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HKAIFF: A Call for Rebirth

Wednesday, Oct 29, 2008 8:54AM / Standard Entry

An adorable baby with a ticket coming out of his nose, ear, and mouth is the key art for this year’s Hong Kong Asian Independent Film Festival (HKAIFF). According to Helena Young who runs Shaw’s Grand Cinema hosting Ying E Chi’s festival, the symbol of the baby signifies rebirth. The whimsical model is in fact the child of the key art’s graphic designer. Ying E Chi, the sole organizer of this new festival, seems to be running a campaign calling for the rebirth of Hong Kong’s independent cinema after a stormy struggle and bitter separation from the currently running Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. (Please read my older posts about the conflict.)

A lively mix of press, actors and filmmakers attended the HKAIFF press conference held yesterday at Wan Chai’s Luk Kwok hotel. HKAIFF originated from the early independent film screenings that Ying E Chi started organizing in 1997. These screenings became “Indie is Fun,” the first festival held at Broadway Cinematheque in 2002 and subsequently became Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (HKAFF) in 2003. This year, due to a disagreement with Broadway Cinematheque, Ying E Chi split up with HKAFF and started up HKAIFF.

Lawrence Wong, the boyish chairman of Ying E Chi, boasted giddily to me about the opening film being one of his favorites, KING OF SPY, made by the local Chu brothers for a meager sum of HK$5000 (around US$700), a low-fi shoestring comedy that parodies JAMES BOND, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and THE MATRIX.

Vicent Chui’s politically controversial and long awaited THREE NARROW GATES will have its world premiere at the festival. The film revolves around a local police officer stumbling upon a murder in the ex-crown colony and unveils political implications against the greater China.

Vetaran TV actor Johnson Lee may have a cult hit in his hands with the black-and-white CITIZEN KING, his co-directorial debut with Ching Long. In CITIZEN KING, Lee stars as a local actor struggling for fame and fights for his dream to get a role in a Hollywood movie. KING features Gordon Liu of KILL BILL’s fame as a martial arts master who coaches and choreographs Lee for a martial arts audition video.

Actor/Model Carl Ng and filmmaker Nicholas Chin were at the press conference promoting their feature MAGAZINE GAP ROAD. Set in the titular secluded enclave of wealth and privilege, MAGAZINE GAP ROAD tells the scandalous story of a curator for a private museum and her connection with a high-class prostitute ring that threatens to tear apart the veneer of her respectability and reputation.

Beyond the above Hong Kong selections, this year’s HKAIFF features forty independent features and shorts (documentaries and fictions) from China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Laos, Thailand, Philippines and etc. HKAIFF strives to provide Hong Kong cineastes’ an invaluable opportunity to explore truly independent Asian cinema. HKAIFF will take place from 11/15 until 11/30/08 at the Grand. Please check HKAIFF’s website for details: http://www.hkaiff.hk.

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From China to Nebraska

Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 7:05AM / Standard Entry

Last night, I started watching Wayne Wang's new feature The Princess of Nebraska on Youtube. It was "the first full-length feature" released on Youtube:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKgbIz6CM_E

I was having mixed feelings after watching it. While I thought the way he made and shot it as a no-budget film was inspiring, I was also troubled by some story/character and ideological points. Based on a short story by Yiyun Li, The Princess of Nebraska centers on (as I recall) 20 intense hours of a young Chinese girl, who was originally from Beijing, now goes to school in Nebraska, and has come to San Francisco for an abortion.

I wonder why she has come such a long way for an abortion? Sasha comes to San Francisco and meets up with the gay lover of a young man in Beijing who has impregnated her. She definitely loves the Beijing guy, who may or may not be gay. No surprise, the gay lover is a middle-aged balding Caucasian businessman, Boshen. Basically, he is the stereotype of a gay rice queen. The portrayal of homosexuality is not particularly flattering. Boshen first wanted Sasha to abort the baby, then suddenly at the end he wanted to keep the baby and be one happy family with Sasha and his Beijing boy. I was like... WHAT? WHY?

In the middle of the movie, Sasha meets a prostitute (played by the talented Pamelyn Chee) in the middle of the night in San Francisco's Chinatown. How often does that happen? Chee's character leads Sasha into a roomful of businessmen and Sasha toys with the idea of getting together with this scary looking African American older gentleman as if he has stepped right out of Candyman. This older gentleman is the only black character in the movie... and I thought Wang would know better than to exploit the racial spectacle between a young Asian woman and a older black man. Well, he kind of did because the black man let her go after kissing her stomach and felt she might be pregnant. But the scene definitely made me cringe from the start because it reminded me of the racial politics from The Birth of a Nation.

