2016 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

Director: Hung Ching Chen

Writer: Hung Ching Chen

Producer: Hung Ching Chen

Length: 3:05

Starving poor vampire sneaked into a blood bank in a hospital at midnight to find some blood to drink, but out of expectation, he bumped into a tough staff and got into a big fight…

Director: James Hu

Writer: James Hu

Producer: James Hu

Cast: Brigitte Buny, Gary Hudson

Length: 7:14

A rookie undercover agent’s true identity is at stake after uncovering information with damaging implications to her own precinct.

Director: Wuheyou, Zhang Yang

Producer: Wuheyou

Screenwriter: Wuheyou, Hao Meng

Length: 60:00

Lake Amber is a Chinese independent micro-cinema film written and directed by Wuheyao, loosely based on actual events about a group of teens, detailing their choices in life, adventures and dangers in 1990’s China reform and open up society

Director: Jun Kuang

Writer: Jun Kuang

Producer: Chun Shen, Sile Zhang

Length: 20:35

A 15 year-old smart, rebellious boy struggles to escape from a boarding school when his life changing event — Math Olympiads Competition is approaching in two weeks.

Director: Yiting Lyu

Writer: Yiting Lyu

Producer: Javier Del Olmo, Yiting Lyu

Cast: Martha Hamilton

Length: 16:36

An actress with an eating disorder is tormented by a woman that looks exactly like her.

Director: Zilong Liu

Writer: Xinyue Chen

Producer: Xinyue Chen

Cast: Meinhard St.John, Daisy Shen

Length: 30:00

An American ‘average Joe’ leaves his life behind before his 45th birthday to head to China to ‘find Buddha.’ When he encounters a young tour guide who seems just as lost as he is, they set off on another kind of adventure…

Director: Yung-Chih Hsu

Writer: Yung-Chih Hsu

Producer: Tanmay Chowdhary

Cast: Kien Sien, Caelan Scrivener

Length: 6:38

An elderly Taiwanese man travels to America to visit his son’s family for the first time in seven years. Soon after his arrival, he’s surprised to learn that his grandson, raised in the US, doesn’t speak Taiwanese or identify with his cultural heritage altogether. The two find themselves struggling […]

Director: Kenji Lui

Writer: Kenji Lui

Producer: Kenji Lui

Cast: Lin Xie, Michelle Chang

Length: 29:47

The flamboyant life of Lin, a rich Chinese international student studying in San Francisco, is turned upside down when she learns that her family fortune is gone. A nonchalant Taiwanese girl who claims to be her sister approaches and offers assistance. This unexpected reunion soon prompt them to reexamine […]

Director: Cai O’Leary

Writer: Cai O’Leary

Producer: Amie Nash

Cast: Cai O’Leary, Stephen Hoo

Length: 10:59

We follow the lives of two fighters as they take us on a journey and let us into their lives where we receive an insight as to why they are willing to risk their all in the world of illegal fighting. But all is not what it seems…

Director: Lien Chien Hung

Writer: Lien Chien Hung

Producer: Ko Chen Nien

Cast: Zhang Jie

A-Way is a substitute civilian serviceman at physically and mentally disability Division. In this office, there are a lot of weird people and things. For A-Way, this is a bizarre but unforgettable memory…

Length:  11mins06sec

Director: Oliver David Shahery

Cast:

Shaolin Temple enlightens and warns .The documentary through shooting at the monk kids and interviewing of monk Zhenfa showed how the Shaolin Temple help others put down the hatred. The name of he documentary is Wu, for it also shows how the monks grasp the truth.

Director: Lien Chien Hung

Writer: Lien Chien Hung

Producer: Wang Uilin

Cast: Wu Shu Wei, Lei J.C, Yang Cheng Cheng, Wang Tzu Chiang

Length: 24:23

Three teenagers set a beauty trap for a man but failed. They thought they accidentally killed the man! Therefore they decided to abscond to Thailand. Youth is just like a drizzle. When you look back on those days, there was […]

Length: 9mins49secs

Director: Daniel Garfield

Cast:

This film is an exploration of the Wushipu oil painting village in Xiamen. The film is from the perspective of the director as he develops his own thoughts about this unique industry. It is a discussion on the difficulties of traveling, how the copies impact on the world of art, and how the future of beautiful images […]

Length:  10mins14secs

Director: Joseph Aldo Dalla Betta

Cast:

“Meizhou Island,” the birthplace of the sea goddess Mazu, is a short film about the fading fishing industry and the booming tourism industry on the island.

