Learn to Reform

I Have Nothing to Say(zh)

The Chinese police visit head-teacher Chen at home. Her daughter, a dissident filmmaker living in Hong Kong, plans yet another critical film about China's colonization of the small autonomous territory. The authorities demand that Chen travel to her daughter to stop the film project. What they do not take into account is that Chen and her daughter lost contact long ago.

The Story of the Stone(zh)

Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true; Real becomes not-real where the unreal's real. ——The Story of the Stone

Baby(zh)

The baby is a temporary floating population. He works diligently, from a small restaurant owner to a tea shop manager to a bar manager. This film records the survival state of children centered and gay comrades: trivial, messy, boring, and entertaining themselves. The camera calmly captures every bit of their daily life for more than two years, and as time goes by, the changes the baby presents are more ordinary. The film calmly explains the relationship between "comrades" and "society", and the various small details interpenetrated in the film also metaphorically reflect the changes of today's society

Rock and Cliff: The Geological Surface of Horn Town(zh)

Video essay ‘Rock and Cliff' investigates the creation of Horn Town, a new model village and centre of large scale tourist development, and the experiences of rural residents moved there through government-led displacement. Horn Town is located in Wulong, a rural district near the Three Gorges Dam administered by the Chongqing municipality (a city of 30 million people). Narrated in the style of a science documentary but using local Chongqing dialect, the video brings a geological and topographical perspective to types of 'rocks' found in the area,from mythological stones from a mountain cliff, to ruins of the original settlement, to a stone sculpture from a dubious 'Land Art Biennial', in order to address issues of land acquisition, top-down development and spatial politic.

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.

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.

China Gate(zh)

"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.

I DON'T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS CONTEST(zh)

Ma Wankun, a 13 years old teenager, was under pressure from the high school entrance exam. His parents arranged him to take part in an already-decided badminton match to gain extra points. However, Ma Wankun wanted to quit the competition in his own way, which was opposed by his parents and teachers.

The Love Dog(zh)

Originally conceived as the film for government propaganda but couldn't pass the censorship. Five punks found Dong Jianguo, a millionaire wearing the dog chain being trapped in the trunk. They kidnapped the millionaire and started to konw the love story between Dong Jianguo and a woman called Bobo.

Doctor Ma's Country Clinic(zh)

"Huangyangchuan, Gansu province, China. It's an arid mountain area with poor roads. Ma Bingcheng is well-respected local doctor, so many patients (most of them farmers) come to see him every day. In his small clinic, people chat with each other about their lives, local conditions, or the people they know. The clinic seems to open up like a microcosm, the information and experiences of different people intertwine, revealing the conditions of typical Chinese farmers, and the typical fates of both young and old--"

Children's Village(zh)

Zou Xueping continues to interview old people in her village, this time with the help of local children. They start collecting names and money to erect a memorial for the victims of the famine.

One Day in June(zh)

One day in June, a man appeared on the scene. He went on a blind date with a woman and a woman's man, yet for the meal, he used the carrots that his wife asked him to buy in the morning. He had nothing to do, wandering in romance and the opposite of romance, wandering between the authenticity and vanity of life, until, he made a decision: revitalize China.

Capture Ghosts(zh)

Four college students from Shandong University of Technology planned to make a documentary about the folk culture of ghosts and spirits. They went to a village in Heze City, Shandong Province, and made some interviews with local villagers. During the interviews, they heard a lot of local weird tales. The shooting of the documentary went smoothly, and that night, they chose to stay in the village. At this point, strange things, however, began to happen...

The Ninth Grade(zh)

Class 172 is a key class for their excellent students of an ordinary secondary school in Hunan province, from which the kids’ main goal is to upgrade into one of the best province-level high school – No.1 high school of the county. In the recent few years, the school’s enrollment rate to high school was not quite satisfying, and this year, the newly promoted class in charge teacher – Mr. Xiang, who’s only graduated a few years ago, became their brightest hope to teach the students and raise the enrollment rate for school.

Turn Around(zh)

The film tells about an artist named Banpo, who suddenly returned to Songzhuang one day in 2019, silently packed hundreds of his paintings, packed his luggage, attended the worship service, watched an exhibition, and then said goodbye to his old friends. Finally, he completely left the story of Songzhuang in a quiet early morning. This story seems to be during the process of documenting artist Banpo moving out，the director reveal a huge change in the environment the artist lived in. As if the artist Banpo has foreseen the turmoil of 2020(as Coronavirus epidemic spreading across the world, a massive demolition began at Songzhuang Art District. Many artists, like Banpo, have left Songzhuang. The small town once was famous for Chinese contemporary art 20 years ago, is now gone.)

Images of mounuments(zh)

The work reflects on the relationship between technology and us by constructing an advanced technological product from the future. This future product will replace people's worship and spiritual sustentation of the power of gods and Buddhas in religion with technology, turning the invisible into visible. This paper probes into the possibility and influence of the deification of technology in the future, and puts forward the solution of "love, nostalgia and nature" to relieve the pain caused by the excessive intervention of technology.

SUN GLASSES(zh)

Xue's Investigation(zh)

Jiang Xue, a well-known investigative journalist, began an in-depth investigation into the political injustice that happened in his hometown nearly half a century ago. "Xue‘s investigation" was one of Jiang Xue's main self-media at the time, but it was suspended in a short period of time because of the depth and sharpness of the work and the courage to reveal the truth of the incident. During the filming by Jiang Xue, the video version of "Snow Visit" produced by Tiger Temple was only made in the first phase of the film and one person (Xiang Chengjian) died prematurely, making it a precious historical film.

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.