Saking reminds Muzi of an old friend, waking up memories of an undefinable relationship that makes Muzi realize that his presence is still very much alive. At the same time, Muzi’s boyfriend arrives in Hangzhou for a visit. Roaming in this city that used to feel like home but is undergoing changes at every moment, Muzi suddenly finds herself lost in her search for a place where she belongs. Meanwhile, the new year approaches as if nothing has happened.
Director: Merhaba Israyil Zhou Haoran Huang Chi Yung Dante Jiayu Liu | / | / | 64min | Short Film Collection
THE CUCKOOS
Zeynep followed her mother to the countryside, wanting to see the cuckoo mentioned in the legend related to her name. In the countryside, she met a boy named Ekper and chose to believe in him regardless of everyone’s rumors. However, the loss of an earring broke the relationship between the two. Before leaving, Zeynep decided to face her mistake and went to look for Bayer in the woods. In the woods, there are cuckoo sounds everywhere, but Ekper is nowhere to be seen.
PADDY
Is there always an answer up there? To find his favorite toy, the little scarecrow started the adventure. Along the way, everything is strange to him. Lost paradise, immigration tide, assembly line, and parade…He kept asking the world the same questions, but there was no answer. Finally, the toy returned to him, but something different had taken place in him.
LIFE OF LAI
One sunny morning, Mr. Lai, a longtime background actor, is lying rest on a bench. People are walking in and out of the film set, the noise of the crew getting ready to shoot can be heard everywhere. All of a sudden, Mr. Lai wakes up coughing. Aside from this warning sign of his physical health, he also receives a call from the hospital bearing bad news. To make matters worse, he just gets notified that the scene today, besides playing a dead body, also requires him to lie in a coffin. Looking at this seemingly real mourning hall built for the film set, Mr. Lai can’t stop having mixed feelings. After being teased by other background actor friends and mistreated by the film crew, this memorial service rehearsal somehow inspires Mr. Lai to find a perfect condition to lie in a coffin.
GRANDMA’S HOUSE
Busy at making dinner in the kitchen of a family restaurant, Raul gets a phone call from his grandma in Mexico.
Director: Wang Xiaofeng | China | Color | 100min | Fiction
Zheng, a middle-aged man, falls in straitened circumstances after divorce and job loss. However, an incident of his anger venting turns him into an Internet celebrity, “Busy Buddy”. While savoring the unprecedented success in his life, Zheng meets his partner Liangliang, a middle school student. They team up to reveal people who have uncivilized behaviors in the town. A father-son relationship evolves between them. It seems that Zheng has come to a turning point in his life that will end all his misfortune. However, Zheng’s ego and arrogance annoy Liangliang. Their relationship almost breaks down until Liangliang finds that Zheng has been diagnosed with a deadly disease. Zheng has decided to accomplish something meaningful during his remaining time, to save Liangliang from a crisis.
Director: Fan Jian | China | Color, B&W | 115min | Documentary
After a massive earthquake razed a Chinese city to the ground, thousands of parents who lost their children are encouraged to give a new birth so that they can move on with their lives. AFTER THE RAIN follows two of these families for over a decade. Haunted by fear, resentment, and unspeakable grief, the families find hope beyond their intergenerational trauma is hard to build.
Director: Ematjan Memet Zhang Linhan Guan Haotian Guan Tian Lin Junjie Cai Yuanqing | / | / | 91min | Short Film Collection
THE ACCORDION
The money Erpan saved from part-time job was divided up by his father, making him unable to buy his beloved accordion. Erpan and his friend Musa fool around and beaten by a group pf people lead by Kamil , he had to fellow his mother home. Finally, Ayisha helped Erpan to got an accordion, in this process, the relationship between them became closer.
CHILDREN’S CORNER
The protagonist lives at the base of Mount Helan, in a place known as Gangchang, Northwest China. He often imagines that he had been to the other side of the mountains. His mother was about to take him away from Gangchang. When summer came to an end in the story, something unusual happened on the boy…
THE LAST FERRY FROM GRASS ISLAND
A Hong Kong hitman retires as a fisherman on the peaceful Grass Island. One day, his Chinese apprentice shows up, tasked to kill him before the last ferry departs.
COFFIN
A man comes home and wants to go to bed. A bunch of noisy roommates. A crowded city in southern China.
THE ARRIVAL OF ALIENS
A group of people is cleaning a spotless unknown space. The emergency message about the coming attack of aliens is repeated on the broadcast. A sandstorm invades the space as the foreshadow of the arrival of aliens. However, one person accidentally discovers the mystery hidden in the sandstorm.
