Chen Hsiao-Tong

This is a story of reminiscence, remembering my long-deceased Grandpa. To remember is to transcend, therefore it’s a story of time and space, overlapped and intertwined. It’s also a quest of love and work, a spiritual and emotional journey; and through which values are re-examined and life reaffirmed.

Melody, a teenage girl, lives in a borrowed mansion together with her parents, whose marriage is on the rocks. Though they look like a happy family, they are three people struggling in the game of life. A long-deserted amusement park appears to be the only way out.

Xiao Lan’s first sexual experience is on the beach with a football jock from her school. When the boy leaks a photo of her in a sexually compromising position online, Xiao Lan’s entire world collapses. Alone without anyone to help, she turns to comfort from men on the internet…

On his 18th birthday, Jan Wen shoots randomly at the crowds in a night market for unknown reasons. The tragic incident causes a strong impact on the lives of his family and friends, the victims and the witnesses. However, if there was a chance for them to make different choices, would the tragedy still happen? Will it be a different outcome if they all changed their behaviour at the crucial moment?

A boy lives with his Grandma and Mr. Lin, the tenant who looks after him and Grandma. But when Grandma passes away, the boy's uncle returns to Taiwan and discovers that ownership of the apartment was transferred to other people.

An elderly Taiwanese farmer faces new struggles when his children attempt to put him into aged care.

Xiaoyue finds that her mother has been working for a long time away from home when she receives the apples sent from her mother. Just entering her puberty, Xiaoyue comes from a new immigrant family from Vietnam. She is laughed at and bullied in school because her old father makes a living as a scrap collector. The rebellious Biyan always stands out for Xiaoyue. She even plans a three-day journey to see her mother with Xiaoyue. Ms. Chen is faced with a dilemma. She is going to retire but the after-school tutorial class in the community is the only place for her to care her students. For Xiaoyue and her friend Biyan, her class is their hope.

Tsunma, an honorific term connoting “noble, delicate, and pure”, refers to the Tibetan Buddhist Nuns of the Himalayan Region who have been largely dismissed or forgotten by the traditions they follow and the societies they’ve served. Taiwanese photographer Lin Li-Fang undertook a solo journey up 4,270 meters into the Himalayan Plateau and lived for an entire summer with some of these nuns and recorded life in the unforgiving environment dubbed “The Roof of the World”. There, Li-fang captured a life devoted to hope and faith and a people possessing a unique kind of tolerance, humility, and perseverance. This is a story of the Nuns of the Himalayas, of seeing one’s life through theirs, that is, a life lived in faith and with the spark of a summer eternal.

Bai Yide is a young man living alone. He works at a bookstore and derives sexual pleasure by stealing and wearing women’s underwear. One day, he receives a DVD in which his activities have been recorded and he becomes anxious.

A violin teacher from a working-class background embarks on a brave journey in search of true love. The absurd process gradually makes her realize that returning to her true self is the only shortcut to happiness.

Poni and Mini are identical twins. They look so much alike that even their secret admirers cannot tell them apart and people tend to forget that they are individuals.

Lin Shu-Yu's semi auto-biographical debut takes us back to 1996, during the time of the tragic Taiwan baseball scandal, an event that devastated many teenage boys. The story follows Yen and Tang and their gang through the last year of their high school life. From chasing girls to midnight skinny dipping to rooting for their favorite baseball team, they do everything together. When an accident throws Yen into a coma, their world starts falling apart.

In the early 1950s, even the small villages in Taiwan were bathed in the atmosphere of White Terror. It was a difficult time for all. There was a beautiful young woman called A-zhen. She always felt that there was something weird in her house since she got married to her husband, A-yi, the village glassblower. A-zhen was very curious about the mystery surrounding the wall in her house. So, one day, she decided to investigate the real secret behind the wall.

On the night of March 18th, 2000, the presidential election, as usual, three coastguards are on patrol by the seaside of Yi-Lan. Private First Class, just out of lock-up, is equipped with a walkie-talkie. The Private (second in command) has a military 65-K2 rifle and the Private recruit (rookie) has two clips of ammunition. Seeing that it's still a long, boring night ahead, The Private starts looking for excuses hazing the rookie⋯

A twentysomething couple struggle with their relationship in modern Taiwan.

College student Hsiao Chih has been dreaming of studying abroad and having foreign affairs. His plan to fulfill this dream in the summer is, however, discouraged by economic down turn in Taiwan. Just as he feels depressed about the need to spend a long summer back home, taking care of his old grandma and her grocery store, here comes a Western girl named Elisa. One thing leads to another, Hsiao Chih and two women - his grandma and Elisa a girl from afar - spend a whole summer under the same roof...

Hsin-He, a high school sophomore who can get along just fine on her own, lives with her father. At school, the days pass slowly by, until one day, she is assigned to be the student teacher. Since she loaths math, her teacher orders Ke-Lei, student teacher from another class, to tutor her.

The film consists of three stories: One about a 5-year-old girl, one about a teenager, and still another about a 30 something woman involved in an affair with a married man. Without providing a definite answer whether the three leading actresses are playing the same person in different stages of life, the movie instead hovers on several consistent themes that keep on emerging in all the stories. For example, the image of drops of blood on the clothes, in the shape of maroon flowers.

A rather dejected Mei-li Chen lives with her extended family in the suburbs. She drops out of college when the boy she has a crush on finds a girlfriend. Mei-li eventually ends up selling tickets in a movie theatre. A great camaraderie then builds up between the two cashiers in the small ticket booth.

Ko, a young gay writer living in Taipei has written a story about his homosexuality, and his teacher encourages him to enter it in a prestigious writing competition. Now Ko must decide whether to enter the competition or stay in the closet

Xia-dou and Ji-dan left their families and friends in Thief Village to sit in a dungeon as subsitute prisoners in exchange for favor from the local law enforcer. The warden, knowing they are good in physical skills, sent them on a side job. The kids broke in a heavily guarded examination ground, swapped two exam papers for the client and stole a pair of golden eyes from a big lion chop for themselves. The missing gold detoured the detective's trail to the master schemer. As the conspiracy unfolded, the governor decided to eradicate the whole village to cover up his involvement with the master schemer. Life in Thief Village has never been easy. But fate never mocked them so hard. It turned out that the gold they so cherished was fake. So were many other things they believed in. In despair, Xia-dou's Great grandfather, the 125-year old personage called upon the sky and recevied a most fantastic answer.