Best New Independent Chinese Films
I am a big fan of Chinese contemporary avant garde films.
This list includes mostly relatively recent movies (1990-2020s) from Mainland China (PRC). Some of the movies are from the Greater China region (produced in Hong-Kong or Taiwan) or made in cooperation with other countries (Singapore or the USA). I intentionally did not include HK martial arts movies, big-budget domestic blockbusters and collaborations with well-known American studios, this list is dedicated to mostly independent movie-makers.
This list includes mostly relatively recent movies (1990-2020s) from Mainland China (PRC). Some of the movies are from the Greater China region (produced in Hong-Kong or Taiwan) or made in cooperation with other countries (Singapore or the USA). I intentionally did not include HK martial arts movies, big-budget domestic blockbusters and collaborations with well-known American studios, this list is dedicated to mostly independent movie-makers.
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- DirectorXiaogang FengStarsBingbing FanWei FanXiaogang FengAfter being swindled by her ex-husband, a woman takes on the Chinese legal system.
- DirectorBi GanStarsTang WeiJue HuangSylvia ChangA man went back to Guizhou, found the tracks of a mysterious woman. He recalls the summer he spent with her twenty years ago.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsChao DengLi SunRyan ZhengIn a Chinese royal court, an army commander secretly trains a "shadow" to retake a city against the wishes of the king.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsTao ZhaoYi ZhangLiang JingdongThe life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored in three different time periods: 1999, 2014, and 2025.
- DirectorYe LouStarsXun ZhouHongsheng JiaZhongkai HuaAfter getting out of prison, small-time crook Mardar stumbles upon a woman who looks exactly like his long-lost lover.
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsLeslie CheungFengyi ZhangGong LiTwo boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
- DirectorVivian QuStarsVicky ChenMeijun ZhouKe ShiIn a small seaside town, two schoolgirls are sexually assaulted by a middle-aged man in a motel. Mia, a teenager who was working on reception that night, is the only witness. For fear of losing her job, she chooses to keep silence.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsTao ZhaoFan LiaoZheng XuA story of violent love within a time frame spanning from 2001 to 2017.
- DirectorYi'nan DiaoStarsGe HuGwei Lun-MeiFan LiaoA gangster on the run sacrifices everything for his family and a woman he meets while on the lam.
- DirectorWen JiangStarsChow Yun-FatWen JiangYou GeIn 1920s China, a bandit arrives in a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, where he faces off against a tyrannical local nobleman.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsYou GeGong LiBen NiuAfter Fugui and Jiazhen lose their personal fortunes, they raise a family and survive difficult cultural changes during 1940s to 1970s China.
- DirectorMuye WenStarsZheng XuYiwei ZhouChuan-jun WangThe story of how a small drugstore owner became the exclusive selling agent of a cheap Indian generic drug against Chronic Granulocytic Leukemia in China.
- DirectorBi GanStarsYongzhong ChenFeiyang LuoLixun XieWhile travelling the countryside to locate his nephew, a small town doctor finds himself interacting with people from his past and future.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsWu JiangBaoqiang WangTao ZhaoFour independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.
- DirectorSheng DingStarsAndy LauYe LiuQianyuan WangMr. Wu, a Hong Kong movie star, is kidnapped by four unpredictable criminals disguised as police officers. Will he get rescued?
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsZiyi ZhangTakeshi KaneshiroAndy LauA romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
- DirectorDerek TsangStarsDongyu ZhouJackson YeeFang YinWhile she copes the the pressures of her final examinations, a bullied teenage girl forms an unlikely friendship with a mysterious young man who protects her from her assailants.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsXuejian LiTaishen ChengDongyu ZhouRomance sparks between a young woman and a young man from different economic backgrounds during China's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and '70s.
- DirectorHongqi LiStarsJinfeng BaiLei BaoHui WangAn ordinary village in Northern China, the last day of the winter vacation. Four idle, aimless adolescents gather at Zhou Zhixin's home, a friend who lives with his father, brother and nephew. Like most contemporary teenagers, these youths want to enjoy their last day of holiday and simply hang out in this place where nothing ever seems likely to happen. Their conversations are desultory and they sometimes seem to argue for argument's sake. One of them, Laowu, talks frankly with his girlfriend about how teenage love might affect their studies, while Laobao questions school's value and relevance to real life.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiWen JiangRujun TengWhen a leprous winery owner in 1930s China dies a few days after his arranged marriage, his young widow is forced to run the winery to make a living while contending with bandits, her drunkard lover, and the invading Japanese army.