Director: Liu Guoquan | China | Color | 88 | Fiction
Liangzi is a salesman at a clothing company. He often receives the manager’s praise for being enthusiastic and dutiful. However, he has the most assured love for the film industry deep down in his heart. As suggested by Xiaoqing, Liangzi, Xiaoqing, and a girl, Zhang Lingling, who he only met once, go to the training class runs by suspicious teacher, Ge. Shortly after, Liangzi gets his first turning point of playing a role in Xie’s new film. Even though he does not show up in the final version of the film nor receive the credits, he feels closer to his dream. Since then, thanks to his endeavor, Liangzi receives more opportunities and slowly grows into a well-known comic star.
Director: | China | Color | 90min | Narrative
Director: | | / | 115min |
Director: Kong Weineng | China | Color | 100min | Documentary
My grandparents lived in the countryside，they still farm although they are over eighty, the old house they lived in has become dangerous, grandpa was crippled by a stroke. They guard the old house all year round. What will they experience? What is their life like? What is their love like? What would their story be like if they were young and turned back in time?
Director: Wu Xia | China | Color | 82min | Fiction
In a small town in the north, Xu Maomao suddenly found herself in the pursuit of beauty. To find the true self, she tailored a special skirt with the help from her friend, Little Tailor. The parents and teachers are concerned about this, but Maomao tries to achieve understanding.
Director: Zhang Zhongchen | China | Color | 113min | Fiction
Fang Lujun, the father of Fang Yuan, who was born deaf and mute, suffered from mental illness and was missing for many years. Recently, he was wanted by the police for homicide. The police went for an investigation, which led to the separated fate of three generations of Fang Yuan’s family.
Director: Zhou Hao | China | Color | 96min | Documentary
Tong Meimei, a psychotherapist whose father committed suicide when she was 3 years old, lost her husband in a car accident when she was 40. Yao Shangde, a mime actor who was raped by a strange elder after he went to school on the wrong bus when he was 12 years old, has isolated himself from his family and friends ever since. As time goes by, how do these two people bring their pasts to live peacefully in the present? Deepening their relationships with the film, the influence of their experience began to emerge in the interaction. The director was forced to show up from behind the camera and get involved in this unavoidable conversation.
Director: Jiang Jiachen | China | Color | 108min | Fiction
In a northeast city, the director of the morning newspaper Zuo Shouquan knew that his daughter Zuo Mingming, who always lived with his ex-wife, started a “problem band”, ignoring her studies, and would be punished by the school. Zuo wanted her to have a stable job in his hometown, but his daughter disagrees. Zuo failed to persuade her and had to seek help. Zuo Mingming’s English teacher, Lv Yourong, asked Zuo about her son’s school transfer. They buried the hatch with sympathy. Zuo Mingming thought they had a sexual relation, feeling embarrassed and rupturing with her father. Zuo’s friend, principal Niu, was suspected of violating the discipline, implicating Zuo in suspension. Lv lost her job due to a drinking video. It’s the last chance for Zuo Mingming to pass the CET-4, which is crucial for getting the diploma. Zuo decided to ask a favor from the daughter’s guitarist Ma…
Director: Chen Dongnan | China | Color | 99min | Documentary
After hiding in the mountains for a century, a Miao ethnic village choir is discovered by an outsider and becomes a national sensation. Two young Miaos and all the villagers must reconcile their faith, identity, and love with the real world of China.
Director: Yang Chenghua Ji Jinglu Ma Weijia Zhao Danyang | | | 63min | Short Film Collection
SELF SCRATCH
Following a break-up, Wen sinks into melancholy. She can’t talk to anyone and therefore speaks to herself a lot. By understanding that it is not the love she has lost but her confidence, she will be able to reconcile with herself and feel ready to love again.
MARIPOSA APARTMENT
November 2019, In the Mariposa Apartment, I recorded a soundtrack of a fight between my boyfriend and me. Starting with a therapy room, the therapist helps the young couple return to the time when this “original soundtrack” happened. At that time, the young couple doesn’t feel like themselves anymore…
STEP INTO THE RIVER
This is a story about two girls who survived. One was born because her elder brother died; it was luck from natural choice; The other was saved when she was abandoned by her biological parents; it was a man-made result. But no matter what reason they survived, they all feel inferior for their own existence. The two girls cherished each other, and their friendship gave them the strength to live.
AN EXCESSIVE DAY
Seowoo goes back to a convenience store where she’s been working part-time to claim her late payment. When she arrives, a new part-timer seems somewhat clumsy.
Director: Yan Bing | China | Color | 118min | Fiction
A father who cannot cure his own stubborn illness, a professor mother who struggles with existential questions, a son who is confused and precocious, a giant tortoise that suddenly leaves, and a sentimental grandfather who passed away. The uncle cannot finish reading THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. The aunt won’t get married. The grandfather is his own daughter’s enemy. The uncle does not want to return from the Philippines. And an unborn child. Summer goes, and autumn comes. Things remain, but people change.
Director: | | Color | 90min | Narrative