A Filmless Festival

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.

Wheat Harvest(zh)

A documentary film showing the life of Niu Hongmiao, a 20-year-old country girl who is now a prostitute in Beijing. Around the time of wheat harvesting, she goes back home to Dingxing County, Hebei Province to visit her parents.

Karamay(zh)

In 1994, the oil-rich city of Karamay in Northwest China was the site of a horrible fire that killed nearly 300 schoolchildren. The students were performing for state officials and were told to stand by while the officials exited first. After the fire, the story was heavily censored in the Chinese state media. To this day, the families of Karamay have not been allowed to publicly mourn their children.

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.

People's Park(zh)

One long tracking shot through a park in Chengdu.

The Shoe Shiner's Journey(zh)

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.

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.

Heidi in China(en)

In 1946, Heidi is entrusted to a Swiss family by her father. He will never come back for her. Today, François Yang questions his mother about her past. What follows is a journey to China, a quest to reconstruct memory. Through contact with her brothers and sister, Heidi measures the extent of the drama experienced by her family that remained in China, persecuted by the Communist Party.

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.

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 Blind Storytellers(zh)

Li Shouwang is the leader of a blind storytellers team, learned storytelling at the age of 19. His childernare living hard in other cities. Li's money amost goes to his children's pocket every year. But with urbanisation, the storytellers have lost almost all their audience. As the conflict between the storytelling team and the village team intensified, his son, who was far away from home, became the only spiritual sustains... When he was excited that his son would be taking his family home for Chinese New Year, what's await is a sigh.

Songhua(zh)

In northeastern China the Songhua River flows west from the border of Russia to the city of Harbin, where four million people depend on it as a source of water. Songhua is a portrait of the varying people that gather where the river meets the city, and an ethnographic study of the intimate ways in which they play and work.

Be a Woman(cn)

Over the course of 3 years, Fan Popo visited a bar called “Only-Love” in Nanning, China, getting to know the dancers and drag queens there and discovering who they really were behind their exuberant costumes and personas.

Outside(zh)

Wang Wo’s experimental documentary takes the direct cinema approach to the realm of avantgardism, immersing the viewer in a non-narrative, highly sensory experience of urban China in its visual and aural splendor.

Guranay(zh)

This film is a realistic record of a sixty-year-old couple living in a remote village (Gurenay) in the Badain Jaran Desert of Alashan, Inner Mongolia plant thousands of mu of ammodendron and euphratica to fight against expanding deserts.

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--"

Lost in the Mountain(zh)

The film is director Gao Zipeng’s first fiction film which takes three years to complete. It premieres on March 27, 2001 in UCCA and stars the poet A Jian, Xiao Zhao and the writer Gou Zi. The film is based on a true crime of disappearance. It creates an atmosphere of what Ma Zhiyuan, a celebrated poet and playwright of Yuan Dynasty, portrays in his famous poem “Autumn Thoughts”: Over old trees wreathed with rotten vines fly evening crows/ Under a small bridge near a cottage a stream flows/ On ancient road in the west wind a lean horse goes/ Westward declines the sun/ Far, far from home is the heartbroken one.

Papa Rainbow(zh)

In China, most families have difficulties facing their lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) children. They have to contend with common social beliefs that homosexuality is shameful, abnormal, a perverted condition caused by deviant family relationships. Many parents see their kids as their property, and fathers often assert their authority to ensure that no harm comes to the family reputation. The documentary 'Papa Rainbow' features six Chinese fathers who talk openly and freely about their experiences with their LGBT children. Speaking out against discrimination and stigma, they redefine what it means to protect a household. They fully embrace their kids for who they are, and become pioneer activists fighting for an equal and diverse society.

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.

Inside the Red Brick Wall(cn)

In 2019, Hong Kong was swept by demonstrations against the controversial extradition bill. At the Polytechnic University, a group of students also takes a stand for freedom and democracy. Negotiations with the police are chaotic and aggressive, conducted via megaphones and politically charged music played over loudspeakers. The colorful umbrellas which the young people use to protect themselves against the brutal police actions emphasize the group’s bravado, which borders on recklessness. What begins as an energetic battle against the establishment turns into a lopsided game of cat and mouse when the police decide to surround the building. Within its red brick walls, the university building becomes a prison. Over the nearly two weeks that follow, as fear and exhaustion grow among the hundreds of students, so does the uncertainty. Should they hang on inside, or leave the building to face the armed police?

Box(en)

The execution was scheduled and the last meal consumed. The coolness of the poisons entering the blood system slowed the heart rate and sent him on the way to Judgement. He had paid for his crime with years on Death Row waiting for this moment and now he would pay for them again as the judgment continued..

Box(en)

8mm film by Swiss artist Roman Signer.