“Meizhou Island” presents contrasting perspectives on the sea goddess Mazu that are illuminative of a larger cultural shift occurring on the island. The transition away from what has, for decades, […]

Length: 11mins45secs

Director: Emily Pillemer

Cast:

The film, from the perspectives of director Emily ，narrates a story that Emily listen to a clip of Nanyin music accidentally and then explore Nanyin in Quanzhou in person. In the film, after arriving in Quanzhou, Emily  contacted a student named Chan of Nanyin major in Nanzhou normal university, who serve as a clue in the entire […]

Length:  10mins09secs

Director: Jessie Lynn Gant

Cast:

China moves quickly from morning to night. In this film I wanted to capture the fast pace and rhythm of daily life in Fujian. The activity of the film flows from day to night through sports, labor, and daily routines. The time from day to night is the main line. I want to show Xiamen as […]

Director: Mengxue Xiao

Writer: Mengxue Xiao

Producer: Cramer England

Cast: Anthony Ma

Length: 35:00

KEVIN, an America born Chinese man who was adopted by a white middle class family, gets a called from the police telling him that his birth mother was found dead in her apartment. Kevin has to go to LA to take care of the body and stay with his birth father […]

Length: 10mins35secs

Director: Lucia Bonells

Cast:

I’ve followed Guo during a four day visit to Sunan, her hometown. We’ve visited the city, some stores and her family. Guo is a Yugur Girl, this means that she is an heir of an ancient culture, one of the 56 ethnic groups that live in the inmense country of China. She is also a young woman […]

Length:  10mins56secs

Director: Ezequiel Vega

Cast:

In Gansu province, inside the Sunan county, where mountains and grasslands are everywhere, two families that living in farms tells their ways of life. Since nomadism, that still remains, where people traveled for all the land searching the best pasture, until today´s commerce, animal husbandry and industry. Told by an external point of view, the filmmaker´s own […]

Length: 12mins20secs

Director: Sashica Archary

Cast:

The amazing story of a historical cup known as Gaiwan, which has played a pivotal role in China since from different dynasties ages ago to the modern world where the tradition is still nurtured by the elderly and not fully embraced by the youth.  Min ya gu bu, is an elder who shares his great wisdom about […]

Length:  10mins00sec

Director: Ignacio

Cast:

In sunan county，anyu and lan zhixiong, two elders have lived happily together for more than 50 years. they both keep the yugur tradition alive by their vocational activities. anyu works everyday weaving her herd with the help of her husband, making the famous and colorful traditonal clothes that everyone loves and admire, not only in town also in […]

Director: Marina Bruno

Writer: Marina Bruno

Producer: Marina Bruno

Cast: Dave Campbell, Randy Mars

Length: 5:09

A driver recklessly races to the finish line.

Length: 11mins10secs

Director: Condurache

Cast:

The future of the village is in the hands of his leader. He must create a better future. The responsibility it is on him, he must transform the hope in reality.

Length:  12mins21secs

Director: Filisan Cosmin Daniel

Cast:

The story of hard working men from Dongxiang village, who use their expertise of crafting some of the great wool felting garments. The technique is of high prestige used with traditional style of mastery having some challenges to keep up with the contemporary times. The documentary covers interviews  of some of the prolific operatives, Ma Shele, […]

Length: 10mins43secs

Director: Tristan Schafer

Cast:

Ma Yunwei, is a 34 year old blade master from Gansu. He is a superbly great swords master striving to enrich the legacy of the Mongolian tradition from the recorded time of Genghis Khan.Ma Yunwei takes the audience on an illustrious process of manufacturing a sword in stages that gradually build the momentum right through to the […]

Length: 11mins05secs

Director: Ong Xiaohui

Cast:

Guo Zhuang is a series of dance by KHAMPA Tibetan dance. Kangding is one the Kamba people living city of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Region. Two professional teachers of Tibetan dance in the documentary tells the story of their ideas and experiences. Through the documentary, we hope to find out more about values of KHAMPA Tibetan in […]

Length:  10mins15secs

Director: Franco Dupuy

Cast:

STILL is not a common documentary. It’s more like an essay. STILL is about the Yugur Culture inside the national museum. Lorraine will be our guide, translator and map. We will hear folk songs, attend to traditional weddings, and wear Yugur clothes. Uses and costumes. However, that is not the end. In fact, STILL is about how […]

Length:  10mins38secs

Director: Eunice Chen

Cast:

This film tells the story that Kang Ding people from different ages what they feel about the love song. It influenced people who live there by both traditional version and new version songs. The songs like their blood, filing in every development of the culture.

