Chinese Documentary Movies

Mr. Kuo and his wife Mrs. Lin cook for the city's sleepless. They work all night and sleep during the day, like many others in buzzing Taipei. Until one morning, riding back from the market, Mr. Kuo takes a different exit on the highway.

Tao and Dong promised each other they’d return to the village where the latter grew up, in Inner Mongolia, before following his family, who left to find better fortune in a large city in Southern China. This voyage is a mere pretext meant to reconnect the two childhood friends, who were separated for ten years. With a rare sensitivity, Tao Gu films this companion, who was lost not only “from view”, approaching him stealthily to capture all of his tragic intensity, his disillusioned generosity. Dong has remained a dreamer besotted with rock, an incensed body struggling to find money (he comes up with a jade business which does not work out), love, sex and, above all, to live following his own conceptions of liberty, under the ambiguous gaze of his parents and his “successful” brother.

A film that mixes labyrinthine recent testimonies and historical images of the career of the tropicalista director, actor and playwright Zé Celso, of Teatro Oficina, one of the greatest personalities of the Brazilian arts of all time. The documentary acquired its main verb in four trips to key points in the trajectory of Zé: Bahia badlands, Cururipe Beach in Alagoas (where Bishop Sardinha was devoured), Epidaurus and Athens in Greece and his apartment in São Paulo.

50 % of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050 this will increase to 80%. Life in a mega city is both enchanting and problematic. Today we face peak oil, climate change, loneliness and severe health issues due to our way of life. But why? The Danish architect and professor Jan Gehl has studied human behavior in cities through 40 years. He has documented how modern cities repel human interaction, and argues that we can build cities in a way, which takes human needs for inclusion and intimacy into account.

December 1944, 24-year-old Wei Shaolan and her 1-year-old daughter were seized and sent to a Japanese camp, where Wei was forced to work as a 'comfort woman' -- a woman forced into prostitution for Japanese servicemen during World War II. Despite being physically and mentally abused, Wei unbelievably escaped the heavily guarded 'Comfort Station' pregnant, shamed, and unsure of what fate awaited her return home. This documentary presents the true legendary story of Wei Shaolan and follows her traumatic and courageous journey from forced prostitution to life today with her Japanese son. 'Real Heroes' are people who can face life bravely even after a tormented life, and Wei's story offers inspiration to those faced with seemingly hopeless adversity.

Gao Ertai (1931) is an artist, teacher, philosopher who, in the 1950s, was imprisoned in the Jiabiangou Labour Camp. The film works as a diptych with Fengming, the confessional story of another victim of reprisals, and closes a vast film series on those who disappeared.

This film is a record of the Tea-Horse Road, the caravans of the Nujiang River Valley, and the aboriginal peoples who live there -- Mm. Ding who has a family with 15 members speaking 6 languages, a pastor who was jailed for 15 years for his believing, a 104 years old lady who walks through 3 centuries, a village head whose wife run away, a caravan who shares one wife with his elder brother, a young lama in the Buddhist temple who feels lonely sometimes, a 82 years old caravan leader whose story is a legend of the Tibetan caravans¡­ Written by BDI Films Inc.

In June 2008, Yang Jia carried a knife, a hammer, a gas mask, pepper spray, gloves and Molotov cocktails to the Zhabei Public Security Branch Bureau and killed six police officers, injuring another police officer and a guard. He was arrested on the scene, and was subsequently charged with intentional homicide. In the following six months, while Yang Jia was detained and trials were held, his mother mysteriously disappeared. "One Recluse" is a documentary that traces the reasons and motivations behind the tragedy and investigates a trial process filled with shady cover-ups and questionable decisions. The film provides a glimpse into the realities of a government-controlled judicial system and its impact on the citizens’ lives.

