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29 Jan – 8 Feb 2026

Signals: Hidden Histories

Overview of films

  • Apuda

    He Yuan | 145' | China | European premiere

    With a painter’s eye, the filmmaker portrays a poor, simple man caring for his sick father. Bitter beauty. An exquisite impression of two men who…
  • Bachelor Mountain

    Yu Guangyi | 95' | China | European premiere

    In his third film on life and work in the (once) heavily wooded north of China, Yu Guangyi (Survival Song) follows the lonely San Liangzi…
  • Beijing 2003

    Ai Weiwei | China | None

    By far the longest film ever shown in Rotterdam – 150 hours! A car with a camera drives down every street inside Peking’s ring road.…
  • Beijing: The Second Ring

    Ai Weiwei | 66' | China | None

    Conceptual recording of traffic in Peking. A document displaying modern China’s mass activities. Rapid changes. And the weather. One of four art
  • Beijing: The Third Ring

    Ai Weiwei | 110' | China | None

    Even more systematic than Google Street View, the maker records some of rapidly-changing Peking’s overwhelming traffic. This time on sunny days. One o
  • Born in Beijing

    Ma Li | 240' | China | International premiere

    The subject is raw, poignant and dirty: the poverty-stricken lives of a group of petitioners (people whose rights have been violated by local governme
  • Chang’an Boulevard

    Ai Weiwei | 613' | China | None

    A 10-hour film (short in comparison to the 150 hours of Beijing 2003), which systematically records Chang’an Boulevard and its traffic. The famous bou
  • Disturbing the Peace

    Ai Weiwei | 78' | China | None

    It may be an odd comparison, but artist Ai Weiwei sometimes operates a bit like Michael Moore, confronting his adversaries on camera. But he carries…
  • Fairytale

    Ai Weiwei | 152' | China | None

    Ai Weiwei is an artist of grand ideas and equally grand projects. You could invite ten people to participate in an international project or a…
  • The Interceptor from My Hometown

    Zhang Zanbo | 90' | China | International premiere

    One of the filmmaker’s classmates reveals his secret: he ‘intercepts’ people seeking their rights. That’s how the system works. The filmmaker follows
  • Lost in the Mountain

    Gao Zipeng | 95' | China | European première

    Four friends hike into the mountains in search of another friend who has been missing for some time. They may not even hope to find…
  • One Old Man

    Hai Bo | 19' | China | International premiere

    The filmmaker is also a photographer and needs no words to show that poverty and beauty are not mutually exclusive, using a farmer who is…