Synopsis Back in the Jin Dynasty, when only males were allowed to attend school, a spirited young woman, Jo (Zhu Yingtai), disguises herself as a boy and leaves home to be educated. When she sets off, Jo meets handsome Leon (Liang Shanbo), a fellow student she quickly becomes friends with. While at school, Jo falls in love with Leon, but before Jo can tell Leon the truth about her identity, obnoxious rival Winston (Ma Wen Tsai) finds out that Jo is a girl and uses his powerful father’s influence to force Jo’s parents to arrange their marriage. Jo is forced to decide between protecting her family or being with her true love. Despite the bleak situation, Jo finds out that the magic of true love can overcome all.
Synopsis I am Robinson, My disposable living necessities are provided by the hotel. Isn’t it great to live in a place, somewhere I can leave dirty and messy in the morning and automatically becomes tidy after I come back everyday. When I just met Vicky, my girlfriend, she seeks the feel of “home” more than anything else. The only thing I can do is take her to the hotel I stay and make love with her. I never tell her this is where I live permanently. I organize a team to sell houses. Our team specializes in writing the entire marketing proposals for building owners, packaging, promotions, and the sales. We all have our unique specialties and various backgrounds. From rags to riches, we developed a strong family tie, but I never interferer with their personal lives. Well, sometimes I have to For example, Billie is always in love and lovelorn can’t help but care about her when seeing her eyes full of sorrowful tears. As for Benny, he can fix up anything except his own wife. Every time he cheated on his wife, he got caught. And then he came to me and asked for help. Can I just sit there and ignore it? I found Crusoe Island at a website where it sells Islands. Somehow I just instantly believed the Island can help me turn over a new life.
Synopsis Swallow is a girl who comes to Taiwan from mainland of China to get married with a veteran. Soon after she arrived at Taiwan, her husband, Old Shu, suffered from a serious illness. He couldn’t talk or drive a cab to make a living and support this family, so she became the one who had to shoulder all the burdens. She turned their shabby attic into a crude koraoke, and inevitably became a prostitute. There, she encountered a old-time friend of Old Shu. Xiso-Kao is a young cop. He met Swallow through their taking care of street dogs. The two drifters heartedly listened to each other and embraced each other’s loneliness. Swallow was fond of Xiao-Kao, yet feared that too much intimacy would expose the illegal prostitution matter some day. Therefore, she could only stay friends with him. Later, Xiao-Kao went back to his hometown in the eastcoast. Under the hardship of the cruel world, Swallow decided to take Old Shu to China. On the way to the airport, however, Old Shu went into a coma. Swallow had no choice but to send him to the hospital. Everything therefore went back to the same old way. To survive, she had to sing at a local shabby pub. Swallow then accidentally found a tape in which Old Shu and she were having a good time accepting everyone’s blessings at the wedding banquet back in China. Now facing the suffocating and difficult life, all the joy in this video has become something she could never ever find again…
Casting: Chao-The YIN、Yu-Lun KO、Yu-Jie WANG、Yao-Wei SUN
Synopsis Fan Lun-tai was born in the wee hours of February 14th, given a mane that just happens to sound like “valentine.” The young Valentine and his little brother Leonardo are exact opposites, he, talkative and assertive, and Leonardo, reticent and shy. Yet Valentine is also very sensitive, longing for a love as strong as that between his mother and father. He has a crush on one of his classmates, the pigeon-toed and fiercely independent Bo-hsueh-but the tender-hearted little girl is moved by the attentiveness of her swimming teacher, a college student named Hsiao-hu. It is the day of Valentine’s elementary school graduation, and Mrs. Fan is rushing to attend the ceremony with Leonardo, when she is fatally hit by a delivery truck from their own printing factory. From that day on, Valentine sinks into a self-punishing guilt over his mother’s death, and Leonardo vents his anger at the world by hanging out with hooligans. Their father ultimately proves unable to bear the loss and drowns himself in the ocean, and the young brothers are left in the custody of an aunt. The story picks up again ten years later, when the now reclusive Valentine, troublemaker Leonardo, naïve Bo-hsueh, and cocky Hsiao-hu cross paths once more…
Synopsis Xiao-hua is a boy who lives with his mother. His mother is a street vendor who sells soft drinks outside of a military base. In order to earn more money from soldiers, she has to flirt with them. Xiao-hua has a dream. That is , to become a great soldier. For new soldiers at military troop number three, fulfilling obligatory military service is waste of life. They take advantage of Xiao-hua’s dream and curiosity, asking him to run some annoying errands for them. The commander knows clearly that these soldiers are very handy, and the only thing they lack is sense of responsibilities. Xiao-hua’s hardworking attitude inspired and helped these soldiers morale. Later, Xiao-hua stays in the hospital for not feeling well. He then discovered that he will die soon. Now his biggest dream is to put on a mighty soldier uniform and to inspect troops. After these soldiers find out about his dream, they decide to help him and strive for the supervisor’s approvals. Finally, after military officers approvals, Xiao-hua is able to, weakly, inspect the troops in his beloved uniform. When orderly troops march and salute to him, he feels that his life, though facing pain and death, is still full of glory and pride.
