China

  • Shuqin Huang – Ren gui qing AKA Woman Demon Human (1987)

    1981-1990AsianChinaDramaShuqin HuangThe Female Gaze

    Based on a true story. A girl born in the “theatrical trunk” grows up under the lights of her parents’ Peking Opera Company. This complete immersion into theatrical life naturally leads her to the stage. She is trained by her father to play traditional roles. Her dream was to be the first woman to play the more significant male roles. This was completely against tradition. She suffers discrimination and humiliation, but in the end turns adversity into admiration when she becomes the first woman to play a great mythical hero in Peking Opera, defying all tradition and destroying all precedents. Breathtaking performances and cinematographic artistry create a powerful and visually stunning tale. No less could be expected from the masterful hand of the brilliant female director, Huang Shuqin.Read More »

  • Yen-ping Chu – Yi shi er niao AKA One Stone and Two Birds (2005)

    2001-2010ActionAsianChinaComedyYen-ping Chu

    During the reign of Emperor Jia Jing of the Ming Dynasty, the evil court official Yan Song relies on the emperor favoritism towards him, becoming overbearing and domineering. An honest official Zhang Ying Long impeaches Yan Song w/ a “Ten Cimes Five Deceits” against him. But instead he gets flogged 30 times, and banished to a far off frontier Guizhou.

    Zhang Ying Long’s remonstration won the hearts of the common people, on the day of his banishment thousands of people turned out to see him off. At the sight of this, Yan Sung knows that if he does not kill off Zhang Ying Long, he will be unable to deter other court officials. Thereupon, he arranges for assassins to kill Zhang Ying Long during the journey.Read More »

  • Zhangke Jia – Lai Fang AKA Visit (2020)

    2011-2020AsianChinaShort FilmZhangke Jia

    Synopsis
    The idea is to create a film at home, using the environment, the people or the animals in that space. The only outdoor areas that may be used are outdoor living spaces, such as the terrace, the garden, the balcony and the stairwell.Read More »

  • Gan Bi – Nanfang AKA South (2010)

    2001-2010AsianChinaGan BiShort Film

    Quote:
    Original Title in Chinese: 南方
    When studying in campus, Gan Bi (Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey Into Night) finished his first work Nanfang (South) in 2010. This work got a golden prize of the best film in the film festival of his school.

    It is said that Gan Bi doesn’t care about the preservation of the digital copies of his works. Two of his early works are not easy to find. And this one is the best quality I can find. And another work called Laohu (Tiger) is still no resources…Read More »

  • Kaige Chen – He ni zai yi qi AKA Together with You AKA Together (2002)

    2001-2010ChinaDramaKaige Chen

    Synopsis:
    Liu Xiaochun (Tang Yun), a 13-year-old violin prodigy, and his devoted father, Liu Cheng (Liu Peiqi), leave their provincial Chinese town for Beijing, hoping to find a violin teacher and, ultimately, success. The teenager is at first coached by the eccentric professor Jiang (Wang Zhiwen), but he is soon replaced with the renowned professor Yu (Chen Kaige). The day of the big competition is fast approaching, and Xiaochun must decide if this new, high-pressure life is right for himRead More »

  • Yi’nan Diao – Ye che AKA Night Train (2007)

    2001-2010AsianChinaDramaYi'nan Diao

    Wu Hongyan is a young woman working as a prison guard during executions of female convicts. She feels lonely after her husband died, and she takes a night train to another city to visit a dating service. After a series of unsuccessful dates, she meets Li Jun. It quickly becomes obvious that he is hiding a secret: he is the widower of one of the female convicts of which Wu Hongyan assisted in the execution. Li Jun is torn apart by his feelings, as he is both attracted to Wu Hongyan, and having a desire for revenge for his executed wife.Read More »

  • Xiaoshuai Wang – Dijiutianchang AKA So Long, My Son (2019)

    2011-2020ArthouseChinaDramaXiaoshuai Wang

    ‘We’re waiting to grow old’. This sentence briefly sums up Yaoyun and his wife Liyun’s bitter realisation about their lives. They were once a happy family – until their son drowned playing by a reservoir. And so Yaojun and Liyun leave their home and plunge into the big city, although nobody knows them there and they cannot even understand the local dialect. Their adopted son Liu Xing does not offer them the comfort they had hoped for either. Defiantly rejecting his ‘foreign’ parents, he one day disappears altogether. The married couple are repeatedly enmeshed in their memories. Finally, they decide to return to the site of their lost hopes.Read More »

  • Gan Bi – Mi mi jin yu AKA Secret Goldfish (2016)

    2011-2020ChinaGan BiShort Film

    秘密金鱼
    Mi mi jin yu
    Secret Goldfish

    Poetic short by the director of Long Day’s Journey Into Night—fans will notice the ping pong paddle.Read More »

  • Bing Wang – Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks – Part 3: Rails (2003) (DVD)

    2001-2010Bing WangChinaDocumentary

    Wang Bing’s West of the Tracks is a nine hour, three part documentary about the decline of Chinese state-run heavy industry.

    In 1999 Wang Bing, not long graduated from Beijing’s Film Academy, arrived at the Tie Xi industrial district of Shenyang with little more than a tiny DV camera he didn’t even own. Tie Xi (the name literally means ‘west of the tracks’) was at the time China’s oldest and largest industrial centre, built by the Japanese in World War II, nationalised come the end of the war and subsequently taken over by the newly-founded Communist party.Read More »

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