Shih Chun

On a dark and rainy night, a historic and regal Taipei cinema sees its final film: 1967 martial arts feature "Dragon Inn".

Four top kung fu stars join forces in this brilliant adaption of the Chivalrous Robber. Lee San the Swallow, a Chinese Robin Hood, who stole from the corrupt official to help the down trodden. Fantastic fist to face action in this action packed golden oldie.

Four high school students, Yang Jialuo, You Fusheng, Gu Caizi, Guo Hao, and Liu Guobao narrate and reflect on growing up in 1950s Taiwan.

A traveling scholar, intent on translating a Buddhist sutra that is said to have power over the creatures of the afterlife. He slowly finds himself entangled in a mysterious plot involving witchcraft, demons, and a battle to preserve his own soul from the attacks of the supernatural underworld.

Gu Sheng-zhai, an artist in his early 30s, still lives with his mother, but he is suddenly shaken by the arrival of Yang Hui-zhen, a mysterious princess on the run. Yang brings Gu into her circle of protectors, including a nameless monk whose spiritual guidance transforms him into a valiant fighter.

In 1949, the Communists take over mainland. The refugees and the military arrive in the Keelung Harbor in Taiwan. A father holds secret meetings with other generals in attempt to recover the lost land, his kids still play games with their grandma who enjoys the harmony in hardship.

After the cession of Taiwan to Japan in 1895 by the Manchu government, people on the island staged a series of anti-Japanese revolts to oppose the tyrannical rule of the Japanese militarists.

Directed by artist and filmmaker Tiffany Sia, The Sojourn (2023) imagines a restless landscape film in Taiwan. Visiting scenic locations shot by King Hu, the short experiments with the road movie genre and its intersection with the martial arts epic. Sia meets actor Shih Chun, who played the protagonist in Hu’s Dragon Inn, Touch of Zen and other wuxia films, as he guides the quest to re-encounter the iconic landscapes where Dragon Inn was shot. He advises on the perfect conditions of mist and weather. Yet, in the journey through the mountains of Hehuanshan, the sublime landscape of King Hu remains ever elusive. She later visits the elementary school of Indigenous filmmaker and principal Pilin Yapu of the Atayal tribe. Absent of conventional subtitles, the essay film employs text burned into the center of the frame as a mode of translation, sometimes refusing total disclosure. – tiffanysia.com/glossary/the-sojourn

The life of the epoch-making master of martial arts cinema, King Hu.

Adapted from a Tang Dynasty fantasy tale, Sung Chuen-sau used the story of a scholar meeting a female ghost at night, but emphasised neither the killing nor horror but the literary and romantic elements. Scholar Chan (Shih Chun) stays in a remote mansion outside the city. People often fall into the mansion’s well for no apparent reason. Chan looks into it. Later, he sees the girl from the well, Susu (Brigitte Lin), waving to him. She begins to wait on him nightly. Susu was from a wealthy family, but was running away from bandits during wartime, and committed suicide by jumping into the well rather than be caught. After her death, her spirit was controlled by Du Long (Pai Lin). Du Long has forced her many times to harm Chan, but she never has the heart to carry it through. Chan’s pity for her soon becomes love. He goes into the well to retrieve an old bronze mirror, and eventually succeeds in freeing Susu. In the end, to rescue Chan, Susu fights with Du Long and they destroy each other.

9th century China. Ten year old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings.

China, year 1457. The Minister of Defense is executed, and his children are sentenced to exile by order of the tyrannical Tsao. Fearful of future revenge from the young people, Tsao sends cruel soldiers to murder them, but a brave group of swordsmen can change the course of the battle at the Dragon Inn.

Jointly and respectively directed by King Hu, Lee Hsing, and Pai Ching-Jui, three major Taiwan directors of the 1970s, this film consist of three shorts with the same cast of two actors and one actress, who through reincarnation meet in three different times.

During the Sung dynasty with Emperor Hsiao Hsia in power and freedom fighters, who are based in the Tai-hun Mountains. Miss Shang is on her way to Dragon City to receive secret plans to take to the rebel stronghold. But the Mayor kills her contact and takes the plans. She must now find the plans and exact revenge upon the murderous Mayor.

After retreating from battle, a band of Mongolian soldiers take refuge in a cemetery where they are slaughtered by reanimated zombies from the netherworld. But the leader is possessed by the Devil and he levels an assault against a nearby Chinese village. Local monks cover themselves with writings from the sacred scriptures in an attempt to stop the marauding warlord and his ddemon army.

Taiwanese horror.

Taiwanese horror film.

Shaw Legend Chang Yi takes on the Wild Vile West. It's Kung vs. Gun! "A man's knowledge puts him above animals" says the Shaolin scriptures. Chang Yi must prove this- or die! A rare and fantastic film!

All-star cast in this rare sword film from Taiwan. Top masters battle it out for supremacy and calmness in the martial world.

In Ming Dynasty China, the retiring abbot of a Buddhist monastery invites two dignitaries to help him choose a successor, not suspecting that both of them have hired help to steal a priceless parchment kept in the temple.

In this short documentary, actor Shih Chun addresses his longtime collaboration with director King Hu and his performance as Gu Sheng-zhai in A Touch of Zen.