Length: 11mins35secs

Director: Ethel Chua Jia En

Cast:

We were shooting is the theme of Kangding bazaar of emotion. Through getting along with Tibetans in Kangding, we learn a lot, including thanksgiving of every thing in life and life meaning. We want to depict Kangding Tibetan people’s daily life in order to show that insignificant but extraordinary significance “shining moment”, reflecting Kinship, love […]

Director: Teddy H. Wang

Length: 20:12

Mei is trying to figure out why a man who always appear in her dream, till one day after school she meet this man on street.

Length: 12mins10secs

Director: Charlotte Maria Forsgaard

Cast:

The film mainly tells Qiang people of the east gate village of Wenchuan County of Sichuan province to be strong after the 2008 earthquake reconstruction. This film mainly reflects through a Qiang woman’s experience after the earthquake and the scene after the reconstruction.

Director: Marina Bruno

Writer: Marina Bruno

Producer: Marina Bruno

Cast: David E Lee, Chris Cottrell, Marina Bruno, Dave Campbell

Length: 7:30

A mentally ill patient violently resists getting any help from his therapist.

Length: 11mins10secs

Director: Silvia Sofia Montes

Cast:

‘IMPRESSIONS ON A TRADITIONAL WEDDING’ its a film about the sight of a girl who comes from Argentina, she describes a feast that has disappeared a long time ago, the YuGur traditional wedding.

This film records the whole procedure of the wedding faithfully, It includes the culture of folk songs , traditional meals, traditional dress and so […]

Length:  9mins55secs

Director: Laura  Arboleda

Cast:

Changchun have some few groups. Their career and  life are different.They are all from yanbian, with the same yearning  and  the same concern for his hometown, at the same time, the same love to the real life.Time is flowing, the visible symbol is changing, the  feelings are not changing.Though  the group is small, power is great.When integrated […]

Length: 10mins01sec

Director: Evan Luchkow

Cast:

The Manchu Qing Dynasty used to rule over all of China, but where are the Manchu people in the 21st century? After centuries of contact with Han Chinese, Manchu culture seems to be fading from memory and only a handful of people can still speak the Manchu language. Filmmaker Evan Luchkow travels to Jilin Province in Northeast […]

Length:  11mins21secs

Director: Pedro Ramirez Pereira Duarte

Cast:

The leading character of documentary is a woman from a normal village of Jingning county. The documentary record the process that cutting down the bamboo shoot and dealing with it. It also records her daily life. Use the connection between human and bamboo shoot to show the natural conception of homeland. It reflects conception that […]

Length:  9mins48sec

Director: Hardar Reichman

Cast:

The life of narendalai reflect current situation of Durhut people.Gurizhabu introduces his story about beginning work as a guardsman. All stories reflect the modern life of the guardsmen.

Length: 11mins30secs

Director: Gabriele Zannotti

Cast:

Woodcarving is a kind of Arts and Crafts produced by the use of wood, in accordance with the needs of our lives and the needs of continuous culture.

Jianchuan is also known as the home of woodcarving and XingYi represents the biggest and most important center of woodcarvers.

Inside this factory is possible to appreciate the entire process of […]

Length: 10mins31secs

Director: Gorjan Markovski

Cast:

The JingHang river of Grand Canal in China is the longest artificial river in the world, passing through four of China’s provinces. It’s on its banks in which we see young and old of Beijing at all times of day and engaging in activities that show a city negotiating between tradition and modernity “River Songs” looks at […]

Length:  10mins30secs

Director: Yvette Nikolov

Cast:

A young woman travels from the Netherlands to China, ambitious to meet and portray a Li family living in an old village in the south of Hainan. She expected to find this authentic life and traditions of the Li minority in Coconut Field Ancient Village. But when arriving, she saw a parking full of touring cars and […]

Length: 20mins

Director: 王睿沉、韓若彤

Cast: 紅雨

《一個人》講述了一個剛剛出道的新人女歌手Sanni，和音樂製作人阿非，兩個人在工作過程中互相產生了感情，Sanni 性格爽朗倔強，從小有著音樂夢想，阿非是個音樂天才，但性格及其孤僻，深沉而敏感，不太擅長處理人際關係，兩個人在一次工作過程中，相識相愛，但因為生活習慣不同，性格不同，而最後分手。故事中阿非為了讓Sanni去美國進修，不惜找好友妮可來演戲故意氣走她，兩人經歷了一段非常糾結而悲傷的愛情故事！