The Yuanhai Migrants Children’s School, which serves children of migrant laborers in Beijing, is shut down by city officials for reasons never made clear. The students and teachers manage to continue class, first by sneaking into the shuttered campus, then moving inside a ruined factory, and even setting up class on the street. Following the personal journeys of students as they battle bureaucratic corruption for their right to learn, Cui exposes a crisis of social values in the wake of China’s economic reforms.

This documentary reviews and summarises the development of homosexuality as an issue in the past three decades in China. We interviewed thirty prominent figures in the gay community, who have experienced the changes of views and life-styles regarding homosexuality.

A short documentary that captures the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, The Yellow Bank takes you on a contemplative boat ride across the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China. Filmmaker J.P. Sniadecki, who lived and worked in Shanghai nine years earlier, uses the eclipse as a catalyst to explore the way weather, light, and sound affect the urban architectural environment during this extremely rare phenomenon.

A young Chinese folk singer left his hometown to the big city, only to return to his musical traditions. On this journey, his humor, anger and powerful folk songs all comes from the rural life of past. That's the real taste of soil and dust.

Venturing into the wilds of China, "Born in China" captures intimate moments with a panda bear and her growing cub, a young golden monkey who feels displaced by his baby sister, and a mother snow leopard struggling to raise her two cubs.

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There are the images of before, the images of after and the letters. The images of after come first, they stem from the same surveillance camera in Wuhan, empty streets that only throng with people again on April 4th, 2020.

"Ordos 100" provides a picture of an Ai Weiwei at the pinnacle of his artistic fame, but not yet in the political hot water that was to give him a different kind of notoriety. The film centers on a grand architecture project in Ordos, to be designed by Ai Weiwei.

Zhang Ming went back to his hometown Wushan to record the last images before it being changed forever by the upcoming Three Gorges Dam.

The film is director Gao Zipeng’s first fiction film which takes three years to complete. It premieres on March 27, 2001 in UCCA and stars the poet A Jian, Xiao Zhao and the writer Gou Zi. The film is based on a true crime of disappearance. It creates an atmosphere of what Ma Zhiyuan, a celebrated poet and playwright of Yuan Dynasty, portrays in his famous poem “Autumn Thoughts”: Over old trees wreathed with rotten vines fly evening crows/ Under a small bridge near a cottage a stream flows/ On ancient road in the west wind a lean horse goes/ Westward declines the sun/ Far, far from home is the heartbroken one.

Shows a market where puppies are bought and sold. Several puppies are placed in a cloth bag, and they struggle to break free. One bites through the bag, pokes his head, and is observed in his triumph and then confusion.

Documentary following Pai Gu, a junior high school graduate from Jiangxi Province. He sells pirated DVDs of "artistic films" in Shenzhen to make a living.

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

Born in Beijing tells the story of 'petitioners': citizens who feel themselves wrongfully treated by the local authorities and seek settlement in the capital. There are thought to be more than 100,000 petitioners in Beijing. These people, harassed by 'interceptors', brave terrible conditions in their battle against injustice and corruption.

"If the old doesn't go, the new never comes" recites a teenager hanging out near a demolition site in the center of Chengdu, the Sichuan capital in western China. In Demolition, filmmaker J.P. Sniadecki deconstructs the transforming cityscape by befriending the migrant laborers on the site and documenting the honest, often unobserved, human interactions, yielding a wonderfully patient and revealing portrait of work and life in the shadow of progress and economic development.

Eleven Tibetans prostrate themselves every few steps during a 1,200-mile pilgrimage that lasts for seven months.

A CCTV-commissioned, 8-part series shot between 1988 and 1990, but barred from being released after the events of June 4th. A production of the Structure, Wave, Youth, Cinema (SWYC) Experimental Group, an informal collective of young filmmakers founded in the summer of 1989 and devoted to the production of documentaries, that includes: this series' two directors, Shi Jian and Chen Jue, as well as Beijing TV's Wang Zijun, and this series' screenwriter, Kuang Yang (under the name Guang Yi). Tiananmen documents various aspects of life surrounding the Square: survivors of the imperial era, street performers, fledgling entrepreneurs, fashion school students, foreigners marrying Chinese nationals, and so forth. Each episode starts with a close-up of a giant portrait of Mao hung over the Square, and proceeds as a hybrid of archival footage, direct cinema, and cinema verité, weaving a permanent dialectic between the present and the past, daily life and history.

