OLD VETERANS NEVER DIE

All There Will Be(zh)

Pathway(zh)

Xu Xin’s film “Dao Lu” (China 2012) offers an exclusive “in camera” encounter with Zheng Yan, an 83 year-old veteran of the Chinese Red Army, who calmly relates how he has navigated his country’s turbulent history over three-quarters of a century.Born to a wealthy family in a foreign concession, Yan joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1941 because he sincerely believed in the socialist project, and in its immediate capacity to free China from the Japanese yoke and eradicate deep-rooted corruption.

We Are Here(zh)

What happens when 300 lesbians from around the world attend the largest United Nations conference? How did two busloads of lesbians headed to an underground nightclub help spark the birth of a lala (LBT) movement in China? At the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the first ever lesbian tent at an UN NGO Forum was created. Emerging from hidden shadows of shame and invisibility, Chinese lalas began a hard-fought path of deliverance from themselves, from family, and from an apprehensive environment. In doing so, they sought empowerment and change as they explored concepts and issues from self-affirmation to rights consciousness. The film powerfully moves forward to the present day and shows the drastic change in today’s young feminist lalas – their challenging of sexism and homophobia with daring public street actions on subways – a parallel action to their forerunners in 1995, with much vigor and defiance 20 years later.

Before the Flood(zh)

Before the Flood is a study of the final weeks of a dying city, as thousand-year-old Fengjie on the Yangtze River is reduced to rubble and its inhabitants uprooted to make way for the new Three Gorges Dam that will flood the entire valley.

Twenty Two(zh)

Follow the lives of the elderly survivors who were forced into sex slavery as “Comfort Women” by the Japanese during World War II. At the time of filming, only 22 of these women were still alive to tell their story. Through their own personal histories and perspectives, they tell a tale that should never be forgotten to generations unaware of the brutalization that occurred.

WANG HONG WEI: CHINESE INDIE FILM(en)

The player of Jia Zhangke's early film "Xiao Wu" and the famous independent film activist Wang Hongwei talked about Chinese independent films at the IFF Independent Film Forum.

News Feed on My...(ko)

I just watch the news of war in a distant country on my mobile. My fingers go back day by day to the day the war broke out and pose to see comments posted on the Facebook News Feed that I follow. Outside, I have friends who participated in anti-war rallies.

Talking Unknown, Ending Unknown: Li Hongqi And His Cinema World(zh)

In this talk, Li Hongqi reviewed his transition from fine art to cinema, and his aesthetic and philosophical exploration from his early 'So Much Rice' to recent 'The The'. Dir. Li Hongqi also shared his strong anxiety of his existence(born with melancholia), his thought on cinema art (actually, I don't think there's any movie worth making), his epistemology, his religious view, his consideration on contemporary cinema, and what he learned about living in seclusion.

Red White(zh)

A small rural township called Red White was seriously devastated by the May 12th Earthquake in China 2008. A 62-year-old Taoist survived even though his temple was largely torn by the disaster. This documentary tells the story of how the Taoist practices the widely believed Chinese traditional religion and the local people’s daily life during the township’s post-quake reconstruction.

China. The Arts – The People(de)

China marks the beginning of the extensive Asian theme in Ottinger’s filmography and is her first travelogue. Her observant eye is interested in anything from Sichuan opera and the Beijing Film Studio to the production of candy and sounds of bicycle bells.

The Iron Ministry(zh)

Filmed over three years on China’s railways, The Iron Ministry traces the vast interiors of a country on the move: flesh and metal, clangs and squeals, light and dark, and language and gesture. Scores of rail journeys come together into one, capturing the thrills and anxieties of social and technological transformation. The Iron Ministry immerses audiences in fleeting relationships and uneasy encounters between humans and machines on what will soon be the world’s largest railway network.

Mama Rainbow(zh)

For Chinese parents, finding out that their kid is gay usually presents a major tragedy, with the big majority utterly unable to accept the homosexuality of their son or daughter. However, during recent years a fresh rainbow wind has been blowing over the Chinese mainland: a pioneer generation of Chinese parents has been stepping up and speaking out on their love for their gay kids. This documentary features 6 mothers from all over China, who talk openly and freely about their experiences with their homosexual children. With their love, they are giving a whole new definition to Chinese-style family bonds.

