Asian Movies at VIFF
Asian Films at The 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival
The Sun Also Rises, 3 Days to Forever and Bing Ai
The films from Asian at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival are numerous and fascinating. From remarkable documentaries to exquisite narrative films, the quality is high. They’re part of the growing Dragons and Tigers section, featuring films from China, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. The stakes are high.
Eight films have been chosen for the prestigious award that will see the winner going home with $5,000 to $10,000. It will be given to a new director from the Asia-Pacific region.
Past winners include: Furumaya Tomoyuki’s This Window is Yours, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Maboroshi, Hong Sang-Soo’s The Day a Pig Fell into the Well, Zhang Ming’s Rainclouds Over Wushan, Lee Chang-Dong’s Green Fish, Jia Zhangke’s Xiao Wu, Hayakawa Wataru’s 7/25, Wisit Sasanatieng’s Tears of the Black Tiger, Hsiao Ya-Chuan’s Mirror Image, Andrew Y-S Cheng’s Shanghai Panic, Diao Yinan’s Uniform, Takashi Izumi’s The Soup, One Morning, Liu Jiayin’s Ox Hide, and John Torres’ Todo Todo Teros.
The Sun Also Rises
Grab your seat and get ready for a ride. This visual treat is a magical adventure full of eccentric characters in the stunning south western countryside of China. The screen is constantly bursting with colours and a moment of inattention will sweep the narrative away. Watch for the changing time periods, as the film shifts from 1970’s to the 1950’s and then to the Gobi Desert. Joan Chen sparkles as the maybe-crazy mother of a young commune brigade leader and Jiang Wen, director and co-star, creates a dizzyingly wonderful romp full of laughter and enchantment.
Thurs Sept. 27 @ 9:45pm, Fri Sept. 28 @ 4:00pm
3 Days to Forever
Part road trip movie, part coming of age story and part visual landscape of Indonesia, Riri Riza succeeds again in his latest film. When party girl Ambar (played tantalizingly by Adinia Wiratsi) and Suf (perfectly cast Nicholas Saputra) set out late on a trip to a family wedding to Yogjakarta, a one day journey becomes a 3 day adventure. They’re young and un-content to going straight there and end up at an eccentric party, staying with a villager’s bizarre family and meeting many colourful characters along the way. As their bond with each other grows through a foggy haze of never-ending joints, so, too, does their maturity.
Thurs Sept. 27 @ 9:30pm, Sat Sept. 29 @ 12:00pm
Bing Ai
Complimenting Yung Chang’s documentary Up the Yangtze, Bing Ai follows the Zhang Bing Ai’s family over a 10 year period. When the villagers on the bank of the Yangtze River are forced to re-locate due to the mega Three Gorges Dam Project, family-by-family reluctantly signs an agreement. Zhang, though, has other plans and withholds her consent. Even more than the Three Gorges Dam Project, this thoughtful documentary is about the daily lives of a peasant family told through the always-fiery and delightfully blunt Zhang Bing Ai. She will charm your socks off.
Sat Sept. 29 @ 8:45pm, Sun Sept. 30 @ 1:30pm, Mon Oct. 8 @ 10:30am
