For centuries, wuxia stories have traced lone swordsmen, struggles for power, and the tension between individual duty and larger forces at play. King Hu’s Dragon Inn stands as a landmark of the genre, weaving together action choreography, architectural rhythm, and moral clarity into a cinematic style that redefined what wuxia films could be.

Decades later, Tsai Ming-liang returns to this tradition with a radically different gaze. Goodbye, Dragon Inn transforms the wuxia legacy into a meditative space, filled with memory, desire, and the quiet flicker of cinema on the verge of disappearing.

Where Dragon Inn brims with cinematic vitality, Goodbye, Dragon Inn offers a quiet yet profound reflection. Seen together, the two films speak to the spaces that once shaped how we watched movies, and to an unavoidable question: what do we stand to lose? They remind us, ultimately, why we still gather in the dark.

We warmly invite you to join us on Jan 11 for the first step in this new cinematic journey, and to continue following Alula’s ongoing Monthly Screening Series. Let us welcome the new year with cinema, with community, and with the theaters that still bring us together.