The China Hustle

An unsettling and eye-opening Wall Street horror story about Chinese companies, the American stock market, and the opportunistic greed behind the biggest heist you've never heard of.

Mrs. Fang

In a quiet village in southern China, Fang Xiuying is sixty-seven years old. Having suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, with advanced symptoms and ineffective treatment, she was sent back home. Now, bedridden, she is surrounded by her relatives and neighbors, as they witness and accompany her through her last days.

Forbidden City: The Great Within

Amidst the grand walls of the Forbidden City, the film takes us on a deep journey through the ceremonial life of the Chinese emperor, unveiling the secrets and intrigues of concubines, eunuchs, and palace maids. As the West begins to influence China in the late 19th century, the dynamics within the city shift dramatically. The film highlights the preservation and restoration of invaluable treasures and paintings, culminating in the creation of the Palace Museum. With insights from renowned China scholar, Jonathan Spence, this is an intimate exploration of the rich cultural and historical tapestry that makes up the heart of ancient China.

Starring Jerry as Himself

Jerry, an ordinary immigrant dad, retired in Orlando, is recruited to be an undercover agent for the Chinese police. Jerry’s family recreates the events on film and his three sons discover a darker truth. True crime meets spy thriller in this genre-bending docufiction hybrid about an immigrant’s search for the American dream. A Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury and Audience Award winner.

Draussen bleiben

Crocodile in the Yangtze

Crocodile in the Yangtze follows China's first Internet entrepreneur and former English teacher, Jack Ma, as he battles US giant eBay on the way to building China's first global Internet company, Alibaba Group. An independent memoir written, directed and produced by an American who worked in Ma's company for eight years, Crocodile in the Yangtze captures the emotional ups and downs of life in a Chinese Internet startup at a time when the Internet brought China face-to-face with the West. Crocodile in the Yangtze draws on 200 hours of archival footage filmed by over 35 sources between 1995 and 2009. The film presents a strikingly candid portrait of Ma and his company, told from the point of view of an “American fly on a Chinese wall” who witnessed the successes and the mistakes Alibaba encountered as it grew from a small apartment into a global company employing 16,000 staff.

China und Wir

China is pushing hard into German and European markets. Furthermore, Beijing is developing into an increasingly powerful military power. An investigative reporter team from BR, rbb, and SWR is investigating the impact this has on Germany's internal and external security.

Dissidents

An artist's sculpture is burnt down, a protester is charged with a criminal case, and a democracy movement is violently attacked. In the United States, three Chinese dissidents fight for democracy against a superpower through art, petition, and grassroots organizing, but not even exile is safe.

Tea War: The Adventures of Robert Fortune

In the 19th century, China held the monopoly on tea, which was dear and fashionable in the West, and the British Empire exchanged poppies, produced in its Indian colonies and transformed into opium, for Chinese tea. Inundated by the drugs, China was forced to open up its market, and the British consolidated their commercial dominance. In 1839, the Middle Empire introduced prohibition. The Opium War was declared… Great Britain emerged as the winner, but the warning was heeded: it could no longer depend on Chinese tea. The only alternative possible was to produce its own tea. The East India Company therefore entrusted one man with finding the secrets of the precious beverage. His mission was to develop the first plantations in Britain’s Indian colonies. This latter-day James Bond was called Robert Fortune – a botanist. After overcoming innumerable ordeals in the heart of imperial China, he brought back the plants and techniques that gave rise to Darjeeling tea.

Wisdom of Changes - Richard Wilhelm and the I Ching

As a young missionary, Richard Wilhelm in 1899 to China, which was then exploited by the colonial powers. He lived there revolts against foreigners, the end of the imperial dynasties and the First World War. In these times of turbulent upheavals he was indefatigable in search of the deepest truth that helps people deal with change and able to shape their own lives. Richard Wilhelm baptized not only Chinese, but accomplished one of the largest translation services of the 20th century: Confucius, LAOTSE the most important texts of Daoism and especially the I CHING THE BOOK OF CHANGES. The book also served many readers in the West as inspiration. Wilhelm is still one of the most important mediators of Chinese culture in Europe.

Dwarves Kingdom

Dwarves Kingdom is a documentary film about a theme park featuring performances by little people with dwarfism who live in a fantasy recreation of a magical empire. Built by a wealthy Chinese businessman, this other-worldly kingdom, officially called World Ecological Garden of Butterfly and Little People Kingdom, is located in the mountains surrounding the city of Kunming in Western China.

Secrets of the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is the world’s biggest and most extravagant palace complex ever built. For five centuries, it was the power center of imperial China and survived wars, revolution, fires, and earthquakes. How did the Ming Emperor’s workforce construct its sprawling array of nearly 1,000 buildings and dozens of temples in a little over a decade?

Chinese Chariots Revealed

For over 1,000 years, chariots were indispensable weapons in ancient China. The art of chariot driving and special warfare were used there for longer than anywhere else. Their contribution to the unification of the Chinese empire is undisputed. New archaeological discoveries reveal how the Chinese developed and perfected this sophisticated weapon. In the Bronze Age, over 3,000 years ago, chariots and other war equipment arrived in China from Central Asia via the Hexi Corridor. In addition to trade and new alliances, their spread was mainly due to the Zhou dynasty's incessant military campaigns against rebellious vassal states and the constant attacks by the mobile cavalries of its northern neighbors. Manned with spearmen or archers, the chariots were a decisive weapon in battle.

Mass-market retailing: The end of a system?

The supermarket chains used to seem unbeatable, capturing the lion’s share of the grocery market. But for some years now they have been in crisis. In the wake of a fierce price war, retailers are resorting to increasingly aggressive commercial negotiation methods at the expense of suppliers, farmers and producers. Further competition is coming from the tech giants as Amazon and Alibaba invest in the food industry. What are the implications of all these changes on working conditions, the quality of our food and the future of our planet?