Way of Fortune(zh)

"Mazu" or "The Sea God" has been the most important religious belief of ordinary people in my hometown for four hundred years. Along the coast of China and even in the Nanyang region, there is at least one temple dedicated to Mazu in various seaside cities-this geographical and historical distribution coincides with the contemporary economic or industrial area of Chinese society. It is frustrating that rapid economic development has led to global warming. The factories located on the coast of southern China from all over the world will eventually cause flooding and inundate these temples dedicated to Mazu. This is indeed a very ironic discovery for our civilization, "We", not only Chinese or all human beings, now or in the past, how can we Chinese avoid this upcoming tragedy?

A Young Patriot(zh)

A documentary chronicling the coming of age of a young chinese man.

First Vote(en)

A soon-to-be first-time voter, the filmmaker’s thought-provoking journey into the Rust Belt and South captures four Asian American voters’ ardent first time grassroots political participation ignited by the 2016 rise of “Chinese Americans for Trump.” FIRST VOTE is a character driven cinema verité style film chronicling the democratic participation of four Asian American voters from 2016 through the 2018 midterm elections.

KJ: Music and Life(cn)

KJ is a biography of a HK musical genius. At the age of 11, KJ won the Best Pianist price and went to Czech to perform with a professional orchestra. Touching on subjects such as the meaning of life, God and the artistic process, the director’s 6-year-conversations with KJ reveal how a young man inspires by his music teacher, Nancy Loo and how he conflicts with his peers and parents. KJ is not about the victory of a genius, but how he learns to be a "human being".

Yumen(zh)

Set in a quasi-ghost town that once thrived with oil in China's arid northwest, Yumen is a haunting, fragmented tale of hungry souls, restless youth, a wandering artist and a lonely woman, all searching for human connection among the town's crumbling landscape. One part "ruin porn", one part "ghost story”, and entirely shot on 16mm, the film brings together performance art, narrative gesture, and social realism not only to play with convention and defy genre, but also to pay homage to a disappearing life-world and a fading medium.

All's Right With The World(zh)

The film explores the hidden face of poverty in one of the world's most affluent and capitalistic cities. Directed by CHEUNG King Wai (KJ: Music and Life), the film follows five Hong Kong families of different backgrounds that receive government subsidies. How do the poor get by in a glossy city that flaunts conspicuous consumption and hides poverty in cavernous public housing estates? All's Right With The World shares the different stories of these low-income families, their daily living conditions, and their ways of celebrating Chinese New Year.

The Rocking Sky(zh)

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of WWII, this documentary film describes the eight years of dauntless air-force fighting of the republic of China during the Anti-Japanese War, with only 300 combat-capable aircraft from China while Japan had over 2000.

Go Grandriders(zh)

17 riders with avarage age 81 decide to follow the dream of their youth and start their journey to ride around Taiwan island.

Blang Doctor(zh)

Chen came from a family of herbal doctors, who have treated numerous orthopaedics dseases, severe and minor. Chen's house, hardly a big one, have accommodated patients from different ethnic groups and from different villiages near and far. The patients found themselves recovering sooner under the care of Chen than that of doctors from large hospitals, and the charges for their treatment were rather small. Year after year, Dr. Chen dedicated himself to this charitable work... This movie attempts to show the medical conditions in remote rural areas in China as objectively as it can. Dr. Chen, as a thread, links togther the real lives of the locals presented by a group portrait of them. Also, It reveals that the traditional doctor-patient relationship has survived the aggressive modern civilization in this area, so has the culture of helpfulness common to an "aquaintance society".

Pushover(en)

A man's life is upended by increasingly threatening phone calls demanding he leave a review for a paperweight purchased online.

Every Man’s Woman(en)

A beautiful woman of affairs falls in love with a handsome young man of great promise. Fearing for his future, the man's father begs her to leave his son so that her reputation will not hold him back.

Hey Amigo! A Toast to Your Death(it)

Barnet, a bandit, and the eight men of his band lie waiting in a Texan village. Having confined the people of the village to their homes, they rob the stagecoach which arrives in town carrying a cargo of US $ 100,000 in gold. After the robbery, the bandits take refuge in a deserted mine but a post officer, Dove Williams, is on their track.

Bestseller(en)

Chicago literary agent, Anne Harper, vacations to a remote cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. While there, a disgruntled writer is waiting in the shadows to seek his revenge.

Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed(en)

Benedict Arnold is not the villain of American history most people were taught to believe. New facts and never before presented material illuminate his heroic contributions to the American Revolution and explains his later change of allegiance.

