Chinese

  • Hsiao-Hsien Hou – Lian lian feng chen aka Dust in the wind (1986)

    1981-1990DramaHsiao-hsien HouRomanceTaiwan

    Quote:
    Dust in the Wind is a remarkable film, and one which will, no doubt, reward multiple viewings. Like most of the films of Hou Hsiao Hsien, viewers will be divided into two, sharply opposed camps.

    The main characters in the film are two high-school students. The first is Wan, who – seeing his village as a dead-end career-wise, decides to leave their home town to go to Taipei to find work, intending to complete his education via night-school. His girlfriend Huen also leaves for Taipei after graduation. The other personages are family members, employers, friends and co-workers.Read More »

  • Hu Bo – Da xiang xi di er zuo AKA An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)

    2011-2020ChinaDramaHu Bo

    In the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli, they say there is an elephant that simply sits, unaffected by the pain and tribulations of the world at large. Manzhouli becomes an obsession for the protagonists of this film – a longed-for escape from the downward spiral in which they find themselves inextricably bound together. Among them is schoolboy, Bu, on the run after pushing Shuai down the stairs, who was bullying him previously. Bu’s classmate Ling has run away from her mother and fallen for the charms of her teacher. Shuai’s older brother Cheng feels responsible for the suicide of a friend. And finally there’s Mr. Wang, a sprightly pensioner whose son wants to offload him onto a home. In virtuoso visual compositions, the film tells the story of one single suspenseful day from dawn to dusk, when the train to Manzhouli is set to depart.Read More »

  • Helena Wittmann – Ada Kaleh (2018)

    2011-2020ExperimentalGermanyHelena WittmannShort Film
    An indeterminate location, summer. The inhabitants of a shared apartment ask themselves where they might live. They imagine countries, communities, and places. Time passes and nothing can change that. At some point, they all drift into a deep sleep. Mubi wrote: We proudly continue our partnership with the New York Film Festival to bring you some of the best films directly from its Projections sidebar. First is up-and-coming German filmmaker Helena Wittmann’s sun-lit evocation of youths’ desire to travel, one that mysteriously breaks-up a group of friends.Read More »
  • Kaige Chen – Sacrifice (2010)

    2001-2010AsianChinaDramaFifth Generation Chinese CinemaKaige Chen

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    Storyline
    Sacrifice (Orphan of Zhao Family): To save the only child of the Zhao Family, whose whole clan is massacred at the hands of a nefarious minister, a doctor sacrifices his own son, and later becomes intent on seeking vengeance against the minister after the child grows up. For generations, the Zhao family has wielded power, even extending over the king. In a well-planned coup, their mortal enemy TU’AN GU (Wang Xue Qi) slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. However, a solitary Zhao baby survives the massacre, and is hidden and taken home by CHENG YING (Ge You), the doctor who delivered him, to live with his WIFE (Hai Qing) and their own newborn baby. Set on revenge, and raising the Zhao child as his own, Cheng Ying bides his time, enrolling himself and the Zhao orphan (whom he calls Cheng Bo) into the service of the Tu’an Gu household. Tu’ an Gu grows very fond of Cheng Bo and makes Cheng Bo his godson… Written by BronzeKeilani26Read More »

  • Wen Hai – We the Workers (2017)

    2011-2020ChinaDocumentaryWen Hai

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             凶年之畔

    Although labor activities could be very dangerous in China, some local consulting groups in the big city of Guangzhou continue to help migrant workers get their rights of work.
    Icarus Films wrote:

    China’s economic miracle has been built on cheap labor. And now, that labor is starting to fight back.

    Filmed in the southeastern part of the country, We the Workers is a vérité documentary that closely follows people organizing workers and fighting for collective bargaining rights. They find themselves up against factory employees who don’t understand their rights and fear the consequences of organizing, police and government officials who see them as dangerous troublemakers, and foreign owners who ignore what lax regulations do exist.Read More »

  • Xiong zaixia – Yi Ge Ren De Zi Mu aka Zen for Subtitle (2017)

    2011-2020AsianChinaDocumentaryXiong zaixia

    Synopsis
    What does subtitle translation mean in my eyes? I have devoted my youth and effort of 4 years of campus life and 2 years of work life. When I have given up translating subtitle, I want to look back to and remember such a bygone by documentary.
    Subtitle is equal to public: By this documentary I want to show how a cinephile makes a link with film and makes effect to more cinephile in such a special situation in China. This documentary also displays a tip of the iceberg of the cinephile cultural history in China.
    Subtitle is equal to privacy: I hope to experience the progress of subtitle translation again, in order to cast my ambition and burden in the old days. I want to say goodbye to that ego with subtitle translation and move forwards to that ego with indie-documentary direction. I want to search more possibilities to the films. Read More »

  • Zhangke Jia – Shan he gu ren AKA Mountains May Depart (2015)

    2011-2020ChinaDramaZhangke Jia

    Quote:
    The life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored in three different time periods: 1999, 2014, and 2025.Read More »

  • Luc Schaedler – Watermarks: Three Letters from China (2013)

    2011-2020AsianDocumentaryLuc SchaedlerSwitzerland

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    Synopsis:
    Based on three different places, the film portrays the infractions to which people living in modern day China are subjected due to rapid developments: in the deceptively idyllic Jiuxiancun in the rainy south; in the apocalyptic coal mining site of Minqin and Wusutu in the parched north; and in Chongqing, the mega city on the Yangtze River. The protagonists give their moving accounts of an unresolved past, an uncertain present and their tentative steps into the future. The film thus paints a complex image of the mental state of the people in this complicated country. “Watermarks” is a subjective snapshot in time that takes a poetic look at the changing everyday life in China.Read More »

  • Kar Wai Wong – A Fei jing juen aka Days of being wild (1991)

    Drama1991-2000ArthouseHong KongKar Wai Wong

    Synopsis:
    Set in 1960, the film centres on the young, boyishly handsome Yuddy, who learns from the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him that she is not his real mother. Hoping to hold onto him, she refuses to divulge the name of his real birth mother. The revelation shakes Yuddy to his very core, unleashing a cascade of conflicting emotions. Two women have the bad luck to fall for Yuddy. One is a quiet lass named Su Lizhen who works at a sports arena, while the other is a glitzy showgirl named Mimi. Perhaps due to his unresolved Oedipal issues, he passively lets the two compete for him, unable or unwilling to make a choice. As Lizhen slowly confides her frustration to a cop named Tide, he falls for her. The same is true for Yuddy’s friend Zeb, who falls for Mimi. Later, Yuddy learns of his birth mother’s whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines.Read More »

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