BIG SHOWS

FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT

AU REVOIR TAIPEI (Yi Ye Tai Bei)
(Taiwan/United States/Germany, 2010) Dir./Scr.: Arvin Chen
Kai, a brokenhearted young man from Taipei, yearns to be with his girlfriend, who’s left for Paris. He spends his days working at his parents’ noodle restaurant and his nights trying to learn French at the local bookstore, where he meets Susie, a sweet but lonely girl who works there. Afraid of losing his girlfriend, and in need of money to get to Paris, he accepts a dubious offer from a local gangster – deliver a mysterious package to Paris. It’s the beginning of a wild night for Kai, at the end of which he realizes that leaving both Susie and Taipei will only take him further away from true love.
35mm, 85 min., color, narrative, in Mandarin w/ E.S.

AMERICAN CENTERPIECE

THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH
(United States/Canada, 2009) Dir.: Quentin Lee; Scr.: Koji Sakai
Angela Yang loves sex. She loves it so much she makes baseball cards of her lovers to help her remember all of her partners. She doesn’t question her lifestyle until she finds out that she’s pregnant. Her gay best friend, Gabriel Lugo, suggests to “take care of it,” but her conservative sister persuades Angela to get married to the baby’s father and lead a “normal” life. Angela ultimately chooses to keep the baby, and ventures to find the father. While helping Angela on her quest, Gabriel is sorting through his own relationship issues. He’s 30 and been in lots of relationships but never in love. Angela and Gabriel decide to plan a double wedding with the philosophy: if we plan it, the grooms will come. Or will they?
Video, 89 min., color, narrative

INTERNATIONAL CENTERPIECE

CLASH (Bay Rong)
(Vietnam, 2009) Dir.: Le Thanh Son; Scr.: Johnny Tri Nguyen, L.E. Thanh Son
Ex-convicts Quan and Cang are part of a hit squad assembled by Trinh to steal a hard drive from French mobsters. Trinh works for an elusive criminal mastermind who seeks the hard drive to get control of VINASAT.1, Vietnam’s first and only satellite. As the job progresses, Cang betrays the crew and runs off with the hard drive, killing Trinh’s younger brother in the process. Seeking a bonus, Quan must help Trinh hunt for the traitor before he sells the drive to the Chinese Triad. Along the way, the couple discover feelings for each other and fall in love. As the chase boils down to a collision between all the parties involved, Trinh discovers that Quan has a whole different agenda…
35mm, 90 min., color, narrative, in Vietnamese w/ E.S.

FESTIVAL CLOSING NIGHT

BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS (Shi yue wei cheng)
(Hiong Kong, 2009) Dir.: Teddy Chan; Scr.: Tin Nam Chun, Junli Guo, Bing Wu, James Yuen
Exiled Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen returns to Hong Kong to meet with alliance leaders about insurrection plans against the Qing imperial government. As the news spreads, both the Qing court and the revolutionaries spring into action. In China, the Qing send out official Xiao Guo to spearhead Sun’s assassination; in Hong Kong, activist Xiao Bai and businessman Li gather bodyguards to protect Sun. Though pulled into the conflict for very different reasons, a crooked cop, a rickshaw driver, a beggar, a Shaolin monk, a revolutionary’s daughter, and Li’s son Chung Guang all lay down their lives for a common cause: to protect Sun during the fateful hour he’s in Hong Kong.
35mm, 139 min., color, narrative, in Mandarin w/ E.S.

SPECIAL SNEAK-PREVIEW – U.S. PREMIERE!

THE ACTRESSES
(South Korea, 2009) Dir.: E. J-Yong; Scr.: Youn Yuh-Jung, Lee Mi-Sook, Choi Ji-Woo, Ko Hyun-Jung, Kim Min-Hee, Kim Ok-Vin
Styled like a documentary, E. J-Yong’s film captures the behind-the-scenes dramatics of six of the most recognizable women in Korean film as they are brought together and forced to share the limelight at a Christmas Eve cover shoot for Korean Vogue. Things get exceptionally heated during some downtime when the leading ladies find themselves seated around the same table with nothing to do but drink. Rife with industry jokes, low-blows, egos, and insecurities, the multi-generational cast played themselves and worked without a script, creating their own dialogue and alternately playing up and polishing the varied facets of their respective private and public personas.
35mm, 105 min., color, narrative, in Korean w/ ES