Chunauti(ne)

Chunauti is an action-packed romantic comedy that tells a story of love, struggle, and justice. Ajaya and his wife Prabha move to Kathmandu, where Ajaya starts working as a teacher. Later, his sister Gita joins them and enrolls in the same college. There, she meets a kind and charming student, but trouble arises when Madhav, a troublesome student, also starts liking her. One day, a fight breaks out in the college, and when Gita tries to stop it, an inspector arrives and brings the situation under control. Angered by this, Madhav and his group cause harm to Prabha and Gita. They also try to escape punishment through legal means. With no strong evidence, Ajaya takes a stand and challenges the court. In the end, he decides to take justice into his own hands, leading to a tragic ending where the inspector, fulfilling his duty, stops Ajaya. Chunauti is a story of love, courage, and sacrifice in the face of injustice.

The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation(en)

It was a time when a generation rebelled and lost its innocence. From the Vietnam War to the struggle for racial equality to the birth of a counter-culture explosion, the 1960s was a decade of change, experimentation and hope that transformed an entire nation. The two-hour documentary features revealing interviews with the prominent figures of the era including: Barbara Ehrenreich, Daniel Ellsberg, Jesse Jackson, Tom Hayden, Arlo Guthrie, Henry Kissinger, Norman Mailer, Robert McNamara, Ed Meese III and Bobby Seale. Also released as a one-hour documentary called "1968: The Year that Shaped a Generation."

Jose Torres(ja)

A documentary about the eponymous Puerto Rican boxer

Forest(en)

Short film built from photographs, sped up like a traditional stop motion and is meant to be an evocation of the English Eerie and Folk Horror.

Mummy Shark(en)

Deep within the hidden chambers of an ancient Egyptian pyramid, a shocking discovery is made: the mummified remains of an alien shark. Guarding this creature is a vengeful mystic who brings the beast back to life, unleashing it upon a group of unsuspecting researchers.

The Pavilion on the water(it)

The Pavilion on the Water is a cinematic journey into the world of Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa and his passion for Japanese culture. Japan, to him, was an inspirational universe but also the place where he eventually died in 1978, at the height of his career, while retracing the steps of wandering poet Matsuo Bashō. Through the words of his son, some of his collaborators and a Japanese philosopher, the documentary unfolds and quests after the sense of beauty. A nostalgic feeling permeates the whole film for that rare event which is the birth of an artist. Although he passed away, he left behind a work that, still to this day, delights and amuses.

Hard Guy Sniper(zh)

Heavy Metal Kingdom: The New Wave of British Heavy Metal(fr)

Amid the social strife of 1970s Britain emerged NWOBHM, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. New bands from ordinary British towns and suburbs like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard; Saxon, and Girlschool changed the face of amplified music and created a musical and cultural revolution. This is the story of Heavy Metal Kingdom.

Solo de Violino(pt)

Adelaide Coelho da Cunha, daughter of the founder of the newspaper "Diário de Notícias", married to Alfredo da Cunha, then director of this newspaper, and mother of José, who is 20. This educated, cultured woman, falls in love with the chauffeur, who is youger than her and from a different social background. This passion leads to confronting the established order of things and the standards of social behaviour of a wife and mother. She may at the same time be heroine and victim of her own courage in deciding to make a final break from the whole family status and run off with the chauffeur. When his wife runs off with the chauffeur, Alfredo da Cunha with the aid of some of the eminent doctors of the day, has her declared irresponsible and incapable of administering her assets, and on this pretext he has her inprisoned in a mental hospital.

Enemy At The Dead End(ko)

A post-traumatic stress disorder patient bound to his bed finds himself sharing his room with a gang looking for a paralyzed amnesia patient. And he must kill him off before he is recognized.

Shadows of the Evening(it)

Intertwining stories of inmates and ex-inmates through the complex labyrinths of freedom. Wretched, desolate and doomed men, who try to expiate their sins and piece together the lives they used to lead.

Jette Torp & Finn Nørbygaard: Musik & Fis 2(da)

Summer Saturn(en)

About to turn 35 years old and in the imminence of having to give up his music, Samuel comes to Lisbon to do a concert. He stays over at Teresa's, the attractive mother of his girlfriend, a woman who resists getting old. During 3 days, accomplices and inert, they create a silent intimacy, feeling time overcome them without knowing where to go.