- DirectorFeng YangStarsYu XiaLi-Chun LeeKai TanIn 1944, the gunman Gu Nian was entrusted by his close friend Fang Ping on his deathbed to deliver the remains in Harbin. Upon arriving in Harbin, Gu Nian learned that the Fang family had been brutally destroyed several years ago. Gu decided to stay in Harbin to investigate the murderer behind the Fang family. In the following year, Gu disguised himself as "Fang Ping" and began to assassinate all suspected villains one by one. The time came to the victory of the Anti Japanese War in 1945, when the puppet Manchukuo was temporarily taken over by the Soviet army. To conceal his identity, Gu Nian was hired by Zhong Zhen, the owner of the cargo yard dock, to find a job as a gunman under his command. At this time, Zhong Zhen was at the height of the black and white lanes in Harbin, and Gu Nian also found the best hiding place for the next revenge action. The gunman Old Jiao, who was lurking in a tailor's shop in the suburbs, was as jealous of evil as his enemies. The dark forces in Harbin have always been his target for assassination. Every gang in Harbin turned pale upon hearing Old Jiao. On the winter night of 1944, Gu Nian was ordered by Zhong Zhen to track down Jiao's hiding place, intending to take his life and commit suicide. However, after a confrontation between the two, the clues about the Fang family's extermination began to gradually become clear. The film reveals different levels of human nature, and in this materialistic old era, everyone had two faces. An epic and legendary story about keeping promises and sacrificing oneself to become benevolent has also begun.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsYi ZhangHaocun LiuWei FanA movie fan in a remote farmland strikes a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.
- DirectorBo HuStarsYu ZhangYuchang PengUvin WangFour people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiBaotian LiXiaoxiao WangA provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a ganglord's mistress.
- DirectorYukun XinStarsWu JiangYang SongWenkang YuanA young boy tends sheep on a hillside in Northern China goes missing. His mute father looks for him with a special way of solving problems: Fisticuffs.
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsYuanyuan GaoChen YaoMark You-Ting ChaoThe story begins on a bus, when white-collar worker Ye refuses to give up her seat to a senior citizen. Her defiance is videotaped by a journalist intern and played during a news show. The video sparks intense debate on and off the Internet. Some Internet users search for Ye's personal information and post it all online. The issue soon brings tremendous changes to the families of both the journalist intern and Ye's boss.
- DirectorDa-Mo PengFei YanStarsTeng ShenLi MaZheng YinAfter attending a wedding of his high school crush Qiuya, Xia Luo gets drunk embarrassing himself and angers his wife Ma Dongmei.
- DirectorHan HanStarsChao DengEddie PengZanilia ZhaoIn the near-death after an accident, a sports car driver time-travelled back to the 1990s to meet his severe father and never-seen mother in a small Chinese town.
- DirectorHu GuanStarsXiaogang FengHanyu ZhangQing XuA well respected man residing in what's left of old-Beijing attempts to exonerate his son from his wrongdoings with his own methods and beliefs.
- DirectorSivaroj KongsakulShijie TanYukun XinStarsChen Bo-linChayanit ChansangavejPaul Chun3 Chapters of stories reveal abandoned paternal love, friendship and love between generations.
- DirectorXiaogang FengStarsXuan HuangMiao MiaoCaiyu YangA look at the lives of members of a Military Cultural Troupe in the 1970s.
- DirectorXiaozhi RaoStarsJianbin ChenSuxi RenBinlong PanWhile two criminals hide out at a woman's apartment after a botched robbery, an ex-cop tries to find a missing gun.
- DirectorFrant GwoRandy LiuStarsDongyu ZhouKenny LinNatsuko AoikeMy Old Classmate was an extraordinarily popular song composed by Gao Xiaosong in 1994. After 20 years, the movie My Old Classmate utilized the same name to recall all the romantic memories for several generations. The movie focused on a pair of young couple with pure love and their struggles in different varieties of obstacles during their growth, which expressed the sorrow in a soft way. The movie turn out to be a masterpiece, which got over 450 million RMB as the perfect end.
- DirectorYu Shan ChenStarsVivian SungTalu WangDino LeeLove grows where it isn't expected in this endearing romantic comedy coming of age movie.
- DirectorWai-Man YipStarsBaoqiang WangZheng XuMan LiA boss of a toy corporation, Chenggong Li, tries to head back to Changsha to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his family. However, plans don't go as smoothly after he crosses paths with a stranger, Geng Niu.
- DirectorSicheng ChenStarsSicheng ChenLiya TongTony Ka Fai LeungDifferent generations look at love, romance and commitment, all from a uniquely Beijing perspective; a pregnant woman must choose between her husband and an ex-love who comes back into her life, a couple looks toward a trip to Greece to confront their own infidelity, and a young couple must decide whether to listen to their parents' reason or their emotional heart.