Cinema, as much as literature has long been a source of fervent mythologising, be it of serial killers, politicians, musicians, sports heroes – anyone who has ever been cast under any given spotlight – as well as a multitude of professions, races, genders, and so forth; this list is inexhaustible. In recent memory, the mythologising of a faceless entity or that of a select group has become an increasingly recurring theme within urban psychogeography; that is, the examination of a person or persons within their environment. Advances in digital and social media have long been romanticised in a negative light, but shed very little inaccurate light on the social issues plaguing a younger generation. One of these issues is how we are seen in the minds of others; the idea that our personalities and beings exist only as they are perceived by others gives rise to existential anxieties about who we really are.
- 11/9/2018
- by Jamie Cansdale
- AsianMoviePulse
Vasan Bala’s “The Man Who Feels No Pain,” and Qiu Sheng’s “Suburban Birds” are among 11 films set for competition at the third edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao. Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” will open the festival in an out of competition slot.
Other films in competition include: “Aga” by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria); “All Good,” by Eva Trobisch (Germany); “Clean Up,” by Kwon Man-ki (South Korea); “Jesus,” by Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan); “Scarborough,” by Barnaby Southcombe (U.K.) “School’s Out” by Sebastien Marnier (France); “The Good Girls,” by Alejandra Marquez (Mexico); “The Guilty,” by Gustav Moller (Denmark); and “White Blood” by Barbara Sarasola – Day (Argentina). The competition is only open to first or second time feature directors.
The lineup was announced Thursday in Macau by artistic director Mike Goodridge. The jury which will select the prize-winners includes Chen Kaige as president, alongside Mabel Cheung (Hong Kong...
Other films in competition include: “Aga” by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria); “All Good,” by Eva Trobisch (Germany); “Clean Up,” by Kwon Man-ki (South Korea); “Jesus,” by Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan); “Scarborough,” by Barnaby Southcombe (U.K.) “School’s Out” by Sebastien Marnier (France); “The Good Girls,” by Alejandra Marquez (Mexico); “The Guilty,” by Gustav Moller (Denmark); and “White Blood” by Barbara Sarasola – Day (Argentina). The competition is only open to first or second time feature directors.
The lineup was announced Thursday in Macau by artistic director Mike Goodridge. The jury which will select the prize-winners includes Chen Kaige as president, alongside Mabel Cheung (Hong Kong...
- 11/8/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Respected former ad-man Maren Hwang may have decades of experience shooting commercials in Taiwan, but when he made the leap to feature filmmaking, he got a rude awakening on how arduous the whole process can be. For his debut feature film, Xiao Mei, the principal photography took two months, but the reshoots took two years. Fortunately, the finished film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival last month to an enthusiastic response. Now the drama, which revolves around a drug-abusing young woman in Taipei who suddenly goes missing, has been selected as one of the two opening...
- 3/19/2018
- by Karen Chu
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The more offbeat of the two Taiwanese films opening the Hong Kong International Film Festival this year, Xiao Mei is as amorphous as its vanished titular character. With his first foray into feature filmmaking, commercial director Maren Hwang makes repeated leaps through different visual or storytelling modes as he reconstructs the last days of a drug-addled young woman as seen from the perspectives of her family, lovers and both long-running or fleeting acquaintances.
With its nine varied chapters resembling, among others, a tense whodunnit (complete with dashcam footage of a car crash and a violent assault), an eerie paranormal thriller...
With its nine varied chapters resembling, among others, a tense whodunnit (complete with dashcam footage of a car crash and a violent assault), an eerie paranormal thriller...
- 3/19/2018
- by Clarence Tsui
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Festival to close with premiere of What A Wonderful Family! 3: My Wife, My Life from Yoji Yamada.
Two Taiwanese films will open this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff, March 19-April 5) – Jay Chern’s Taiwan-Japan co-production Omotenashi, and Maren Hwang’s Xiao Mei, which recently played in Berlin.
The festival will close with the world premiere of What A Wonderful Family! 3: My Wife, My Life from Japanese veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada.
This year’s Filmmaker In Focus is Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin, who started her career in the 1970s and starred in Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express.
Two Taiwanese films will open this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff, March 19-April 5) – Jay Chern’s Taiwan-Japan co-production Omotenashi, and Maren Hwang’s Xiao Mei, which recently played in Berlin.
The festival will close with the world premiere of What A Wonderful Family! 3: My Wife, My Life from Japanese veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada.
This year’s Filmmaker In Focus is Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin, who started her career in the 1970s and starred in Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express.
- 3/1/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Two films from Taiwan will open the Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) on March 19. Taiwanese-American director Jay Chern’s third feature, Omotenashi, as well as Maren Hwang’s directorial debut, Xiao Mei, are chosen to be the opening film for the 42nd edition of the festival, the longest-running and largest film festival in Asia.
At the other end, Japanese comedic veteran Yamada Yoji will present the world premiere of the latest in his What a Wonderful family! saga, What a Wonderful family! 3: My Wife, My Life, to close the festival on April 5.
One of the special presentations this...
At the other end, Japanese comedic veteran Yamada Yoji will present the world premiere of the latest in his What a Wonderful family! saga, What a Wonderful family! 3: My Wife, My Life, to close the festival on April 5.
One of the special presentations this...
- 2/28/2018
- by Karen Chu
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Omotenashi, the latest drama from Taiwanese-American filmmaker Jay Chern (Dawn/Spring, Warmth), and Maren Hwang’s debut thriller, Xiao Mei, have been announced as the opening films of the 42nd Hong Kong International Film Festival, which will run from 19 March to 5th April 2018. Closing the festival is the world premiere of Yoji Yamada’s ensemble comedy What a Wonderful Family! 3: My Wife, My Life. Featuring over 250 films from more than 55 countries, the festival has always been the cinematic highpoint of the year in Hong Kong, but it cannot go unnoticed how few locally-produced films are playing this year, and the notable scarcity of world premieres. That said, this year’s lineup include some impressive highlights, including Master Classes with Tsai Ming-liang, to accompany...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/28/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Movies tell stories through characters born out of the filmmaker’s omniscient mind. It’s an exercise in empathy and imagination, obviously, considering no one can ever truly know the experiences, emotions, motivations of anyone else. Expanding on this premise to defy conventional narratives of either first-person subjectivity or third-person objectivity, Taiwanese director Maren Hwang delivers a somewhat different character study prominently structured around second-person Pov’s with his feature debut Xiao Mei. The result is a heady take on urban anonymity that slowly grows on you, despite its consistent reluctance to engage.
The titular Xiao Mei is a young girl who has disappeared. We learn this early on from her landlord blabbering away at a face massage. Unloading months’ worth of complaints about his tenant to an expressionless masseuse kneading his face this way and that, the comical if overlong monologue paints a rather dismal picture of hedonistic youth calling for some major intervention.
The titular Xiao Mei is a young girl who has disappeared. We learn this early on from her landlord blabbering away at a face massage. Unloading months’ worth of complaints about his tenant to an expressionless masseuse kneading his face this way and that, the comical if overlong monologue paints a rather dismal picture of hedonistic youth calling for some major intervention.
- 2/18/2018
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
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