An ice sculpture in a northern city, a marching band, and the bitter silence on the radio.
Social & External
The people behind it
As a special generation born in the New China, the hundreds of thousands of educated youth from Shanghai went through enormous hardship during their work in Xinjiang from 1963 to 1966. Because of the specific historical conditions and context, they have been strikingly stamped with the mark of the times and have had to struggle to understand the relationship between themselves and the nation.
"If the old doesn't go, the new never comes" recites a teenager hanging out near a demolition site in the center of Chengdu, the Sichuan capital in western China. In Demolition, filmmaker J.P. Sniadecki deconstructs the transforming cityscape by befriending the migrant laborers on the site and documenting the honest, often unobserved, human interactions, yielding a wonderfully patient and revealing portrait of work and life in the shadow of progress and economic development.
In rural China, the job of enforcing the Communist Party's one-child policy falls on government bureaucrats tasked with imposing fines, birth control, and forced sterilizations. Xu Huijing documents this process in his native village of Ma, following the tenacious efforts of the local birth control chief during an increased sterilization quota period, revealing the absurd and tragic local consequences of high-level government policy. (Chicago International Film Festival)
The story happened near the Shuangjing subway station in Beijing. The female stall owner was aggrieved by the selective enforcement of urban management and expressed that she would fight to the end for fairness. When the urban management team forced her to close, she burst into tears and complained of social injustice. Even in the urban management team, she had to ask for fairness. But in the face of institutional chaos, she finally chose to compromise and continue the cat and mouse game. The old man is a Christian, is he helpless in obedience to fate? How many people's melody played by the Huqin sounded in the smog of Beijing?
"China Gate" tells the story of young Chinese fight to change their fate through studying. Right before dawn, students in Huining have already started their self-studying session; hard working youngsters have filled up the space of school ground. This is one of the most poverty-stricken Counties in Western China; here people's only hope is in education, as the way to change their social status. Therefore all their effort point towards the College Entrance Examination, the process is like going through a gate, those who pass can study at urban Universities, and have the chance to build a better life. During the same winter season in Beijing, a graduate student faces a big decision. Should he keep trying to survive in the big city or get back to his countryside home? The exhausted faces at the Beijing underground seem to be revealing the truth about their distance in between. The student comes to see the flag ceremony at Tiananmen Square, where the pulsing symbol of the nation lies.
This is the fourth film in my Zoujiacun series within the Folk Memory Project. In 2013, I came back to my village and faced the trash all over the village. The children and I tried to improve the environment of our village. This was a tough fight against the trash and ideas of villagers. I felt like that the trash was in my heart. The 95-year-old grandma Sha and her 49-year-old son Xizhu, their lonely solitary life is also in this film. This film is about the progress that I fight with myself.
This is my fifth time coming back to my own village, where I was born and brought up. After I graduated from college, when I was staying in my village, I was always suspected and judged by the village people. Xizhu grandpa was called ‘fool’ by other villagers, and Zengxiang aunty was looked down by others. They come into my life, and I stayed with them. Their naïve and strange thought made think about my village in a new way. In this quite ‘normal’ village, who are normal people? In those normal people’s eyes, am I another fool of this village?
“My Life Against Taiwan Sotofuku – 1891~1931” is Taiwan’s first biographical animated documentary. The film combines animation, archival photos, footage, and sound theater to recreate the heroic epic of CHIANG Wei-shui, the “the Savior of Taiwanese People,” during Japan’s colonial rule of Taiwan. Through first-person flashback narrations, Taiwan’s pioneer revolutionary CHIANG Wei-shui tells the turbulent tale of the rise and fall of Taiwan’s non-violent anti-Japanese movements, as well as a lifetime of remarkable resistance against Taiwan Sotofuku (Japan’s colonial government). Cast
This film mainly records the story of two adolescent children receiving primary education of Peking Opera in Shanghai Opera School in a documentary form. As they are in their adolescence, they gradually form their own plans and ideals for the future. On this unusual learning path, they face the problem of choice between reality and ideals, and gradually learn to accept and grow up.
"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?