Length:  10mins58sec

Director: R.C. PRANAV

Cast:

My film is based on the musical culture of Xinjiang, the Muqam. The film reflects the emotions evoked by the music of Muqam, the happiness and vibrant spread of music in the people as well as the deep rooted love within the ethnic group of Uyghur. The music and the dance is the highlight of my film. […]

Length:  10mins50secs

Director: George Howard Rees-Jones

Cast:

It’s a documentary about the Miao Village and the soul instrument of Miao Chinese – Lusheng.Through the talks with three local people, an all-rounded picture of Lusheng unfolds in front of us. Simple portraits of every faces and every spots in the village provide the audiences an immersive experience to the life in the village which […]

Director: Dave Zhang

Writer: Dave Zhang, Xie Star, Chen Xiao, Tang Rousang and Sun Mengzhu

Producer: Yiping Yu

Cast: Lee Song Lee, Kang Ju Yeon, Choi Seong Hun

Length: 38:12

‘Princess Eun Hwa’ is a story about an ancient Korean young princess who constantly falls in love with princes from different kingdoms of her fantasies. Whereas in reality, she is forced by her evil uncle […]

Length: 10mins09secs

Director: Hash Perambalam

Cast:

Shuyan is a young brand planner who lives in a Hutong. We follow him as he shares with us his love for Chinese tradition and his longing to return to a simpler time. He came to Beijing for work from his hometown Changchun. He decided to live in small but traditional Hutong despite the fact that he […]

Length:  12mins52sec

Director: Dusko Stanivuk

Cast:

Preservation of traditions is one of the most important tasks in modern society and probably the main reason why I choose a subject of ancient Naxi music. In my home country traditions are endangered by sped up way of living and always present feeling that we don’t have enough time. I was reading about long living tradition […]

Length: 10mins12sec

Director: Luca Principi

Cast:

We tell the story if a young couple of woodcarvers we met by coincidence while exploring a factory. We wanted to communicate in the deepest way possible some specific feelings in the viewer soul. We show their inner perspective through our unique artistic view, given by a deeply reasoned choice of music, sounds and images.

Length:  11mins11secs

Director: Luca Agnani

Cast:

This video is focus on the residential building and life of nation custom. The film through shooting the environment and folkway show the current living situation of Bai people’s life. The first half of this film is mainly showing the scenery of the Cang mountain and the erhai lake, and the latter half is mainly showing the […]

Length:  8mins36secs

Director: Suin Kim

Cast:

Film is an exploration of Xi’an Huxian peasant paintings. The entire film from director herself for the city’s unique rhythm of life and traditional culture of perspective and thinking process. This is a time on the journey in the sense of enlightenment, for a return to traditional rural life and folk customs.

Length: 10mins sec

Director: Kim Loyou

Cast:

Our film tells us a story of Hui. First, a guide Bai Bo in Great Mosque let us know about the worship. Second, he tells us the stipulation of Quran. Finally, he tells us the relationship between the Han and Hui. It is a sweet story to lead you knows the secret of Chinese Muslim.

Length: 47mins

Director: 苗煒基

Cast: 徐龍剛、王芳、丁水林、魏翔玲、朱怡夢

Min Yue is a normal community’s police. She cares the people from community no matter working days or off days. Due to an emergency happened in the weekend, she can’t company with her daughter to practice violin.  She has to handle the disputes in the community.  When she see the difficulties of the mental challenged girl, she […]

Length:  10mins25secs

Director: Synne Akselberg

Cast:

This short documentary explains the importance of song to the Dong people in Xiaohuang village. We encounter two people famous for their singing talents from different generations, and see how the traditions of Dong songs are passed on and cherished. Our first character is Pansa Yinhua (70 years old), who has been singing since she was a […]

Length: 11mins40secs

Director: Soumee•Biswas

Cast:

It’s a story about the Yao tradition of keeping long hair. We delve into this mystic culture trough our protagonist Pan Yongyan. She is a 31 year old woman of the Yao tribe who runs a restuarant.  We see the Long Ji march 3rd Long hair festival where we witness the hair cutting ceremony.We also see her daily […]

Length: 12mins17secs

Director: Austin Kvaale

Cast:

Northeast China’s ‘Er Ren Zhuan’ is a folk art that emerged and matured through three hundred years of spirited, uninterrupted development in the fertile lands of Northeast China. In Er Ren Zhuan, one male and one female performer play out stories from among the common people themselves. They sing joyfully and sorrowfully of the countless ups and […]

Director:  Jun Xia

Producer: Guannan Li

Length: 12:00

Emily comes back for a revenge of John and Jane after she dies of giving birth to a baby.
When John abandons his wife, Emily, who dies giving birth at home, she becomes a ghost to get revenge on her husband John and in the end, Emily punishes John.

