A poignant chronicle of Taiwanese childhood by Hou Hsiao-hsien
"A DELICATE CHRONICLE OF CHILDHOOD AND GRIEF."
PREMIÈRE CLASSICS
AVAILABLE FOR THE 1ST TIME ON BLU-RAY
The summer holidays have finally arrived for young Tung-tung, who has just finished primary school. He and his little sister Ting-ting plan to leave the capital Taipei to spend the summer with their grandparents in the Taiwanese countryside. On their way to the train station, the children stop to say goodbye to their mother at the hospital, before she undergoes an operation. Upon their arrival in the village, Tung-tung quickly makes friends with the local children. Adult relationships, orchestrated around the authoritarian figure of the grandfather, are more complicated...
Filmed a year after The Boys from Fengkuei, an unforgettable portrait of aimless youth, A Summer at Grandpa's confirms director Hou Hsiao-hsien's shift towards an authorial, personal and poetic cinema. Inspired by his own memories, mixed with those of his co-screenwriter Chu Tien-wen, the film adopts the perspective of its two young heroes and offers a child's modest view on the fragility of the adult world. A splendid coming-of-age story available for the first time in its 2K restoration, A Summer at Grandpa's was a major source of inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki and his famous My Neighbor Totoro.
A SUMMER AT GRANDPA'S by Hou Hsiao-hsien
(1984 - Color - 98 min)
Original version with French subtitles
Blu-ray or DVD Edition
New 2K Restoration
New on BLU-RAY
THE FILM
. NEW 2K RESTORATION
. ORIGINAL VERSION WITH FRENCH SUBTITLES DTS-HD MASTER AUDIO 1.0
BONUS FEATURES
. A WORLD WITHOUT GENTLENESS (23 min)
« There is this abruptness in human relationships that echoes the abruptness of scene or situation transitions [...], like a memory functioning through flashes or events. » A new interview with Jean-Michel Frodon, journalist, film critic and associate professor at Sciences Po.
. 2025 TRAILER
--------------------------------------
BD 50 • HIGH DEFINITION MASTER • 1080/23.98p • AVC ENCODING
Original Version DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 • French Subtitles
Respected 1.85 Format • Color • Film Duration: 98 min
Release date: July 7, 2026
