
The Forbidden City is the world’s biggest and most extravagant palace complex ever built. For five centuries, it was the power center of imperial China and survived wars, revolution, fires, and earthquakes. How did the Ming Emperor’s workforce construct its sprawling array of nearly 1,000 buildings and dozens of temples in a little over a decade?
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4.8In a quiet village in southern China, Fang Xiuying is sixty-seven years old. Having suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, with advanced symptoms and ineffective treatment, she was sent back home. Now, bedridden, she is surrounded by her relatives and neighbors, as they witness and accompany her through her last days.
6.0Jerry, an ordinary immigrant dad, retired in Orlando, is recruited to be an undercover agent for the Chinese police. Jerry’s family recreates the events on film and his three sons discover a darker truth. True crime meets spy thriller in this genre-bending docufiction hybrid about an immigrant’s search for the American dream. A Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury and Audience Award winner.
6.7Thousands of terracotta warriors guarded the first Chinese emperor's tomb. This is their story, told through archeological evidence and reenactments.
8.0The Tea Explorer documentary follows the journey of tea enthusiast Jeff Fuchs along the Tea Horse Road, a 1300-year-old trade route in the Himalayas. It combines the author's passion for both tea and mountains, tracing the route's history, meeting the people who live along it, and exploring the significance of tea in the region.
7.0As the 'one country two systems' policy in Hong Kong has slowly eroded, resentment among the territory's citizens has steadily grown. What began as a series of spontaneous protests against an extradition law in March 2019 has now escalated in to a full-blown popular uprising that shows no signs of abating. ABC Four Corners reports from the frontline of the action, capturing extraordinary footage of the growing tension and violence.
0.0In the 19th century, China held the monopoly on tea, which was dear and fashionable in the West, and the British Empire exchanged poppies, produced in its Indian colonies and transformed into opium, for Chinese tea. Inundated by the drugs, China was forced to open up its market, and the British consolidated their commercial dominance. In 1839, the Middle Empire introduced prohibition. The Opium War was declared… Great Britain emerged as the winner, but the warning was heeded: it could no longer depend on Chinese tea. The only alternative possible was to produce its own tea. The East India Company therefore entrusted one man with finding the secrets of the precious beverage. His mission was to develop the first plantations in Britain’s Indian colonies. This latter-day James Bond was called Robert Fortune – a botanist. After overcoming innumerable ordeals in the heart of imperial China, he brought back the plants and techniques that gave rise to Darjeeling tea.
8.0In China, there exists an astonishing place. A burial ground to rival Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, where pyramid tombs of stupendous size are full of astonishing riches. In 221 BC, China's first Emperor united warring kingdoms into a nation that still exists today. To memorialise this achievement, he bankrupted the national treasury and oppressed thousands of workers to build one of the world’s biggest mortuary complexes. China's second dynasty, the Han, inherited the daunting challenge of building larger tombs to command respect and establish their right to rule without running the nation into the ground. Although no Han emperor's tomb has been opened, the tombs of lesser Han aristocrats have revealed astonishing things: complete underground palaces (including kitchens and toilets) and at least one corpse so amazingly well-preserved some believe Han tomb-builders knew how to "engineer immortality".
Dwarves Kingdom is a documentary film about a theme park featuring performances by little people with dwarfism who live in a fantasy recreation of a magical empire. Built by a wealthy Chinese businessman, this other-worldly kingdom, officially called World Ecological Garden of Butterfly and Little People Kingdom, is located in the mountains surrounding the city of Kunming in Western China.
0.0The city of Ordos, in the middle of China, was build for a million people yet remains completely empty. Ordos is not so much a place but a symbol of babylonic hype. But nothing will change - as long as people believe.
7.1MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.
7.2An unsettling and eye-opening Wall Street horror story about Chinese companies, the American stock market, and the opportunistic greed behind the biggest heist you've never heard of.
6.9Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns to the shooting locations of his films, along with his actors, friends and close collaborators. Jia recalls the inspiration sources for his movies, such as Platform, Still Life and A Touch of Sin. The film is the memory of a filmmaker and of a country in convulsion, China, which reveals itself little by little.
Cao Fei recorded her experiences within the online social platform Second Life. The result is a wistful, surreal vision of an alternative reality sprung from the pop culture fantasies and hyper-consumerism of contemporary urban China, while also trying to transcend its real-life limitations. It can be seen as an answer to the challenge posed by River Elegy: how to envision a new Chinese destiny founded on principles of individuality, creativity, discovery, and freedom. The film also reflects the contemporary condition of the virtual supplanting our experience of the real.
It's a story about post-90 generation in China and how they chasing their dreams through a talent show. The summer of 2013 saw a group of young boys enter a Chinese TV talent show called Super Boy, hoping to be catapulted to fame. The film documents how the young boys coped with their new challenging lives. While under unthinkable pressure, they proved themselves by trying to make the right choices during live shows. Talent shows create a new type of entertainer, but can they still keep their true selves? Can they adjust themselves and balance the ups and downs? What have the ten years of Chinese talent shows given us? What is urging us to grow up?
7.0As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apartment complex, director Jia Zhangke interviews various people affiliated with it about their experiences.