Synopsis For the past forty years, Ah Long has headed up a traditional Chinese musical troupe. But times are changing, and the troupe members leaving one by one, Ah Hui, is an aimless slacker with no plans for the future. Ah Hui’s best friend is Ah Gou, a young man who works as a welder making metal gates. One day, Ah Gou finds out that the two doors to their local temple, with door gods painted on them, are in fact antiques of great value. Desperate for money, he and Ah Hui steal the doors and sell them to a dealer in stolen artifacts next time Ah Gou visits the dealer to sell him something, he discovers him lying on the floor, dead. Just as Ah Gou is picking up the gun which he has found next to the body, the police arrive, and in a panic, he takes the gun with him and runs away. Ah Long has won round-trip tickets to New York city in the local gambling pool. He and his wife, along with a few other friends, travel in a small tour group to Manhattan. One day they are all having a meal in an American restaurant, they discover the stolen doors of the temple in their small town back in Taiwan being used as decoration in the main dining area. They negotiate with the owner to buy the doors from him, and they ship them back. That night they celebrate their accomplishment with a round of drinks. Ah Gou is desperately fleeing the authorities and seeks shelter with Ah Hui, hiding in Ah Ming’s pigeon coop. Ultimately, to the sound of Ah Long and the other tour group members’ cheerful singing under the bright lights of New York City, there is a final shootout between the police, Ah Gou, and Ah Hui on the rooftop in Taipei.
Synopsis This story takes place in 1945 in mainland China, The young girl ZHAO Ningjing has fallen in love with her distant older cousin LIN Shuangran, even though he is already promised to another. But love knows no master, and the two are willing to face the difficult road they have chosen. However, fate toys with them as only fate can do, and their overly cautious behavior as well as others’ ill intentions combine to force this romance ultimately, sadly, to come to a close. At this point, ZHAO has no choice but to wed a wealthy man whom she does not love, HSIUNG Yingsheng. HSIUNG is a narrow-hearted individual who knows that LIN is his competition and deliberately sets him up for failure. LIN leaves his hometown and disappears from the scene. Then follow the political upheavals of the era. It is now 20 years later, and ZHAO and LIN unexpectedly encounter each other in Hong Kong. LIN finds out that after ZHAO married HSIUNG, she refused to have children, and as a result, was virtually exiled from her own marriage. Her life has become nothing more than a series of hollow, meaningless days. LIN remained single but is now a sick old man nearing his 50’s. These two former lovers meet up with the hope of making up for lost time—but find that they are left with few remnants of their youthful passion. Nevertheless, ZHAO is determined not to lose her love once again and consequently divorces HSIUNG, intending to spend her remaining years with LIN. But LIN’s love for her means that he has different plans for their future…
Synopsis It’s the year 1999, the year before the millennium., Hei-shu’s cat is missing. At about the same time, a new neighbor moves in to an apartment upstairs. He strongly believes that his cat will come back some day. He later suspects that the cat has turned into a woman called Yokulut. Hei-shu He believes that he was Japanese in his previous life and was named “Tesuo”. There is a man shoes name is also “Tesuo” in the musicalband. Hei-shu, a long-term unemployed man, finally gets a job in a local musical band, performing at funerals and weddings. The irony is that no one in the band can play any musical instruments. One day, Hei-shu’s best friend, Tu-fei, lends him a porno VCD, which contains hidden camera filmed sex scenes. One of the scenes contains a 60 year-old woman having sex with a young man. He finds the old woman very attractive and familiar looking to him. She reminds him of his idol, Gao Ya-qi, a female news anchor. He shares a special world with Gao. From time to time, Gao talks to him personally on the TV screen. Later, she also warns Hei-shu better to keep his job. Otherwise, he might be4 one of the targets of the government’s conspiracy to terminate worthless individuals, especially the unemployed ones. Later, Hei-shu finds that Gao is also one of them… The crisis finally comes. Since Hei-shu and Tu-fei both cannot play any instruments, they’re afraid to be the next government targets so they try to learn their instruments and follow Gao’s instructions to avoid being exterminated. To make matters worse, Hei-shu’s mother has disappeared. On the eve of the millennium new year, every secret seems to have a different key to its mysteries…