A documentary about Li Yang, who tries to teach large numbers of Chinese to speak English, using unusual methods. He holds motivational rallies, where he gets the crowd to shout out English phrases, in order to instill confidence, and tells them not to be afraid of losing face. His goal is to increase Chinese trade, and export Chinese culture, to the main world markets: North America, Japan, and Europe. After the rally, they can continue their English lessons using his taped courses.

Filmmaker Fang Li and his crew explore exhaustive historical investigation, as far as possible to find the core of the British, American, Japanese and Chinese parties and descendants, trying to infinitely close to the truth of the World War II "Death Ship" — "Lisbon Maru", which is 30 meters under the sea off the East Polar Island in Zhoushan, China.

Langfang, about 40 kilometers from Beijing, is one of the most air-polluted cities in China. But at the local environmental protection bureau, deputy chief Li and his assistant Hu are working hard to change this.

Far from home, 17-year-old Ying Ling practices for her examination to become a mortician at one of China's largest funeral homes. The everyday routine of this unusual occupation also serves up both humorous and life affirming moments.

A documentary following five young artists from around China, who travelled to Beijing in the 1980s to work as freelancers, exploring their lives, careers, and what aspirations they may have for the future.

Under the sun, the heavenly beauty of grasslands will soon be covered by the raging dust of mines. Facing the ashes and noises caused by heavy mining , the herdsmen have no choice but to leave as the meadow areas dwindle. In the moonlight, iron mines are brightly lit throughout the night. Workers who operate the drilling machines must stay awake. The fight is tortuous, against the machine and against themselves. Meanwhile, coal miners are busy filling trucks with coals. Wearing a coal-dust mask, they become ghostlike creatures. An endless line of trucks will transport all the coals and iron ores to the iron works. There traps another crowd of souls, being baked in hell. In the hospital, time hangs heavy on miners' hands. After decades of breathing coal dust, death is just around the corner. They are living the reality of purgatory, but there will be no paradise.

A young woman's life takes a series of unexpected turns after she leaves the Buddhist temple where she has lived most of her adult life.

Between 2009 and 2015, Wen Hai followed the lives of workers and worker activists in southern China, the world’s factory. His astonishing film gives nameless workers a face, shows their vital sense of justice and resistance to owners who are only interested in profits – and how they escape the role of victim.

A "city symphony" full of dark humor that weaves together a collage of absurd sounds and events.

This landmark documentary reveals the tragic life of a gifted young woman who was executed for speaking out during the height of Chairman Mao’s rule.

Ducks are true originals. There are more than 120 different species of ducks in all, a fantastical group of complex characters. Ducks have a talent for survival, and life stories filled with personality and charm. Each bird is more fun than the last, and will leave you wanting more.

Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.

Director Lam Can-Zhao leads a small film crew as they shoot a film about a stray dog in the streets of Guangzhou, leading viewers into an unpredictable, peculiar and incredible journey.

The loss of biodiversity is highly alarming: our planet is currently experiencing the greatest extinction since the age of the dinosaurs. This film documents the extinction of species currently happening around the world. But it also highlights hopeful initiatives as committed men and women on every continent fight to save endangered species and work towards improving biodiversity.

Spark was an underground publication that emerged in Gansu province in 1960, and was centered on the ongoing famine and the Great Leap Forward. Ultimately, 43 people, including the Rightist teachers and students who were connected with the publication, the peasants and the rural cadres who sympathized with them, were arrested and given long prison terms. Among them, three key figures were executed during the Cultural Revolution.