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)

SPECIAL SCREENING – ACMI 

CHINESE AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILMS
A new wave of Chinese-Australian filmmakers are emerging as a bold generation of storytellers, eager to assert their place within both national and global cinema.

Presented by the Chinese Independent Film Foundation, this program gathers seven award-winning shorts, spanning 2012 to 2024, previously screened at Festival de Cannes, Toronto International Film Festival, MIFF, BFI London and more. Featuring Australian diaspora filmmakers, alongside directors from Singapore and mainland China who have lived and worked in Australia, the selection traces the stories shaping contemporary Chinese-Australian screen culture.

The screening will be followed with a panel discussion with the filmmakers, moderated by curator and artist Nikki Lam.

FARAWAYS (2012),  dir. Audrey Lam
WITHERED BLOSSOMS (2024), dir.  Lionel Seah
A GENTLE NIGHT  (2017), dir.  Qiu Yang
DANCING GIRL & BALLOON MAN (2023), dir. David Ma
BONG XI FA CAI (2024), dir. Johnathan Lo
TUI NA (2022), dir. William Duan
IDOL (2020), dir. Alex Wu

Where: ACMI, Fed Square
When: Thursday, March 26,  7.30pm

Tickets.


SEASONAL PROGRAM – ACMI

FOCUS ON TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI

As part of ACMI’s upcoming Focus on Tony Leung Chiu-wai season, CIFF was invited to curate three early and rarely screened works from Tony Leung Chiu-wai 梁朝偉‘s celebrated career, spotlighting lesser-seen chapters of his filmography. Moving into film, Tony has become a director’s actor, working with some truly iconic filmmakers, including Wong Kar-wai, John Woo, Johnnie To, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Ang Lee, Zhang Yi-mou, Ildikó Enyedi and Tran Anh Hung. The list is as impressive as it is long. Join us in the cinema as we journey deep into the films and get lost in the thoughtful eyes of Tony Leung Chiu-wai.

THREE SUMMERS 三個夏天 (1992)
LOVE UNTO WASTE 地下情（1986)
THE LONGEST NITE 暗花 (1997)

Tickets.

TO LIVE 活著 (1994)  Directed by Zhang Yimou 張藝謀 (China) 
Program: Panorama of Chinese Film An adaption of Yu Hua 余華’s sweeping novel into an intimate epic of survival, tracing one family’s fate across decades of political upheaval. Led by a luminous performance from Gong Li 鞏俐, alongside Ge You 葛優, the film balances wry humour and devastating loss with emotional clarity and visual splendour. A landmark of Fifth Generation cinema and a deeply human portrait of endurance in the face of history.

BEAUTY OF BEAUTIES
西施 (1965)  Directed by Li Han-hsiang 李翰祥 (China) 
Program: Once Upon A Time In 華語 CinemaSet in the Warring States era, Beauty of Beauties follows the courtesan Xi Shi, whose grace becomes a political weapon when she is sent to seduce the enemy king. Director Li Han-hsiang 李翰祥 blends historical drama with operatic artifice, creating a film that epitomises mid-century Hong Kong studio spectacle. Beyond its romantic tragedy, Beauty of Beauties explores the timeless interplay of beauty, power, and sacrifice - themes central to Sinophone cinema, where personal desire and political fate often collide.
Sunday, May 3, 2pm

ACMI (Melb) tickets

THE LAST EMPEROR
末代皇帝 (1987)  Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy) 
Program: Once Upon A Time In 華語 CinemaTracing the life of Aisin-Gioro Puyi 愛新覺羅·溥儀, China’s final Qing dynasty monarch, this sweeping epic unfolds through memories of imperial splendour and the stark realities of Communist re-education. Moving between the gilded confines of the Forbidden City and a rapidly transforming nation, the film spans more than half a century of upheaval and reinvention. Monumental in scale yet intimate in psychological detail, it becomes a meditation on identity, privilege and loss — a universal portrait of humanity caught between memory and modernity.
Sunday, April 5, 2pm

ACMI (Melb) tickets

YEN AND AI-LEE
小雁與吳愛麗 (2024)  Directed by Tom Lin Shu-Yu 林書宇 (Taiwan) 
Program: Panorama of Chinese Film A tender, monochrome portrait of grief, care and fragile connection in contemporary Taiwan.
Anchored by quietly devastating performances from Hsieh Ying-hsuan 謝盈萱 and Yang Kuei-mei 楊貴媚, the film finds poetry in everyday rituals and fleeting moments of solace. A delicate meditation on love and loss, Yen and Ai-Lee reveals the resilience that emerges in the wake of tragedy.

LOVE AND DUTY
戀愛與義務 (1931)  Directed by Bu Wancang卜萬蒼 (China) 
Program: Once Upon A Time In 華語 CinemaLOVE AND DUTY stars the legendary Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉 in dual roles as mother and daughter – a virtuoso performance that cemented her status as one of China’s greatest actresses. Its chiaroscuro lighting, expressive close-ups, and emotional precision showcase Bu Wancang卜萬蒼’s mastery of silent cinema – marking a triumph of world film preservation.
Sunday, March 8, 2pm

ACMI (Melb) tickets

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.
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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.