In the autumn of 2010, the poet Xiaozhao set off from Beijing and took a national tour of his personal poem collection "My Hope is on the Road" printed at a print shop. All the way up and down, full of ambition. Photographer Zhuang Ruijie went to Guangdong halfway to shoot. He recorded a trip to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shaanxi Shanyang, Huashan, Zhongnanshan, Xi'an and returned to Beijing for about 15 days.
In order to finish her homework, the girl decided to shoot a fake documentary. In the process, she came closer to her grandmother's world and found herself.
Record the entangled experience for changing the genealogy. Record the experience for engraving movable type, hand-printed.
As a kind of traditional handmade paper in the area of Ninghua in western Fujian Province, Yukou paper is named after its soft and delicate quality as well as white and jade-like color. It is the best of handmade papers and needs to go through several complicated and elaborate processes. In a small village deep in the Wuyi Mountains, Xikeng, there were once more than five hundred paper mills, but now only one remains, still struggling to survive. The film crew focused their camera on the paper maker Hu Lanshan's family, quietly recording the process of making Yukou paper, the joys and sorrows of the paper maker’s family, and the changes of the whole era...
Don't forget to have poetry when making a living. This is romance. Even if you live in a sheepfold, you have a holy smile like a baby. This is romance. Listening to folk songs from the workers' hometown at the construction site in Shenzhen is touching. Once the song stops, you become eager for it. This singing series is also called "Sharing Hometown" and “Lingering Songs". You see, the eyes of the singing workers are shining, because we are all close to the Buddha.
Seedlings protection rite (also called the parade of big rice dumplings) is a spring agricultural festival of Hakka people in Western Fujian, China. People worship the God of Grains (Shennong) in the rite. People collect thousands of fresh bamboo leaves, sew them together and make a pair of big dumplings filled with 120 kilograms of rice each. They also make tens of thousands of finger-sized rice dumplings for believers to take home. On the 15th day of the 2nd lunar month, villagers carry out the statues of the God of grains and big dumplings. Followed by flowers cars, eight sheds carry children chosen from every clan name in the village who are dressed up as ancient heroes, as people parade around the village. After the rite, villagers believe that farmland is awakened and that disasters are averted. A new agricultural cycle begins.
The "Wugong sutra" is also known as "Transfer to the Sky". A prophecy written by the people since the Five Dynasties Northern Song Dynasty is said to be the proverb of the Tiangongshan Zhigong, Huagong, Yigong, Tanggong and Baogong Wugong Bodhisattvas. The salvation people were robbed at the end, often used by rural secret social organizations, and also banned by the imperial court rulers. The belief in the "Five Annals" in the rural society of northwestern Yunnan has abandoned the function of politics, and only pays attention to the practical effect of the Wugong sutra curse on treating and saving people and protecting one side. This film is a field survey of the Wugong sutra as a folk belief in rural society in northwestern Yunnan.
The arrogant Hua Pozi, the first-time brother who is full of joy. Even the seemingly greasy, exaggerated, and gaudy drum art seems to be unrelenting in the villages and villages.
Geomancy is to say hinding winds to gain water. The earth is mother , burial brings peace to the deceased, symbolizing reincarnation. So the name of this story in English is “Revive”, which means getting into the cycle of reincarnation. The documentary is going to tell a story contains several elements such as Geomancy of compass, Hakka funeral and interment culture, General om teach, Seance. Moreover, it also porse deeply on the floating life with fleeting time- the sanguine life of a wise man in countryside. This is an old man whose life is full of hardships, he possesses real learning and stories, owns peace after overcoming severe difficulties, and has the special graciousness as being in such an age…
In the mountains of western Fujian, mushrooms emerge in large numbers after rain. Hakka people pick mushrooms up the mountain with baskets at three or four o 'clock in the morning. The process of picking mushrooms is also the process of harvest.
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
In a crime-plagued neighborhood near Miami, brutal, bare-knuckled backyard fights give young men a chance to earn money -- and self-respect.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
A look at the "Hell House" performed annually in October by the youth members of Trinity Church (Assemblies of God) in Cedar Hill, Texas (a Dallas suburb) — seen by over 10,000 visitors each year.
Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
As England reach the final of the Euros at last, 6,000 ticketless football fans storm Wembley stadium, leaving destruction in their wake.
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Captured during Billie Eilish's sold-out world tour, a concert experience from one of the most celebrated and successful artists of her generation, presented in immersive 3D.
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
Serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.