Then after watching Sasha having a lesbian affair with the female prostitute, I thought it was kind of hot but really right out of a straight guy's soft porn fantasy.

As I was struggling with these thoughts, I decided to rent Wang's all-time Asian American hit The Joy Luck Club and rewatch it as a comparison. The complaint I remember about that movie was that it portrayed Asian American males badly because they were all ugly, mean or evil in the movie. It was more of an Orietalist fantasy as people in Asia didn't quite like it... etc. But it was successful domestically and how can you argue with success? It was the highest grossing Asian American film (32.9 Million) ever made.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjpgeCKL2hg&feature=relate

So I watched The Joy Luck Club again and kind of enjoyed it. It's a slice of guilty pleasure for Americans. It is the ultimate Hollywood movie that is emotionally manipulative, melodramatic and well-made. The characters are black-and-white. All the Chinese (American) female protagonists are nice, beautiul and strong within while the antagonists who are mostly Chinese men are mean and evil. What can I say?

The interesting thing about looking at The Princess of Nebraska and The Joy Luck Club together is that you see how a filmmaker fares in two radically different situations. In The Joy Luck Club, Wang had studio support (I heard it was around USD$16,700,000) to make an Asian American epic. I'm sure that that whatever capital given he'd also have to sacrifice a level of control to the studios and execs. On the contrary, The Princess of Nebraska was made on a shoestring budget situation where Wang had probably all the creative freedom he wanted albeit with a much smaller budget (I'd guess around USD$200,000).

I'll let you be the judge, and I feel that both films certainly have a meaningful place in the way we talk about Asian American cinema.

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No Such Thing As Bad Publicity

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008 2:48AM / Standard Entry

Ying E Chi and HKAFF have made it to the most prominent spot on the front page of Daily Variety's World News section in the U.S. Like Madonna says, there is no such thing as bad publicity... go YEC:

Read full article:

http://varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/7186/53/

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0506HK on Youtube

Wednesday, Oct 8, 2008 4:31AM / Standard Entry

Hi friends,

I want to invite you to check out my feature documentary 0506HK on Youtube. After playing a few festivals such as Vancouver International Film Festival, Barcelona Asian Film Festival and Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, I've decided to release the full feature on Youtube in eight episodes.

I made the documentary with no funding or support on zero budget. I shot, edited, produced, and mixed it all by myself over a course of 2 years. It feels exhilarating to get it out.

You can go from the film's site:

http://www.0506hk.com

Or watch now directly on Youtube:

Episode 1: Return to Hong Kong | 無浪城市 (第一集) 回港
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRfxW8shwf0

Episode 2: Generation 97 | 無浪城市 (第二集) ９７一代

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEeQLTvYRCo

Episode 3: Question of Culture | 無浪城市 (第三集) 什麼文化
0506HK Episode 3
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPRHqL-m0kc

Episode Four: Quest for Culture | 無浪城市 (第四集) 沉找文化
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_GkltiZW-8

Episode 5: Passion | 無浪城市 (第五集) 熱情
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEI2tVcsc4U

Episode 6: Conformity | 無浪城市 (第六集) 容入
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly2SUc_T6Zw

Episode 7: Procrastination | 無浪城市 (第七集) 延迟
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeA2Bbc3CLg

Episode 8: A Culture of One's Own | 無浪城市 (第八集) 中結
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KFehcB0TCU

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Imagine Sundance Without Sundance

Monday, Sep 29, 2008 7:17AM / Standard Entry

Dear friends and colleagues,

I’m asking you to hear me out and let as many people know as possible about this urgent matter.

Imagine a Sundance Film Festival without the Sundance institute. Imagine General Cinemas or AMC has usurped the festival and its name because the festival has become so successful. This is what’s going on in Hong Kong right now, a city where I was born, raised and am still very much a part of.

Ying E Chi, the non-profit independent film distribution organization in Hong Kong, has been organizing the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival with Broadway Cinemas, a local major exhibitor for the past four years. In this fifth year, because of disputes in programming decisions and mostly greed, Broadway has overtaken the festival behind Ying E Chi’s back.

