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)

BEL AMI
漂亮朋友 (2024)  Directed by Geng Jun 耿军 (China) 
Program: Panorama of Chinese FilmIn a frozen town unwilling to stagnate, a middle-aged man meets true love and decides to come out of the closet. A lesbian couple decide to look for a gay man to marry and have a child. A restaurant owner wants to unite all the gays. Behind their fiery love stories is an absurd drama of identity politics. The ghost of communism often wanders around the lonely souls.

February, 2026

Past event.

TERRORIZERS
恐怖份子 (1986)  Directed by Edward Yang 楊德昌 (Taiwan) 
Program: Once Upon A Time In 華語 CinemaEdward Yang 楊德昌’s Terrorizers follows a group of loosely connected characters—a photographer, a novelist, a young delinquent, and a disillusioned couple—whose lives intersect through a prank call and a chain of coincidences. With calm, precise long takes and geometric compositions, Yang captures the quiet alienation of urban life and the subtle unraveling beneath its surface. Celebrated as a landmark of New Taiwan Cinema, the film explores how isolation and chance shape life in a rapidly modernising society. Its cool formalism and fragmented structure reveal Yang’s sharp insight into the social and emotional rhythms of the city.
February, 2026

Past event.

THREE SUMMERS
三個夏天 (1992)  Directed by Lawrence Ah Mon 劉國昌 (Hong Kong) 
Program:  Focus on Tony Leung Chiu-WaiSet over the course of three years, Lawrence Ah Mon 劉國昌’s film follows a group of teenagers navigating school, work and the uncertain future that awaits them. Tony Leung Chiu-wai 梁朝偉 plays a gentle but grounded mentor figure whose presence threads through their lives, offering guidance, humour and hard truths. The film moves between street-level realism and tender intimacy, capturing the texture of adolescence with specificity and emotional clarity.
January, 2026

Past event.

THE LAST YEAR OF DARKNESS
午夜出走 (2023)  Directed by Ben Mullinkosson (USA) 
Program:  Focus on Queer 中文 Cinema + ACMI Q&AIn the fading light of Chengdu’s club scene, a group of young misfits dance, party, and connect under the radar of a city rapidly gentrifying. US documentarian Ben Mullinkosson follows their final year inside Funky Town — a nightclub which, for many, acts as a place of liberation, community, and escape. Through moments of intimacy and exhilaration, the film captures a generation teetering between hedonism and uncertainty.

This screening was followed by a commissioned panel discussion with the director and cast hosted by Thread, a collective dedicated to leftfield electronic music and a space to celebrate contemporary East and Southeast Asian culture and the diaspora experience. Watch the full interview here.
November, 2025

Past event.


BUMMING IN BEIJING: THE LAST DREAMERS
流浪北京 (1990)  
Directed by Wu Wenguang 吴文光 (China) 
Program: Panorama of Chinese FilmRegarded as one of the most influential Chinese documentaries, BUMMING IN BEIJING: THE LAST DREAMERS follows the lives of five young artists, including two painters, a theater director, and a photographer. After graduating college, all of them reject state-assigned jobs, and move to Beijing as they strive for personal and artistic fulfillment in the Chinese capital. In Wu’s debut documentary, viewers come to understand these five creatives as they navigate the world without a fixed income or the security of a home during late 1980s China.
November, 2025

Past event.

GREEN SNAKE
青蛇 (1993)  Directed by Tsui Hark 徐克 (Hong Kong) 
Program:  Art Gallery of NSW exclusive, Focus on Queer 中文 CinemaAn intoxicating fantasy reimagines the legendary tale of the White Snake through the eyes of her rebellious sister. Blending wuxia spectacle, sensual romance and philosophical reflection, the film unfolds in a lush, dreamlike world where spirits, monks and mortals collide. Its vivid colours, operatic emotion and daring reinterpretation of Chinese myth make Green Snake a singular cult classic of Hong Kong cinema.
November, 2025

Past event.

AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL
大象席地而坐 (2018)    
Directed by Hu Bo 胡波 (China) 
Program: Panorama of Chinese FilmFinished just before his death at the age of 29, Chinese filmmaker Hu Bo’s monumental debut feature follows the troubled lives of four desperate people over the course of a single, suspensful day. In the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli, they say there is an elephant that simply sits and ignores the world. Manzhouli becomes an obsession for the protagonists of this film, from dawn to dusk, when the train to Manzhouli is set to depart.

October, 2025

Past event.

THE RIVER 河流 (1997)  Directed by Tsai Ming-liang 蔡明亮 (Taiwan) 
Program:  Focus on Queer 中文 CinemaA haunting tale of alienation and desire from master auteur Tsai Ming-liang 蔡明亮 — where bodies ache and silence speaks volumes. Hsiao-Kang develops mysterious neck pain after acting in a film shoot set in a polluted river. As his family deteriorates into emotional paralysis, he seeks relief in unexpected places, including Taipei’s hidden gay saunas. Tsai crafts a portrait of urban disconnection, where every gesture feels weighted with longing.
October, 2025

Past event.

THE TWO LIVES OF
LI ERMAO 二毛 (2019)  Directed by Jia Yuchuan 贾玉川 (China) 
Program:  Focus on Queer 中文 CinemaShot over 17 years, this documentary traces the life of Li Ermao, a transgender migrant worker navigating love, family rejection, poverty and shifting identity. From Guangzhou to her rural hometown and back again, Li’s journey is marked by both profound transformation and brutal marginalisation.

The documentary offers an unprecedented view into trans life in China. Its patient, observational style humanises Ermao’s struggle for acceptance, making it a vital addition to both queer cinema and global documentary practice.
September, 2025

Past event.
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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.