When a woman is forced to work as a teacher in rural mainland China, she sees a clear goal. If she can become a certified, government employee, then she can teach her students and make a better life for herself at the same time. She carries a heavy responsibility, however. For most of her students, the education that they receive in her classroom is the only preparation they will have for the entrance exams to … Read more
A provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a ganglord’s mistress.
China, the 1990s. A young bookseller is in love with a woman. The woman is now with another guy, a rich man. The rich man sends his people to beat the bookseller. In the fight, the laptop computer from a man looking at the scene gets broken. Who will pay for the computer? The bookseller wants revenge. Will it be useful? The bookseller and the laptop owner are from different ages and classes. They are … Read more
Zhigen, an old Chinese farmer, has lived alone in Beijing for over 20 years after moving to the city to allow his son Chongyi to attend university. He decides to make the long journey from Beijing to Yangshuo to honour the promise he made to his wife to bring back the bird that has been his only companion in the city. His daughter-in-law Qianying, a beautiful rich career woman, asks him to take along his … Read more
The film follows three characters on a tour of the remote Yunman province of China where they travel with a horse to deal with legal disputes in mountain villages. Government policy is forcing the retirement of “Auntie” Yang (Yang Yaning) and she will have to separate after years of professional partnership from Feng (Li Baotian). They are accompanied by her replacement, recent law school graduate Ah-Luo (Lu Yulai).
China in the 1920’s. After her father’s death, 19 year old Songlian is forced to marry the much older lord of a powerful family. With three wives already, each living in a separate house within the great castle, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained. This competition gets out of hand…
A woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural China conceives a boy with her husband’s nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband’s heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. Filmed in glowing technicolour, this tale of romantic and familial love in the face of unbreakable tradition is more universal than its setting.