Director: Yuanyuan Chen

Producer： Yuanyuan Chen

Cast: Sayo Takada, Roy Ambrasohn, Allen Rowe

Length: 11:21

A father and lover’s protectiveness of a young woman results in the father and daughter’s death.

Length: 10mins18secs

Director: Ena Omerovic

Cast:

A 30-year old woman travels from Europe to Hainan, the Chinese island of romance. Inspired by the old Li tradition of marriage proposal whereby young Li men sing to conquer Li girls’ hearts she starts her quest for the stories of these couples. Her first destination is the annual Third March Festival in Baisha, also called the […]

Length: 25mins

Director: 於建鎂

Cast: 秦啟東、黎一墨、楊軍、李瑜玲

北方城市的小伙子李北為了迎娶南方古城的戀人梅南，一下飛機就展開了浪漫而又隆重的求婚。然而，梅南拒絕了他的戒指，提出了一個大家都沒有想到的要求：請用一座城來娶我……

Length: 10mins35secs

Director: Worawut Phukhokway

Cast:

Palace lanterns have been traditional Chinese culture for more than 1,400 years. But a lot of Chinese people know nothing about palace lanterns and they don’t know the fact that palace lanterns are dying out. But there are some people who are trying to protect and save palace lanterns. They are the lantern makers. Nowadays, there are […]

Length:  11mins 22secs

Director: Fabio Ragni

Cast:

The video talking about a travel.This travel is around the food in China,is the travel of an Italian boy,that want to find the real essence of the food culture in this beautiful country.This video starts with a fast description about Yunnan region.After that the video talks about the market in Dali,and so there is the first […]

Length: 11mins5secs

Director: Simon Pickles

Cast:

Long ago, there were seven suns in the world. The heat of the suns caused the earth to crack, trees and crops to die and water to dry up. The people who lived under the baking heat of the suns could hardly live. Then, one day, a man named Houyi, armed with a bow and arrow, shot […]

Length:  11mins35secs

Director: Deepti Rao

Cast:

Mr.Chen and his wife live in Bama, a longevity village in Guangxi, China. The village is a special place where the water and air have healing properties. The village attracts a lot of visitors. The film is a brief look into the lives of Mr.Chen and his wife and their relationship with Bama.

I wanted to find out […]

Length: 11mins05secs

Director: Celine Simons

Cast:

Wang Chun is an opera singer by heart. She lives with her parents in Fushan Town, on the Island Hainan. Singing opera is all she’s ever known. As she tries to walk in her father’s footsteps, she performs in the Opera troupe “Hainan Li Hua”. But in the spare hours that she is not singing Hainan stories […]

Director: Peter Wang

Producer: Nick Wei

Cast: Peter Wang, Li Jingjing

Length:

Chow is a member of a Chinese triad operating in Chinatown, Los Angeles, after losing his best friend during a shooting with a rival gang. Chow travels back to China to pay respects to his deceased friend’s mother.

Length: 10mins16sec

Director: Alice Andreoli Hirata

Cast:

The Xibe ethnic group crossed China from east to west in order to defend the western border in the XVIII century. Their main weapons were bows and arrows. Since then, they have kept their archery alive, passing it from generation to generation. What started as a way of defending the country became a sport that they […]

Length:  10mins20secs

Director: Michael Cannon Miller

Cast:

Traditional Chinese paintings have found a new form, in the tattoo designs of the country’s talented artists. The combination of the ancient and the modern has reinvented the tattoo for a new generation. This new approach has changed attitudes through the preservation and adoration of Chinese art forms and by showing that modern can be rooted […]

Length: 22mins

Director: 苗煒基

Cast: 楊劍銘、呂妍昕、鄭偉、王德龍、宇宙

A photograph called “The Purest Eyes” is made by a friend is touching Tingting Xu deeply. In the photo, a boy’s eyes are clean and pure. Then, she decides to become a volunteer for teaching. However, when she goes to that poor school, she doesn’t see the boy. The boy has to quit school and herd sheep […]