New Chinese Cinema

In the life of Mr. Lai Man-wai, he had seen the most turbulent times of recent Chinese history. From the fall of the Qing Dynasty to the founding of the Republic, from the Sino-Japanese War to the founding of the People’s Republic. With a patriotic spirit, he joined the revolution and used the theatre to promote the revolutionary course. For a ‘stronger China’, and ‘education for all’, he chose film as his life long goal and career. Lai was more than the father of Hong Kong cinema was; he was also one of the pioneers of the Chinese cinema. He made Hong Kong’s first short fiction film ‘Zhuangzi Tests His Wife’. He opened the first Chinese owned cinema, the New World Cinema, in Hong Kong…. In the several decades, Lai had devoted his life and fortune in writing this glorious inaugural chapter in early Chinese film history. The technical enhancement, the introduction of foreign techniques and equipment were all part of his contribution to the Chinese cinema.

Documentary about new chinese cinema.

An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.

Kung Fu – A Arte de Lutar Sem Lutar

Part two of A comedy film set on Shanghai film studio. The background events frequently involve the shooting of other films being made at Mingxing Film Company at the time. This includes a sequence of the 17th episode of the silent wuxia film series Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, which is the only known footage from this historic series to exist.

Apartamento 62

Su Jin meets Li'er. As their bond grows, the weight of Su Jin being the crowned prince and Li'er as a cat spirit grows heavy.

Based on the beloved children's book, elementary schooler Wang Bao discovers a wish-granting gourd that gives him the ability to make his dreams come true. Due to the gourd's erratic nature, Wang Bao confronts his own dishonesty amongst his peers and family, and realizes that you might not get everything you wish for.

When his aspiring-celebrity sister becomes trapped in a criminal scheme within an entertainment company, a devoted brother teams up with local police to uncover the truth and take down the powerful underworld behind it.

Wu Shuang, a house tester, checks into a foreclosed villa on a rainy night. Together with Nian Lun, an amateur blogger, they keep dealing with the "strange occurrences" inside the house and gradually piece together the truth behind the former homeowner’s family tragedy...

A woman attempts to reconcile with her identity as she delves deeper into her violent, overbearing paranoia, colliding with her attempts to find herself or take comfort in memories past.

During the Yongle Reign of the Ming Dynasty, a villager named Song Lai in Jixiang Town provoked the bandits of Jiaolong Village when he tried to rescue his childhood sweetheart, Qiao. Since then, Jixiang Town suffered repeated arson, killing, and looting by bandits. The bandit leader, Scar Dragon, threatened that if the town did not hand over ten thousand jin of tribute grain within three months, he would lead all bandits of Jiaolong Village to massacre Jixiang Town. To resolve the crisis, Song Lai took on an urgent mission to find Yuan Jiugong, an old beggar skilled in the mystic arts of gadget-making, to resist the bandits. Though Yuan Jiugong was once abandoned by the townspeople, he did not bear grudges and came back to help villagers set up magic formations to subdue the bandits. Finally, Jixiang Town won; Song Lai and Qiao'er got married as expected, while Yuan Jiugong declined the villagers' offer of retention and chose to travel around the world

In the coastal city of South Australia, undercurrents surge beneath the neon glow. Hot-blooded cop Zheng Yi witnessed his partner Zhang Mingzhi die shielding him. The corrupt police department even framed Zhang as a mole. With his faith shattered, Zheng Yi quit the force and took violent revenge on drug lord Qian Jiu. Just as he was about to kill his enemy, he found that Zhang Mingzhi was actually alive, having long been bought off by Qian Jiu and faked his death. The once life-and-death brothers now stand across an abyss of betrayal. Hunted by drug traffickers, abandoned by the police, and with their loved ones dead, the estranged pair are forced to put aside grievances, launch a solemn counterattack against darkness with their broken bodies, fulfill the final redemption of brotherhood with their lives, and tear apart the drug web shrouding the whole city.

With the Blood Moon hanging overhead and the Ghost Festival approaching, An Yunman suddenly returns from Shanghai to the An family residence in Xiwutong, western Hunan. Unexpectedly, her eldest and second brothers are murdered one after another by corpse-demons. Their father, An Bo, blames all the family's misfortunes on his third daughter, An Yunman, whom he believes to be a cursed bringer of disaster.

Wuming and Dongqing stumble into a mysterious small town where all residents are trapped in deep slumber under illusion. The girl Ya claims to be a Medicine Girl, and her so-called grandmother is actually Hupo, a monster transformed by resentment after gaining eternal life. She casts a Slumber Gu curse to seize the body of the Celestial Maiden of the Nine Heavens, Ya. Breaking the curse, Ya regains her divine power, but Wuming snatches the Kunlun Spirit Stone and flees. Ya takes Dongqing hostage to hunt the culprit, and the 200-year-old grudges between gods and mortals, as well as the hidden secrets of Kunlun, are thus unveiled.

A police sniper teams up with a hot-headed rookie to take down his former friend and teammate, who is exacting revenge on the police force.

On a film reel electrified by static charges, we meet five people who survived the impact of lightning.

All across the globe, Chinatowns are under threat of disappearing – and along with them, the rich history of a community who fought from the margins for a place to belong. Big Fight in Little Chinatown documents the collective fight to save Chinatowns across North America.

The oldest Quebecois Benedictine convent open its gates to a documentary filmmaker for the first time. Observed up close, life behind its walls is busier than one would expect. About twenty cloistered nuns, most of them over 70, share their daily life with diligence and humor. A contemplative portrait of a community of sisterhood and solidarity emerges, punctuated by prayer, work and games evenings.

Zoe McIntosh introduces us to Peter One, King of Caravans, and his realm, the Bignell Street Motel Caravan Park in Whanganui. Bignell Street has a reputation for being a place of last resort for the down and out, where people with nowhere else to go can always find a caravan roof for their heads. A social butterfly and a self-admitted garage sale addict, motel manager Peter says he acts as a de facto social worker to the weird and wonderful itinerant inhabitants of his trailer park, although some claim he’s just as strange and desperate as they are. - NZIFF 2013