Ieri è Oggi

Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet

Sir Ian McKellen reads the poetry, Michael Wood traces the journey on the ground. Together they conjure up the extraordinary life, times and words of China’s greatest poet, Du Fu. In this film, the first to ever be made about Du Fu in the west, Michael follows his tracks by road, train and riverboat. Along the way, he meets ordinary people, dancers and musicians, who help to tell the amazing story of a poet whose words have resonated through the centuries, describing the experiences of ordinary people caught up in war, corruption, famine and natural disasters. "I am one of the privileged. If my life is so bitter, then how much worse is the life of the common people?"

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

Please Vote for Me

At Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China, a Grade 3 class learns what democracy is when an election for class monitor is being held. Three children are chosen by the teacher as candidates and they have a few days to campaign and convince their classmates to vote for them. The little candidates are seen at school and at home, where their parents do their best to make sure their child will win the election.

Home and a Distant Archive

A poetic, experimental portrait of four Hong Kong women in London working to digitise records of the handover agreement between the United Kingdom and China. Impressionistic and precise, personal and expansive, Cheung's elegant, eloquent work decodes history and how politics are enacted.

The Man with the Lantern

To discover the truth behind the mysterious objects her uncle brought back from the Far East during her childhood, filmmaker Francesca Lixi embarks on a journey to those places through archival footage.

Female Urologists 3

Haeil, wounded by his wife's words of 'premature ejaculation', goes to a urology department. But because the doctor is a woman, she is so surprised and embarrassed that she tries to go out. Then, a word from a woman doctor catches him. "How long will you live with premature ejaculation?". After that, after receiving special treatment, the beautiful female doctor Jeongyeon and glamor nurse Mijoo, Haeil gradually became a man loved by his wife.

Six Weeks to Twelve Years

After the death of their abusive father, two estranged twin brothers must reunite and sell off his property.

The World of Apu

Apu, now a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer, is invited to join an old college friend on a trip up-country to a village wedding.

Mutiny on the Buses

Bus driver Stan Butler agrees to marry Suzy, much to the anguish of Mum, her son-in-law, Arthur, and daughter Olive. How, they wonder, will they ever manage without Stan's money coming in? Then Arthur is sacked, and Stan agrees to delay the wedding. Meanwhile, he hits on an idea: Arthur should learn to drive a bus. Somehow he does just that, and even gets a job. Stan then blackmails the Depot Manager into giving him the job of driver on the new money-making Special Tours Bus. A great idea ...if only the inspector hadn't taken Stan on his trial run to the Windsor Safari Park

The Godfather Part II

In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

Osiris

Special Forces commandos on a mission are abducted mid-operation by a mysterious spacecraft. Upon waking aboard, they find themselves prey to a relentless alien race in a fight for survival.

Six Men Getting Sick

Lynch's first film project consists of a looping animation of six people vomiting projected on to a special sculptured screen featuring twisted three-dimensional faces.

Hard Times

In the depression, Chaney, a strong silent streetfighter, joins with Speed, a promoter of no-holds-barred street boxing bouts. They go to New Orleans where Speed borrows money to set up fights for Chaney, but Speed gambles away any winnings.

The Summer House

A large and beautiful property on the French Riviera. A place that seems out of time and sheltered from the rest of the world. Anna goes there with her daughter for a few days of vacation. Amidst her family, friends and the house staff, Anna has to handle her fresh break-up with her partner and the writing of her next film.

Tethered Wings

On his wedding day, Paul is confronted by the sudden return of Joseph, a boy he lost touch with twenty years ago. The burning memories of that summer of 1983 resurface, overwhelming him with doubts about a lifetime of choices and the emotions of a forbidden love. As teenagers, their dazzling romance sparked relentless, violent homophobic harassment—until one tragic night changed their lives forever. Now, twenty years later, the past comes crashing into the present.

Entr'acte

Stop-motion photography blends with extreme slow-motion in Clair's first and most 'dada' film, composed of a series of zany, interconnected scenes. We witness a rooftop chess match between Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, a hearse pulled by a camel (and chased by its pallbearers) and a dizzying roller coaster finale. A film of contradictions and agreements.

Do Re Mi

Do, who doesn't take much consideration about his marriageis circled with so many debts. He lied to his mother in law to get some money. Do and his wife eventually got a divorce and Do moved out to Kuala Lumpur to start a new life. Re on the other hand has a wife who is working at a night club whereas he stays at home and takes care of the house chores. Due to re's negligent behaviour his wife's money was stolen and he was told to leave the house bringing him dragging himself to the big city. Mi, a bachelor who is head over heels with the girl who is staying across his house often loans him some money. While Mi was out looking for a job he helped out capturing the theif who snatched a lady's handbag alongside with Re and Do who was in the area and helped out as well. They became close friends since then.

Flow

The Vanishing Lady

Georges Méliès makes a woman disappear, then reappear.

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice

The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet and rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.

Rainy Dog

A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.

A Trip to the Moon

Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.

The Lady from Shanghai

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

Climates

Man was made to be happy for simple reasons and unhappy for even simpler ones – just as he is born for simple reasons and dies for even simpler ones... Isa and Bahar are two lonely figures dragged through the ever-changing climate of their inner selves in pursuit of a happiness that no longer belongs to them.

The Countryman and the Cinematograph

A satire on the way that audiences unaccustomed to the cinema didn't know how to react to the moving images on a screen - in this film, an unsophisticated (and stereotypical) country yokel is alternately baffled and terrified, in the latter case by the apparent approach of a steam train.