The Top of Mount Fuji

The Pedlar

October 1982 •English

The Pedlar is a dramatic film based on the short story by W.D. Valgardson, A Place of One's Own. Tired of the rootless, lonely existence of a travelling merchant, a man searches for a place to settle down, and someone to share his life.

Unholy Love

June 1932 •English

An adaptation of Madame Bovary transported to Rye, New York in the 1930's. All characters have been renamed.

Table for Two

January 2012 •English

Julia, a waitress without much going on in her life, accepts a job offer from Milo, a writer in crisis who needs an assistant to talk to. From these conversations on, she begins to perceive that love is where we least expect for.

Sanctuary

April 1961 •English

In 1920s rural Mississippi, Nancy Mannigoe, an African-American servant, is placed on death row for the murder of Temple Drake's infant child. Temple, the daughter of the governor, pleads with her father to exonerate Nancy of the charges, explaining that Nancy acted in haste to prevent her from resuming her affair with a roguish Cajun called Candy Man. Details of Temple's sordid past are uncovered as she begs mercy for her faithful servant.

A Chaos of Flowers

October 1988 •Japanese

Set in the Taisho era, which might be regarded as Japan's Hippie Phase, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths. The closest parallels might be the Byron/Shelley group or the people drawn to the Beat Generation.

Fortress

October 2019 •Italian

Filmed entirely inside Civitavecchia prison, with the inmates themselves as protagonists and co-authors, Fortezza is the reinterpretation of one of the most important novels of the 1900s: The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati. Three soldiers arrive at a solitary military garrison which no longer serves any defensive function. Here, time is at a standstill and is marked by strict regulations, power dynamics, engrained idleness and habit. Waiting in vain for an enemy that will not arrive, the military officers are consumed by the need to give their stay meaning, and resist the attraction that this place holds for them.

Holden

January 1961 •Polish

A rainy-night clash in a boarding-school dorm forces a swaggering teen to confront his insecurities and the price of rebellion.

Sable Cicada

June 1938 •Chinese

Diaochan (aka Diau Charn and Sable Cicada), one of the Four Beauties of China, is supposed to be so stunningly lovely that the moon was shamed to hide behind clouds. Despite being the only Beauty among the four who is not a real historical figure but one conjured by storytelling imagination and embellished by public fascination, her story was nonetheless incorporated by author Luo Guangzhong into his popular and influential novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Her tale is one of Machiavellian intrigue, in which she schemes with her godfather Wang Yun to restore moral order to the land, sowing discord between the corrupt Minister Dong Zhuo and his adopted son Lu Bu, a man of martial and military prowess.

Daisy Miller

May 1974 •English

Despite mixed emotions, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.

The Tormented Beauty

January 1958 •

Guerrilla member Ting Siu-yuen works as a playwright and Lee, the leader of an opera troupe. They conceal their identities in the troupe in order to gather military intelligence. Yuen gradually falls in love with the lead actress Mui Law-heung. Ting is unsettled to learn that County Chief Fong covets Mui. He sneaks into Fong's residence and is astounded by the sight of his old lover Pak Kuen, now Fong's wife. Fong colludes with the military chief in conducting vicious schemes. With Kuen's help, Yuen is able to get the intelligence. But as Heung is not an insider, she reports to the Governor about the illicit relationship between Yuen and Kuen. Kuen backs Yuen to eliminate the conspirators and bring about the union of Yuen and Heung.

Oshidori kenkagasa

May 1957 •Japanese

Autumn

January 1954 •

Hak-ming heads the Ko Family, but he and his brothers, Hak-ting and Hak-on, and the second wife of the late Master Ko quarrel. Young Cousin Mui, who has tuberculosis, is forced by to marry an older woman. Kok-sun is guilty of being unable to stop the marriage. Sun and maid Chui-wan are wary of their feelings for each other due to class difference. Cousin Mui dies of illness. Hak-ting has his eyes on Wan. His wife, Wong, complains to their daughter, Shuk-ching, who cannot take it and commits suicide. Wong blames herself for her death. Undergone these tragedies, Cousin Kam's mother let Kam have a modern wedding with Kok-man. When Ming is ill, Ting and On want to sell the ancestral home. Hak-ming dies of angst. When the fifth uncle of Sun forces Wan to be his concubine, Wan tries to kill herself but is intercepted by Sun. Pressurised by people of the house over the issue of inheritance, Sun protests by declaring his love for Wan and leaves the family, with his mother, brother Man and Wan.

Entropic

September 2019 •English

The most beautiful man in the world, who, sick of being objectified, devises a plan to free himself of other's attention.

The Binocle

September 2018 •Dutch

A short film based on the short story "De Binocle" by Dutch writer Louis Couperus. It tells the story of a nervous man who on one evening while going to the opera becomes the victim of his own obsessive thoughts.

The Wall

August 2009 •Albanian

An adaptation of the J.P. Sartre story "Le Mur". What goes on in his mind and what happens outside when he has left only few more hours left to live. The existential dilemmas of a prisoner condemned to death from a repressive regime for his participation in a resistance movement and his friendship with the leader of this resistance. When all seems lost and he has already given up the most unlikely coincidence changes the course of events and his life.

An Idiot Adada

May 1956 •Korean

Adada's poor husband suddenly strikes it rich. He changes his hovel for a beautiful home, but his character changes as well. He becomes overly proud and shows off his wealth. Adada, despising the money and what it has done to her husband, throws their savings into the river

Stroller

July 1967 •Korean

An old member of Namsadang (a wayfaring group of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910)) leaves his daughter Gye-yeon at a tavern of Hwagye Market, a traditional market located in Gurye, Jeollanam-do. Son of the tavern owner Seong-gi and Gye-yeon love each other, but the madam owner tries to separate them by sending Seon-gi to a temple. The old man comes back to take Gye-yeon and disclose a secret that the tavern owner is in fact his daughter, therefore Seong-gi is his grand son. Frustrated to hear that he cannot love Gye-yeon, Seong-gi goes for a long journey without destination as his ancestors of Namsadang have done.

The Extra Mortals

April 1964 •Korean

In a hospital waiting room, a group of men arrive and meet one another. Choe, is the upbeat fellow who always thinks of the nation and its people. Cheon was wounded in the war and has fallen into despair. Then there's the dentist, run ragged by his hectic life. They commiserate over each man's lot in life and exchange stories about their love affairs.

Spring, Spring

May 1969 •Korean

Chun-sam is working as a servant at Bong-pil's home to be his future son in-law. His daughter, Jeom-sun has grown enough to get wed. But her father thinks she is too young. But in reality he doesn't want to set her daughter with Chun-sam to begin with. Jeom-sun finds out, and picks up a fight with her father. When Chun-sam decides to play hard on his master, Jeom-sun takes Chun-sam's side.

Family

January 1953 •

"Family" (1953), which launched the Union Film legacy, "Spring" (1953) and "Autumn" (1954) are adaptations of Ba Jin's highly regarded novel "Torrent Trilogy". In "Family", director Ng Wui skilfully condenses the voluminous first part of the novel into an emotionally powerful and intellectually focused story of youngsters struggling to survive oppression and repression in a feudalistic family. This well-received film quickly established the company's reputation.