6.8One Country, Two Systems? No Way! say the youth of Taiwan. But China under President Xi Jinping wants more than ever to bring the island of Taiwan back into the fold, just like Hong Kong. Can the burgeoning democracy on China’s doorstep, driven by digital technology, resist the Middle Kingdom’s advances? To China Taiwan is a breakaway province that must return to the fold. To its 24 million inhabitants it is a sovereign state with its own constitution and democratically elected leaders. Now that Hong Kong has been brought into line, Taiwan remains determined to stand up as a vibrant, young democracy. But it won't be easy. Since the Sunflower Movement in 2014 when the young came out to prevent an economic agreement with China, citizen groups have been fighting for the transparency of institutions.
5.3An unfortunate highschooler finds an ancient book that summons Allentown's deadliest maniacs back from the dead.
6.4In the early 20th century, impoverished teenage Italian cobbler Salvatore Ferragamo sailed from Naples to America to seek a better life. He settled in Southern California, and became Hollywood's go-to shoemaker during the silent era. In 1927, he returned to Italy and founded in Florence his namesake luxury brand. This feature-length documentary recounts his adventures.
3.5When Marty's car is stolen, he sets out on a mission to find it; however, he soon realizes that the person who stole it is much more dangerous than he thinks.
8.4Years after a tragic event unfolds, Noah finds his long lost childhood teddy bear. Shortly after finding it, Noah starts to realize that the bear has a mind of its own and offers him a dangerous choice that may have a devastating outcome.
6.5PEOPLE is a new collaboration of riders and filmers from Mack Dawg Productions. Directed by Pierre Minhondo and Justin Eeles. This newly formed collective combines the talents, attitude, and fun-loving folks from such films as kidsKNOW’s “Burning Bridges,” and Neoproto’s “Some Kinda Life”. Learn, watch, and follow these PEOPLE as they show you real snowboarding in their own form. From our cities to yours, look forward to watching: Jon Kooley, Justin Hebbel, Nima Jalali, Jordan Mendenhall, Curtis Woodman, Mitch Nelson, Bryan Fox, Etienne Gilbert, Robbie Sell, Stephen Duke, Pat McCarthy, Shaun McKay, Josh Mills, Marius Otterstad, Jussi Tarvainen, and Ryan Thompson. -Released August 2006.
7.5A young college student is given a disturbing ultimatum when a dark secret from his past is resurrected.
9.9Ava, an award-winning chef at a big-city restaurant, has lost her spark. Her boss sends her out to find herself to save her menu and her job. She returns home and finds little to inspire her, but when she reunites with her childhood friend Logan, Ava has to get her head out of the clouds and her foot out of her mouth to rediscover her passion for food.
7.0Naktan, who loves to take photos, has taken up a job for a travel agency, to take photos for their travel magazines. During his photo taking, he finds a riddle soul, from a 20 years old film, appearing in his picture. After this, he meets many horrifying things which stimulate his curiosity to search for the truth. In his horror, he realizes that Tost, an owner of the old film, has cruelly murdered a woman…
0.0The fourth installment in the Spider-Man franchise and part of Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Plot TBA.
8.5With a haunting atmosphere and a narrative open to different interpretations, 'El joven Diego' is presented as a metaphor that explores interpersonal relationships and human desire. A very personal portrait of youth and the search for first 'love'.
6.3Upon waking up in a strange forest, a young man questions whether or not the environment around him is real or a figment of his imagination.
6.0This is an April Fool's joke by Nitroplus. On 01.04.2011, an official website for Mahou Shoujo Sonico Magika, a parody of SoniComi (a game by Nitroplus), was opened with the announcement of it being a TV anime. On the same day, the opening video for the so called TV anime was released on YouTube by NitroPlusChannel. This opening is essentially the entire anime. The title is a clear reference to Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika, a TV anime which screenplay was written by a Nitroplus staffer Urobuchi Gen, who also got credited for screenplay for this anime on the official page. No screenplay was ever written, of course.
10.0Things seem to be normal in an area of Thailand. But then Dracula is summoned to that region from Europe. He goes after a young woman. He has a bunch of dancing female vampire servants. Devils, zombies and some other weird creatures also show up.
7.2TAJOMARU is the famous 'bandit' of the forest from RASHOMON. Whoever kills Tajomaru inherits his name, status and sword. A royal brother leaves his kingdom to protect the princess he loves, only to find a series of harrowing adventures along the way which lead him back to where he came from, and then disinheriting his past to become the bandit TAJOMARU.
4.6Mark, a local cop is investigating a string of jewel robberies. He soon discovers that the men behind the crimes is the notorious"Red Devil" and his band of Ninjas. Mark teams up with Billy, a man out for revenge. Hong Kong cut and paste edit of the 1979 Filipino Film "Twin Fists For The Blackmasters" with new ninja scenes.
7.130 years ago, on June 23rd, 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog was released on the SEGA Genesis, beginning a new era of gaming. Since then, Sonic has been running through countless zones, beating badniks, and saving the world with the help of his friends. This performance is to thank you, all of you, for being there every step of the way, and to remind us all of the amazing journey we've been on. Happy 30th Anniversary, Sonic!