Harlots of the Caribbean(en)

While scuba diving, Jill's boyfriend Dustin finds a doubloon necklace and the diary of Morganna, a pirate who sailed the coast 200 years ago. With the diary is a treasure map that takes them and their friends Susan and Joe to a mountain cabin. Before setting out in search of the treasure, the four hold a séance using instructions they find in the diary. It brings Morganna and her mate, Captain Tygus, back to life. It's a race for the treasure. Morganna and Tygus will stop at nothing. What about the necklace?

Strange Object(en)

An archival investigation into the imperial image-making of the RAF ‘Z Unit’, which determined the destruction of human, animal and cultural life across Somaliland, as well as Africa and Asia.

NULL(en)

A hitman is tasked to take out ex-mobsters when he suddenly hears a voice that questions his morality.

The Hour of Blue Elephants(cs)

Two days before Christmas. Zuzanka and Tomás, friends from a kindergarten wander off during a walk. They admire toys and decoration in shop-windows. Zuzanka shall receive a sledge as a Christmas present and Tomás even a desired little brother. At a shooting gallery Tomás aims at a target on the trunk of a blue elephant which can call in Christmas. The impatient Zuzanka pushes to her friend and he shoots directly to the elephant's red eye. Things which the owner of the shooting gallery warned about happened: the sun popped on the sky, the snow melted and all Christmas shopping has stopped. Both pushful children decide to get a new eye for the elephant so that everything can be set right.

Nullarbor(en)

An animated road-movie set across the vast and barren landscape of Australia's Nullarbor Plain.

Il Volto della Follia(en)

For the introvert Michele Santoro the time has come to show that he is finally ready to face a romantic relationship, but the meeting with two horror movie fanatics will drag him into a downward spiral of blood and madness.

The Mailman(en)

A mailman looks suspicious during a search for a murderer

Eagle Beagles(en)

The Dogfather and Pugg gets away from police by riding the airplane. The only problem is, they don't know how to ride one.

Number Game(hi)

Emmy who lives in the UK, comes to India to organised a real life game. The game is launched in India. 5 players from 5 states participate in it to win Rs. 2 Crore. Three young boys and two beautiful girls become the part of the game.

婚礼告急(zh)

Prinz zu entsorgen(de)

Environmental protection and fair working conditions do not matter one bit to the fashion label "Lorena". However, the company ends up in court because of an illegal commercial that violated the anti-discrimination law. The managing partner Roman Hertz is sentenced to 100 hours of community service. Of all things, he has to complete these hours with an environmental protection group.

College Holiday(en)

College students rally to save a struggling hotel from closing. Comedy.

Solitary Road(sv)

Constructed in 1955 to initially connect Kiruna in Sweden to Altavatn in Norway, the work with the Solitary road was stopped for military reasons. Five small villages had been connected by the road and they were left with a deserted 20 km stretch in the wilderness. Along the road Sami people and finish farmers continue their lives. They still have the road and they have brought really old cars over the ice of Torneträsk so they could drive during summer time. One of the old men that built the road, Sven-Erik Stöckel, writes a letter to the politicians in Kiruna, asking them to finish the road so people do not have to risk their lives getting to the road crossing the dangerous lake of Torneträsk. Will it ever be finished? And what happened to the children that were born as a result of the road workers coming into the wilderness meeting the local girls?

Der Puma - Kämpfer mit Herz(de)

Josh Engel owns a martial arts gym. Despite working daily with blows and blows, his life is calm and peaceful, as he prefers to focus on the peaceful and poetic side of the Eastern philosophies that form the basis of fights. Therefore, he is a kind of "guru" for the city's children. However, everything changes in Josh's life when Lisa is taken hostage during a criminal action. Negotiations between the bandits and the police become more tense with each passing moment. Commissioner Jackie Winter and her partner Mehmet Schulz, from the anti-crime division, have no other option and enlist the help of Josh, also known as Der Puma. It is in this extreme situation, disturbed by the tension of seeing her one step away from death, that Josh will be forced to use all his knowledge and techniques to try to save Lisa's life.

Sodade(en)

Sodade is an emotionally charged drama set on the picturesque island of Fogo, Cape Verde, where two young lovers, Kevin and Linda, find their relationship tested by hidden family secrets and a deep-rooted feud that threatens to tear them apart.

Skating Polly: Ugly Pop(en)

Peyton Bighorse and Kelli Mayo are stepsisters from Oklahoma who founded their band, Skating Polly, in 2009 at the ages of 14 and 9 respectively. They call their style of music "Ugly Pop": building on the sounds of 70s Punk, early Grunge, and Folk, resulting in infectious melodies, but with real-life blemishes still showing. This fascinating in-depth documentary explores the early years of Skating Polly as Peyton and Kelli get their first taste of success, and try to stay true to themselves and their love of music. We see the two grow as people and musicians, and hear how they became the band they are today. Their earnestness throughout is refreshing and inspiring. Featuring Donita Sparks (L7), Kate Nash, SoKo, Lori Barbero (Babes in Toyland), Kat Bjelland (Babes in Toyland), and many more…