The roots of the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival began in 1997 as Ying E Chi organized screenings of local independent films that were largely ignored by the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Started by my peers, a collective of local independent filmmakers, Ying E Chi receives government funding to promote and distribute independent films in Hong Kong. Government funding was also channeled through Ying E Chi to finance the festival every past year.

As Ying E Chi’s humble screenings grew into a festival early 2000s and eventually took on the name of “Hong Kong Asian Film Festival” (HKAFF) in 2004 to include independent films from all over Asia and overseas Asian films, the festival grew each year. The festival has always been the brainchild of Ying E Chi who organized it with Broadway mainly because Broadway provided a venue and hosted the festival.

As HKAFF grew in sponsors, films and popularity, Broadway began using the festival as a vehicle to promote its parent company’s and its own products. The most blatant example was when last year’s festival opened with Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, produced by Broadway’s own parent company Edko.

While Lust, Caution is a fine film, it is hardly independent. As I attended last year’s festival with my documentary 0505HK, I was already sensing that the festival was losing its spirit as independent films were pushed aside in favor of major Asian fares that were distributed by Broadway and Edko. I was also hearing Ying E Chi’s members talk about the need to refocus the festival next year.

As Ying E Chi was negotiating with Broadway about the festival this year, Broadway went behind Ying E Chi’s back to register a company Hong Kong Asian Film Festival Society and overtook the festival which is due to open in two weeks. Broadway also took major sponsors that Ying E Chi originally secured for the festival.

As an independent filmmaker of Hong Kong descent, I am indebted to Ying E Chi who has helped me get every one of my films seen in Hong Kong since the organization’s inception in 1997. It pains me to see such an important organization and my indie film colleagues being trampled by corporate greed.

As independent filmmakers, we survive with very few resources. Even if we have a lot less money and fewer relationships than a major corporation, we have our voice and integrity which shall not be compromised or stifled.

I humbly ask you to help Ying E Chi spread the word on this matter and not support the current manifestation of Hong Kong Asian Film Festival until satisfying amends are made.

This act of corporate greed must not go unnoticed or uncorrected.

Please contact Vincent Chui, the founding member of Ying E Chi, for further details and action:

Vincent Chui
Founding Member
vincentindie@gmail.com
+852 9094 0784 (cel)
http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=610413015&ref=ts

Thank you for listening.

Yours truly,

Quentin Lee

More Details:

Ying E Chi’’s website:
http://www.yec.com

This year’s Hong Kong Asian Film Festival:
http://bc.cinema.com.hk/adhoc/hkaff2008/index.html

Last year’s Hong Kong Asian Film Festival:
http://bc.cinema.com.hk/adhoc/hkaff_2007/

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7/19

Quentin Lee

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Quentin Lee is a producer, writer and director based in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Hong Kong...
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Quentin Lee is a producer, writer and director based in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Hong Kong. He grew up in Hong Kong, immigrated to Montreal as a teenager and went to UC Berkeley for college where he received a B.A. in English. He then went to Yale and UCLA for his M.A. in English and M.F.A. in Film Directing respectively while he was hustling the film festival circuit with a feature collection of his shorts called Flow.

Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1997, Quentin Lee’s first feature Shopping for Fangs opened to critical acclaim during its limited theatrical release in the U.S. Quentin wrote, co-directed (with Justin Lin), produced and self-distributed Shopping for Fangs through Margin Films. The success of Fangs paved way for Quentin's second feature Drift and Justin Lin's 2002 Sundance hit Better Luck Tomorrow.

Following Fangs, Quentin returned to a more personal realm; he produced, wrote and directed Drift, a drama that became a hit in the gay and lesbian film festival circuit and was sold to Wellspring Media. It was also released theatrically to rave reviews in Los Angeles.

Ethan Mao is Quentin's third feature as a writer/director. Premiered at the AFI Film Festival 2003, it also won the Audience Award at the Turin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and was sold worldwide.

0506HK is Quentin's first feature documentary about his emotional attachment to Hong Kong. It features Hong Kong cultural icon Kam Kwok Leung, filmmakers Peter Chan and Teddy Chen, documentary director Tammy Cheung, and animator Raman Hui. The feature world premiered as part of Vancouver International Film Festival's "Hong Kong Stories."

Quentin is currently at work on several features such as The People I've Slept With, Chink, and a documentary short titled "Chinese Class."

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Occupation: Director
Gender: Male
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