The Other ½ & the Other ½

Drifting Petals

A filmmaker and a piano student, who first meet in Australia, try to make sense of a past imbued with mystery in Macau and an uncertain future in Hong Kong.

Farewell China

Li Hung is a desperate mother who tried for years to obtain an American visa to study to create a better life for her husband Nansan and her son. But after a short time, she loses contact with her family, and her husband, Nansan smuggles himself to New York to find her.

They Say the Moon Is Fuller Here

In the early 1980s, director Clara Law Cheuk-yiu left her position as a producer at Radio Television Hong Kong’s TV division and became the first Chinese student at the National Film and Television School in the UK. Her graduation project, They Say the Moon Is Fuller Here, became a feature-length film and won the Silver Plaque award at the 1985 Chicago Film Festival.

Floating Life

An aging Hong Kong couple move to Australia with their two youngest sons. They stay with a daughter who has already begun a successful career. Meanwhile their eldest daughter lives in Germany and their eldest son remains in Hong Kong. The film explores the different ways the family members cope with isolation and alienation.

The Goddess of 1967

A rich, young businessman travels to Australia with the intention of buying a 1967 Citroën DS. Once he arrives, things do not go to plan, and he must drive the DS into the outback alongside a blind young woman in order to track down its seller.

Fruit Punch

Five young men threw themselves with heart and soul into the work force. They have different approaches and different life styles.

Autumn Moon

A Japanese tourist, Tokio, meets a 15-year-old Hong Kong girl and her grandmother left behind in Hong Kong while their family emigrates to Canada.

Letters to Ali

A woman and her family find themselves trying to get a young refugee boy out of a harsh Australian detention centre.

The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus

An exceptionally beautiful Chinese woman falls prey to violence and social control. After remembering how her previous reincarnation followed a similar path, she tries to break free of the mould.

Temptation of a Monk

Near the beginning of the Tang dynasty, in 7th century China, General Shi Yan-sheng is tricked into leaving the crown prince unguarded. The crown prince is murdered by one of his brothers who then becomes emperor. Shi retreats to a monastery, perhaps to hide, perhaps to plan a coup. When his loyal troops as well as the princess he desires are slain, he seeks refuge in a remote, abandoned monastery where an aged abbot schools him with practical, earthy teachings. The emperor's forces pursue Shi: first a woman, then a general seek to overpower him with lust and might. Over the course of the film, the reds of battle give way to blues of meditation.

The Private Eye Blues

Private investigator Jacky Cheung is adrift. He has separated from his wife (Kathy Chow) and misses his young daughter. His next assignment seems fairly simple: he must track down a troublesome teenage girl (Mavis Fan) and return her home to China. Powerful behind the scenes forces soon become apparent, however, and plunge our intrepid hero into greater trouble than he's ever known.

Shanghai Noir

Fan Ruyi, a detective, finds himself framed after getting a top secret mission. Along the way he meets a blind performer and a powerful warlord's daughter that further complicates his quest to clear his name.

Like a Dream

While on a business trip in Shanghai, a man sees a woman he has had recurring dreams of.

Erotique

The sexual fantasies of women are explored by four female directors.

Ripples in the Mist

Wai leaves Hong Kong without telling anyone and drift across Taiwan, reconnecting with old friends. Ling flies from Hong Kong to Australia to bring her deceased friend home, trying to piece together her state of mind before her death. The two journeys converge, bearing witness to a young generation's struggles while holding a glimmer of hope for the present time.

Quattro Hong Kong

Four short films by four Hong Kong directors.

Marie Antoinette

A retelling of the story of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette - from her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at fifteen to her reign as queen at nineteen and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

Children of a Lesser God

Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds meets Sarah Norman, a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. In spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state, a romance slowly develops between the pair.

September 11

An anthology of short films inspired by the events of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks.

Me and My Sister

Louise, who has just written a novel, comes to Paris to meet with a potential publisher. While in the city, she stays with her older sister, Martine, who in many ways is the exact opposite of Louise: she lives in a fashionable neighborhood, is cold to others, and has snobby friends, while Louise lives in a small town and is thoroughly unpretentious. Louise's apparent happiness -- and similarities to their mother -- gradually gets on Martine's nerves.

The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles

Josephine and Iris, sisters with opposite personalities, have their relationship radically transformed while working on a book.

In My Skin

After a disfiguring leg injury, a young woman develops an unsettling secret relationship with her own body in which pain is pleasure, mutilation is love and hungers of the flesh have a mind of their own.

The Secret

Marie, who works as a successful door-to-door encyclopedia salesperson, has been married to her husband Francois for 12 years and has a two-year-old son. Though she is relatively content with her life, she feels something is wanting. Enter 50-year old African-American Bill. Initially she is annoyed by his insouciance, but she finds that she is irresistibly attracted to him. Soon the two are in the midst of sordid illicit affair. She knows little about her new lover, and he seems uninterested in learning about her, but the long sessions of lovemaking are something else entirely. Feeling out of control, Marie is increasingly repelled by her own actions. Psychologically, she struggles to reconcile her torrid encounters with Bill and mundane domestic chores such as bathing her son. Moreover, she finds herself incapable of hiding her adulterous behavior, rather she comes home with scratches and hickeys all over her body, to the devastation Francois.

Helen

On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.