The Chinese Independent Film Foundation (CIFF) is a
not-for-profit screen culture organisation dedicated
to showcasing new and old art-house Chinese-language
cinema across Australia. Founded in Narrm/Melbourne,
CIFF works with collaborators across mainland China,
Hong Kong and Taiwan to present films that
rarely receive theatrical release locally.

ACMI + THE ART GALLERY OF NSW | 2025

FOCUS ON QUEER 
中文 CINEMA
In 2025, CIFF curated and presented a selection of 18 queer Chinese-language films, from June 19 – August 2 at ACMI, and September 13 – November 1 at the Art Gallery of NSW. This program was presented with the curatorial support of the Beijing Queer Film Festival – mainland China’s longest running queer arts festival.

Spanning Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and other dialects, this program captured queer experiences with nuance, emotional depth and cultural specificity. Everyday conversations, family tensions, unspoken desires and quiet acts of resistance unfold not only through story, but also through the cinematic form itself – traversing fiction, documentary and experimental modes.

SPRING FEVER 春风沉醉的夜晚 (2009)
THE TWO LIVES OF LI ERMAO 李二毛的两次人生 (2019)
HAPPY TOGETHER 春光乍洩 (1997)
THE LAST YEAR OF DARKNESS 最后的黑暗之年 (2023)
THE WEDDING BANQUET 喜宴 (1993)
SAVING FACE (2004)
THE RIVER 河流 (1997)
GREEN SNAKE 青蛇 (1993)
EAST PALACE, WEST PALACE 东宫西宫 (1996)
BE A WOMAN 舞娘 (2011)  
QUEER CHINA, ‘COMRADE’ CHINA 同志中国 (2008)
THE PARISIAN IN BALI VILLAGE 巴黎人在八里庄 (2023)
HERE, HOPEFULLY 希望在哪里 (2022)
FLYING FISH 会飞的鱼 (2024)
OUTPICKER (2024)
FROZEN OUT 无地自容 (2021)
WEGEN HEGEL 色空 (2023)
Address: Elsewhere Books
Level 3, 139 Franklin Street, Melbourne

CIFF acknowledges the Traditional Owners of
the unceded land on which we work and create,
the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong
peoples, and the wider Kulin Nations.