A paralyzed and hopeless divorcé, Cheong-wing (Anthony Wong) is in need of a caretaker. He meets his new live-in Filipino domestic helper, Evelyn (Crisel Consunji), who has put her dream on hold to come to Hong Kong to earn a living. Living under the same roof, these two strangers develop an unlikely relationship. As they get to learn more about each other, they also rediscover themselves - Cheong-wing begins to reconnect with his estranged son; Evelyn reignites her dream of being a photographer. Together, they help each other through ups and downs, twists and turns, love and loss and experience the different seasons of life. Just when they think they have lost all hope, little do they know, life still has a lot to offer.
NETPAC Award, 2018 Hawaii International Film Festival
18/12 (Tue) 8pm (Preview)*
*Director Ying Liang will attend after-screening talk (conducted in Putonghua).
“The Mother of One Recluse” was the work of Chinese film director Yang Shu. She made the film five years ago, and in doing so offended the Chinese government. Since then she has been forced to remain in exile in Hong Kong. Her mother who lives in Sichuan has had a relapse of her stomach cancer from years ago, and needs to undergo an operation imminently. She wishes to see her daughter and grandson, having only known the latter via internet chat. Therefore, Yang Shu takes the opportunity of a film festival event to go with her husband and son to Taiwan to meet her mother, whom they have arranged to meet when the latter is there on a mainland company leisure tour. To ensure this family reunion can take place under the strict control of regulated schedule by the Chinese tour company, the young family checks in to the same hotel, and follows the tour group to the various scenic spots they visit.
In Competition, Locarno International Film Festival
Siu-yu (starring Cecilia So), a financial analyst who has been working to complete a budget analyst for an investment bank, finds that a file containing confidential information has been mysteriously deleted. Her colleague, Dylan (starring Ng Siu-hin), from the I.T. Department, also has no luck tracing the missing file. Soon after, their boss, John (starring Michael Wong) receives a ransom email from someone called K Kidnapper, demanding just $190,000 worth of ransom. The ransom must be paid in 3 days, otherwise they will share the information to the public. Siu-yu’s superior, Irene (starring Candy Cheung), finds her ex-husband, Tong Fu (starring David Siu), a police detective to discretely carry out an investigation in an attempt to maintain stock prices. While Tong Fu demands everyone to stay in a service apartment, an employee is found missing; A technical officer resigns, everyone is a suspect!
Demanding just $190,000 worth of ransom, K Kidnapper is on the move. What secret lies behind the mystery?
23/12 (Sun) 12:30pm
Ten Years, is a collection of five short stories; a prophecy, and a fable for Hong Kong. Through their films, five of Hong Kong’s young directors are raising questions about the most central issues concerning our city, and the audience is invited to ponder together: directed by Kwok Zune, Extras questions where the terrorist attacks towards us will come from; directed by Wong Fei-Pang, Season of the End asks that what is left for us to protect when the awareness to preserve is at its end; directed by Jevons Au, Dialect sees how the fading of Cantonese affects the life of the people; directed by Chow Kwun-Wai, Self-immolator inmagines about self-immolators in Hong Kong in ten years from now; directed by Ng Ka-Leung, Local Egg reminds the audience what our next generation is meant to learn.
23/12 (Sun) 3pm
*Ten Years International Project producers Felix Tsang & Andrew Choi will attend after-screening talk (conducted in Cantonese).
Ten Years Japan is executive-produced by one of the nation’s leading filmmakers, Hirokazu Kore-eda. With his final approval, five up-and-coming Japanese filmmakers were chosen primarily for the quality of their screenplays, their originality, and their future prospects. They have conjured up five conceptions of what Japan might be like 10 years down the line.
Chie Hayakawa’s PLAN 75 suggests a modern-day The Ballad of Narayama, in its depiction of people 75 and over being guided by the government toward euthanasia. Yusuke Kinoshita’s Mischievous Alliance introduces children in a special school district, whose moral education is monitored closely by an artificial intelligence. Megumi Tsuno’s DATA is the tale of a young woman living with her father who begins to explore her “inheritance”: her late mother’s personal data in digital form. Akiyo Fujimura’s The Air We Can’t See delves into the relationship between a girl and her mother, who have been forced to live underground due to atmospheric pollution. Finally, Kei Ishikawa’s For Our Beautiful Country paints a picture of a Japan in which a military draft system has been reintroduced.
Busan International Film Festival
23/12 (Sun) 5pm (Preview)
The second spin-off of Hong Kong’s Ten Years features five visions of Taiwan ten years from now from up-and-coming Taiwan-based filmmakers. An aboriginal man living on the island of Lanyu recalls his days as an activist against the local waste disposal plant in Lekal Sumi’s The Can of Anido; Rina B. Tsou’s 942 explores the plight of migrant workers; a man faces a hard choice between his hometown and the promise of a better life in the city in Lu Po-shun’s Way Home; a producer searches for a baby in a city with an extremely low birth rate in Hsieh Pei-ju’s A Making-of; and Malaysian director Lau Kek Huat shows a woman who seeks solace from the real world using technology in The Sleep.
23/12 (Sun) 8:15pm*
*Ten Years International Project producers Felix Tsang, Andrew Choi, Lorraine Ma & Ng Ka-leung will attend after-screening talk (conducted in Cantonese).
Following its controversial success in Hong Kong, Ten Years branches out with three new spin-offs that use the anthology format to showcase talented filmmakers from across Asia. The brief remains the same: Tackle an important social or political issue and imagine how it will play out ten years into the future. An army squadron takes issue with a painting in a gallery in Aditya Assarat’s Sunset; one man tries to survive in a cat’s world in Catopia by Wisit Sasanatieng; a dictator carries astonishing steps to control her people in Chulayarnnon Siriphol’s Planetarium; and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul portrays life in a health-addicted society in Song of the City.
Special Screenings, Cannes Film Festival
Tickets available at URBTIX now.
Ticket prices: $75 / 60*
* 20% discount for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder. Concessionary ticket holders must produce evidence of their identity or age upon admission.
** 20% off for each purchase of 4 or more standard tickets.
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Co-Presenters: Hong Kong Arts Centre, Golden Scene Company Limited