Zhang Yuan

An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.

No synopsis available yet.

An omnibus project bringing together acclaimed directors from around the world, each contributing a 42-second short inspired by a dream. Produced by 42 Below vodka, the collection blends surreal, poetic, and experimental visions into a mosaic of oneiric cinema.

A heterosexual Beijing policeman and a young homosexual challenge each other's sexuality.

The story continues with Na Xinting’s unwavering commitment to his patriotic duty, even as he faces mounting threats from multiple forces. His relationship with the Daoist leader, Shen Jiu, is a key dynamic, as Shen’s fiery patriotism shakes Na’s worldview. Meanwhile, various factions, including government troops, traitors, and foreign mercenaries, close in on the hidden treasure. The situation escalates into a tense struggle for control of the treasure and the fate of the mountain village. Na is forced to navigate complex alliances and betrayals as he seeks to protect the treasure and his newfound Daoist allies.

Qiang a rebellious 4-year-old is put in boarding school where he causes havoc by defying the teachers and principal who try to impose some discipline on him.

No synopsis available yet.

An omnibus project bringing together acclaimed directors from around the world, each contributing a 42-second short inspired by a dream. Produced by 42 Below vodka, the collection blends surreal, poetic, and experimental visions into a mosaic of oneiric cinema.

A heterosexual Beijing policeman and a young homosexual challenge each other's sexuality.

A heterosexual Beijing policeman and a young homosexual challenge each other's sexuality.

A heterosexual Beijing policeman and a young homosexual challenge each other's sexuality.

Qiang a rebellious 4-year-old is put in boarding school where he causes havoc by defying the teachers and principal who try to impose some discipline on him.

Qiang a rebellious 4-year-old is put in boarding school where he causes havoc by defying the teachers and principal who try to impose some discipline on him.

Qiang a rebellious 4-year-old is put in boarding school where he causes havoc by defying the teachers and principal who try to impose some discipline on him.

Qiang a rebellious 4-year-old is put in boarding school where he causes havoc by defying the teachers and principal who try to impose some discipline on him.

Tao Lan and Yu Xiaoqin are teenage stepsisters. They attend the same high school and share a room, yet they couldn't be more different. The former is wild and a bit of a drifter, while the latter is diligent and studious. One day, Yu Xiaoqin steals money from her father and blames Tao Lan.

Tao Lan and Yu Xiaoqin are teenage stepsisters. They attend the same high school and share a room, yet they couldn't be more different. The former is wild and a bit of a drifter, while the latter is diligent and studious. One day, Yu Xiaoqin steals money from her father and blames Tao Lan.

No synopsis available yet.

Chinese film directed by Zhang Yuan

A young woman who has been abandoned by her husband is left to cope with her mentally challenged and epileptic 13-year-old son.

A young woman who has been abandoned by her husband is left to cope with her mentally challenged and epileptic 13-year-old son.

Chinese short film directed by Zhang Yuan.

No synopsis available yet.

Story of a real family in Beijing. The father's drinking problem starts it all. The mother struggles to keep the family together till she cannot take it any more.

Story of a real family in Beijing. The father's drinking problem starts it all. The mother struggles to keep the family together till she cannot take it any more.

A young woman who has lost her first love begins a relationship with his best friend, and the two of them attempt to create a baggage-free future.

The film tells the story of how an ordinary police officer can fight with criminals, combat criminal offenses, protect people's lives and property, and maintain social stability.

A mysterious woman frequents tea shops and other places looking for the right man. A cup of green tea will show you the way to find your true love.

A mysterious woman frequents tea shops and other places looking for the right man. A cup of green tea will show you the way to find your true love.

The first days of 2020's lockdown seem to drag forever for a group of tourists trapped in a Thai hotel. In strict confinement and as the big day of an unexpected event approaches, emotional entanglements, tensions and long kept secrets rise to the surface.

Anthology propaganda documentary film commissioned by the government of Foshan city. Ten documentary short on this city by ten different directors.

Despite its suggestive title, this multi-part Danish omnibus film is not a work of exploitation. Instead, it presents 20 different short films (back-to-back) on the general theme of Danish women, directed by filmmakers including Krzysztof Zanussi, Monika Treut, Gustav Hamos, David Blair, Vibeke Vogel, Dusan Makavejev, Morten Skallerud and Lars Norgaard. Some dramatic vignettes mix with other comedic ones, but all are offbeat and experimental. The picture includes one animated sequence (by Norgaard).

Beijing is happening these days, but not everyone is living the golden life. Dumped, fired, evicted and abandoned by everyone (including his dog), a down-on-his-luck man finds solace with a circle of equally ill-fated friends, in this touching and lighthearted drama from independent Chinese auteur Zhang Yuan (Beijing Bastards). (TIFF.)

Cui Jian and Zhang Yuan

The film documents a day in the life of Tiananmen Square in 1994, a mere five years after the crushing of a student-led democracy movement in 1989.

The film documents a day in the life of Tiananmen Square in 1994, a mere five years after the crushing of a student-led democracy movement in 1989.

After her mother's lecherous boyfriend reveals she's adopted, incorrigible flirt Dada skips town -- with hopelessly smitten boy-next-door Zhou in tow -- in search of her birth mother.

A rock musician looks for his girl-friend who left while pregnant, trying to decide whether to keep the baby.

Student film by Zhang Yuan, shot on 35mm film.

Ai Jing and Zhang Yuan

2013 short film

Jiang Jie is famous throughout China: the “Chinese Joan of Arc,” in the words of director Zhang Yuan, a communist heroine executed by the Kuomintang in 1949, on the eve of the revolution. Zhang Yuan’s film, a passionately engaged tribute to the 1964 “revolutionary opera” based on Jiang Jie’s life, follows the original closely...The Revolutionary melodrama plot, not that different from Verdi’s 19th century versions, has of course a completely different resonance today. The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) enshrined this kind of “revolutionary opera” — based on traditional Beijing opera, but with substantial stylistic and formal revisions — as the epitome of Maoist propaganda art. In the past ten years, Chinese and Western experts have begun to re-evaluate the art behind the propaganda, to find creativity, and even shocking beauty under the layers of kitsch and repellent politics the works have sometimes embodied. —Shelly Kraicer

The 2014 edition of an annual short film compilation. Zhang Yuan directs "I love you boss," about the relationship between a wealthy man and his driver. Kang Je-kyu directs "Awaiting," about a South Korean woman striving to reconnect with her husband in Pyongyang. Christopher Doyle does "Education for All," a documentary about the next generation in Hong Kong and Shu Kei's the dream focuses on a bored housewife who fixates on an attractive stranger at the next table.

Cui Jian and Zhang Yuan

Chen Jin and Zhang Yuan

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.

Cui Jian and Zhang Yuan