Chung Mong-hong

A family of four fractures under the weight of unmet expectations, unexpected tragedy, and uncompromising pride.

Security guard Pickle and his trash collector friend Belly Button kill time together in night shifts watching the American-educated boss's dash-cam recordings of his various sexual encounters with women. Against the buddies' will, something horrifying rather than erotic reveals.

A Taiwanese drug mule has his foolproof smuggling method thrown out of whack when he catches a ride with the wrong cab driver.

A film about the tormenting presence of absence. A young shop girl named Xiao Mei suddenly vanishes from her usual existence, without explanation or trace. Has she dissolved, or perhaps redeemed herself somehow? Nine people from her immediate surroundings try to fill the empty space left behind by this supposedly insignificant young woman. In a kaleidoscope of meandering memories, projections, confessions, interpretations, incantations and helpless speculations through which the young escapee wanders aimlessly, they attempt to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

On Mother's Day in Taipei, Chen Mo makes a date for dinner with his wife, hoping to bring their estranged relationship back together. While buying a cake on his way home, a car unexpectedly double parks next to his car, preventing his exit.

When April, a Filipino migrant worker, returns home with the ailing Taiwanese grandpa she cares for, while the grandpa's recently released son comes home only to find the house empty.

In 2006, Detective Chang leads a police investigation into a murder committed in a public marketplace. Chang discovers the victim's father has ties to several other families with dead or missing members, and a grim espionage case buried for 50 years in Taiwan's past. Meanwhile, the kidnapped Mr. Hsu is interrogated by a mysterious mastermind. As the truth emerges, the embers of history become a deadly wildfire.

After having to quarantine together during COVID-19, a mother and daughter are forced to confront their personal obstacles and relationship tensions.

Four school buddies — a director, a temp worker, an insurance salesman and a paper craftsman — grapple with unfulfilled dreams amid middle age ennui.

10+10 is a project initiated by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival to demonstrate the solidarity between Taiwanese film-makers. 20 directors are invited to make a 5-minute short film each on the theme of the “Uniqueness of Taiwan,” but allowed total freedom in all other aspects.

In this deliciously dark comedy, a woman desperately attempts to reunite her husband's amputated leg with his body before his funeral, leading her on a wild goose chase across Taipei and through multiple encounters with bureaucracy, ineptitude, and her own recent past.

Ten year-old Xiang faces a lonely future after his father dies. Just when he thinks he's going to spend his life in the orphanage, his estranged mother shows up. And his life changes forever... A loveless mother, a hateful stepfather, a chilly home. Where's Xiang heading to? He finds comfort in drawing and his work reveals his longing for care and affection. Life is full of hope again when he meets the old school janitor who doesn't show his kindness easily and a portly man who has crazy ideas and is haunted with nightmares of his brother. A scary truth is about to be unmasked. Will Xiang be able to depict his own image in the fourth portrait?

Chuan, a quiet 30-year-old man working as a chef in a Japanese restaurant, collapses suddenly and is rushed to a hospital. His colleagues send him to his father, who resides in the mountains. While there, Chuan becomes immobile: he won’t speak, eat or even go to the toilet on his own. One day his father returns from work only to find Chuan sitting in the corner with his daughter lying dead in a pool of blood. In an unfamiliar, eerily calm voice, Chuan says, “I saw this body was empty, so I moved in.

In 1996, Dr Wen's son, committed suicide in their home in Iowa City. Devastated, Dr Wen moved to Miami and years later would treat a young boy from Peru with cancer named Sebastian. Sebastian's optimism inspires Dr. Wen as we follow this inspiring story of youth and compassion.

Since the early 1990s, there had been a deep concern in Taiwan about the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant (aka the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant). In 1994, a local referendum at Gongliao, where the nuclear power plant was to be built, was held and 96% of voters voted against its construction. Chung Mong-hong combined images from the resistance with that of Taiwan's local festivities and religious ceremonies. Juxtaposed in an experimental style and accompanied by Christian chants, these images appear fragmented but reference each other, before transitioning to a more social realist style. The work depicts the shifting urban landscape of Taipei, capturing the collective memories of the locals, demonstrating Chung’s unique and astute observation of the society.

Is being in a foreign land, separated from one’s familiar daily life and human relationships, another form of escape? Four seemingly unrelated footages from CHUNG Mong-hong's overseas studies represent a contemplation of the foreign land and self-identity. Fleeting images of the city, surrealist compositions, the multifarious landscapes and imageries presage CHUNG’s early experimental features. The monologue at the end narrates the absence of the father and the resulting solitude and regret, reflecting CHUNG’s delicate sensibilities towards family and human relationship. The local religious chants serve as a stark cultural contrast against the life overseas, highlighting the cultural barriers and loneliness brought about by estrangement.

In this short filmed during Chung Mong-hong's study in the United States, a giant cross hovers above, as floating images of the city segue into the vast expanse on the beach where an exorcism is underway, with people holding crosses and self-flagellating, contrasting with the skyline on the other side of the city, the nostalgia and alienation of the sojourner. During the exorcism, a voice-over relates the varied reactions of the bystanders. What is ‘exorcism’, and how do symbols, sounds and imagery relate to each other? In this highly experimental work, Chung compares the director’s montage with the process of exorcism, offering an alternative interpretation and reconstruction of the film’s structure and narrative.