Synopsis This is a story from the pages of a guidebook, about that little gap that exists between cities and people. Alex is an American travel column writer who comes to the east coast of Taiwan to do a report on whale watching. He forgets his passport and money on a bus, and as a result, is stuck in a little coastal village waiting for his new passport and documents to be sent to him. Hsiao Qi is a 17-year-old Taiwanese high schooler. One day, she discovers that she is pregnant, decides to go to the Pacific coast and end her own life. But her suicide attempt is foiled by a young Taiwan aborigine who rescues her and brings her to the same little village. Ah Peng is the local authority of this quiet village. Alex’s and Hsiao Qi’s unexpected arrivals are an unwelcome disturbance for him. He hopes to marry his girlfriend Hsiao Jun, Hsiao Mao’s older sister, but Hsiao Jun’s grandmother requires him to follow their tribal traditions and not only enter their family and take on their last name, but to remain in the village as well. Ah Peng, however, dreams of moving to Taipei and furthering his career in the big city. The friendships and conflicts that develop between these individuals make for a few weeks of cultural, romantic, and self discovery, all set against the beautiful backdrop of the eastern coast of Taiwan.
Synopsis Synopsis She’s five. She lives in a fantasy. Reality is too hard for her to understand, and she creates a fantasy world to escape the harshness of daily life, namely, her constantly fighting parents. Reality is the embarrassment of violence and humiliation in this dysfunctional family. But in the eyes of the little girl, it’s something else… She’s a rebellious 17-year-old and desires a change. She lives with her mother—or rather, they live together but in their separate worlds. She feels lonely and desperately wants to escape reality, so she steals ID cards and pretends to be other people. Then one day, a mysterious young man appears with no background, no identity, only a willingness to adventure with her… She is a woman of 30 with a secret that nobody can share. She comes to her mother’s sickbed, and their relationship turns from sarcastic quarrels to verbal violence to dead silence. But she has to compromise at some point before she becomes a mother herself…
Synopsis Synopsis IN TAIWAN, one day in early 1999, a drunken Taiwan youth parks his car on a coastal highway. When he wakes up, he and his car have been abandoned in a small, unknown town in southern China. His car is stolen again and driven to the seaside, and a Benz from Taiwan is left all by itself… “Hsiao Lin” an assistant television cameraman, has come to Beijing from Taiwan to film scenery at the Great Wall. He only smokes Long Life brand cigarettes. He secretly hires a Beijing youth, Hsiao Chou, as his assistant. As a result, he is fired by his Taiwan boss, he loses his Taiwan ID, and he ends up Moving into a rundown but friendly little alley… “Hsiao Chou” only thinks about making money. He is convinced that Hsiao Lin can sell off the antique clocks his grandfather left him in Taiwan. One day, his borrowed Jeep is stolen. Hsiao Chou decides to sell Yukiko, his pigeon, but the pigeon dealer wants the bird to fly from distant Urumuqi in Xinjiang Province all the way back to Beijing… Hsiao Lin and Hsiao Chou drive the old Jeep to the seaside. They stop next to the abandoned Benz, and Hsiao Lin says, “The red cloth on Yukiko’s leg says ‘Go home!” An empty Long Life cigarette box floats in the ocean…
Synopsis Bun-liong is a gentle, quiet young man whose only desire in life is to play his music. The movie alternates between scenes of his life traveling with a Taiwanese opera troupe and of each of his troubled visits to the village of his childhood by the Sand River. The story weaves a complex tapestry of a tragic life beginning in a destitute family and culminating in a failed marriage and the heartbreak of unrequited love. And through it all is his music, first the trumpet, then the saxophone, then the sad strains of the clarinet, filtering through the Sand River dusk, telling of a life of wanderlust and dreams unfulfilled. This film is rich with the atmosphere of Taiwan in the post-Japanese occupation years and includes many scenes of traditional Taiwan ge zai opera. It is adapted from the acclaimed Taiwanese author Chi Teng Sheng’s 1976 novel Lament of the Sand River, which is based on the real-life experiences of the author’s older brother.
