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.
10+10 is a project initiated by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival to demonstrate the solidarity between Taiwanese film-makers. 20 directors are invited to make a 5-minute short film each on the theme of the “Uniqueness of Taiwan,” but allowed total freedom in all other aspects.
Color blind girl A-Kuei feels alienated and misunderstood. She is raised by her grandmother who would rather believe she is possessed than hear her feelings. The only person in the village who understands her is her bookworm cousin A-Hsien. He tells her that there is an island far away in the South Pacific where everyone is also color blind due to a genetic mutation.
More than just naughty, they play tricks on classmates, tease girls at school, fight with other boys, and lie to everyone until their teacher breaks down. They are named Liar No. 1 and Liar No. 2. The most important act planned in their life is to go to the mysterious water park, where they can leap through the portal at the end of the water slide to the fairy-tale world OZ and live as grown-ups happily ever after. However, the commitment is torn by a careless betrayal.
In three separate segments, set respectively in 1966, 1911, and 2005, three love stories unfold between three sets of characters, under three different periods of Taiwanese history and governance.
An actress preparing to play in a historical epic is terrorized by someone faxing her pages from her stolen diary; has colorful flashbacks of her affair with a now-deceased man; and imagines black-and-white film-within-a-film scenes of the movie she is about to appear in.
A-yuan and A-yun are both from the small mining town of Jio-fen. They move to Taipei, where A-yuan is an apprentice by day and goes to night school, and A-yun works as a helper at a tailors. Everyone thinks they are meant for each other, and so do they. They fail to see time and fate are beyond their control.
A girl, who was sold by her stepfather at the age of 14, has had been a prostitute for 14 years. Her family, despite enjoying a comfortable life with her help, avoids her. She thus decides to have a son of her own and succeeds by sheer determination. She is now hopeful that her son will have a life better than hers.
Two friends who haven't seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business.
A photographer travels with her boyfriend to a seaside village in Penghu. There she strikes up a relationship with a blind man. When they reencounter one another back in Taipei, where he is preparing to undergo an operation to restore his sight, their connection intensifies.
The daughter of a wealthy man takes French lessons so she can go to France with her fiancée, but ends up falling for a poor man who studies civil engineering.