Casting: Kang-Yi LEE、Chih-Wei FAN、Shu-Shen HSIAO、Kang-Sheng LEE
Synopsis Synopsis 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, as if in perpetual anticipation…One day, just when her mind is Wandering off yet again in the middle of math class, the teacher assigns her to be the student teacher. Hsin-he, a self-acknowledged math dunce, is left frustrated and annoyed. Knowing this, Teacher Tan orders that Fang Ke-lei, a male classmate who is a math whiz and student teacher of a different class, tutor Hsin-he in math and that Hsin-he assist Ke-lei with administrative tasks. Ordered to work together like this, the two find themselves not getting along; Ke-lei is reticent and arrogant, and Hsin-he writes him off as an egomaniac. Hsin-he thinks that he won’t be back to tutor her again, and she can go back to her happy, solitary life. But one day, Ke-lei shows up unexpectedly on the school bus. Making a sincere effort, he says that he has decided to use this time to tutor her. But he explains that on rainy, he will still take his family car. It’s the rainy season, and Hsin-he is sitting by herself on the school bus. Whether it’s at school, at home, or on the street, she keeps feeling this inexplicable discomfort, perhaps due to the oppressive, wet weather. So she makes a miniature “sunny doll” to ask for sunny weather…..
Synopsis Synopsis This story takes place in a small cotton village in China during the chaotic Cultural Revolution, sometime in the ‘50s. A young village boy, MA Cheng Gong (played by SU Yio peng), is mesmerized by the charms of FANG Bi Yu (played by NING Jing), an older sister figure to him and his co-worker. Because she is engaged to the son of the head of the village, one day FANG has the rare privilege and opportunity to travel to the province’s cotton factory to work. She takes MA with her, and they finally have the chance to get out of this small village. A new life begins for them in the big factory, with many new faces—both friend and foe—and many new tasks. MA is befriended by LEE Zhe Gao (played by TUO Zong-hua), who becomes a big brother figure to him. But when a romance develops between FANG and LEE, MA is stuck in the middle, his innocent mind puzzled and disturbed. For the first time, the young boy experiences the bittersweet taste of love. Passion and lust, wildness and imagination create turmoil in this remote factory. The white cotton fields are no longer so pure and white…
Synopsis Seven days to the twenty-first century. Somewhere in Taiwan, the rain won’t let up, A mysterious disease reaches epidemic proportions. The government demands a massive transfer our of the quarantine zone. But some residents still refuse to move away. In a run-down public housing building, a man is awakened from a nap by the doorbell. A plumber has been sent by the downstairs neighbor, who has been complaining of a leak. The plumber doesn’t solve the problem, but does leave a sizeable hole in the middle of the man’s living room. The man doesn’t mind the hole much. In fact, he finds the hole useful for learning about his downstairs neighbor, a woman who stockpiles toilet paper. He quickly becomes fascinated by her to the point that he doesn’t want the plumber to come back. Then comes the fatal day when his neighbor develops the symptoms of the mysterious disease…A love story for the millennium.