INTERNATIONAL
FILM
SECTION
Plan 75
JAPAN / FRANCE / PHILIPPINES | 105 min
Director: Chie Hayakawa
Scriptwriter: Chie Hayakawa
Cast: Chieko Baishô / Hayato Isomura / Yuumi Kawai
In Japan, government program Plan 75 encourages senior citizens to be voluntarily euthanized to remedy a super-aged society. An elderly woman whose means of survival are vanishing, a pragmatic Plan 75 salesman, and a young Filipino laborer face choices of life and death.
Leila's Brothers
IRAN | 165 min
Director: Saeed Roustayi
Scriptwriter: Saeed Roustayi
Cast: Taraneh Alidoosti / Saeed Poursamimi / Navid Mohammadzadeh
t 40 years old, Leila has spent her whole life taking care of her parents and her four brothers. The family argues constantly and is crushed by debts, in a country caught in the grip of international economic sanctions.As her brothers are trying to make ends meet, Leila formulates a plan: to start a family business that would save them for poverty. While they are in desperate need of financial support,Leila finds out that their father Esmail has secretly been hiding a family heirloom. He had been saving it as an offering to become the new Patriarch of the clan, the highest honor in the Persian tradition. This uncovering will bring chaos to the already fragile family dynamics. As the father's health deteriorates, the actions of each family member will gradually lead the family one step closer to implosion.
The Line
SWITZERLAND / FRANCE / BELGIUM | 102 min
Director: Ursula Meier
Scriptwriter: Ursula Meier / Stéphanie Blanchoud / Antoine Jaccoud
Cast: Stéphanie Blanchoud / Valeria Bruni Tedesch / Elli Spagnolo
After a violent argument with her mother, Margaret, 35 years old and with a long history of inflicting and suffering from violence, is subjected to a strict restraining order before her trial: she's no longer allowed to make contact with her mother or approach within 100 meters of the family home for 3 months.But this separation only exacerbates her desire to be closer to her family and so she returns every day to this invisible and impassable frontier.
UTAMA
BOLIVIA / URUGUAY / FRANCE | 87 min
Director: Alejandro Loayza Grisi
Scriptwriter: Alejandro Loayza Grisi
Cast: José Calcina / Luisa Quispe / Santos Choque
In the arid Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living the same daily routine for years. When an uncommonly long drought threatens their entire way of life, Virginio and Sisa face the dilemma of resisting or being defeated by the passage of time. Everything is precipitated by the arrival of their grandson Clever, who comes to visit with news.In Alejandro Loayza Grisi's astonishing feature debut, the three of them will face, each in their own way, the environment, the necessity for change, and the meaning of life itself.
MEDITERRANEAN FEVER
PALESTINE / GERMANY / FRANCE / CYPRUS / QATAR | 108 min
Director:Maha Haj
Scriptwriter: Maha Haj
Cast: Amer Hlehel / Ashraf Farah / Anat Hadid
Waleed (40) lives in Haifa with his wife and children and dreams of a writing career while suffering from chronic depression. He develops a close relationship with his neighbor (a small-time crook) with an ulterior plot in mind. While the scheme turns into an unexpected friendship between the two men, it leads them into a journey of dark encounters
The Ordinaries
Palestine / Jordan / Qatar / Italy / Sweden | 96 min
Director: Ameen Nayfeh
Scriptwriter: Ameen Nayfeh
Star Ali Suliman / Anna Unterberger
Paula is a supporting role aspiring to become a main character.Yet, just before her final exams, her emotive music generator suddenly starts playing up, which presents a major problem for her.No starring role can survive without a heartrending accompaniment from the strings.The Ordinaries is a film about what it's like to live in a film.An enchanting ode to cinema, a whirl of ideas, and playfulness in every take.
CHINESE FILM
OF
HONGKONG / MACAO / TAIWAN
CENTER STAGE
HONG KONG,CHINA | 154 min
Director: Stanley Kwan
Scriptwriter: Chui Dai An Ping
Cast: Maggie Cheung / Tony Leung / Chin Hang / Carina Lau / Lawrence Ng / Cecilia Yip / Waise Lee
In the spring of 1935, silent movie star Ruan Lingyu took her own life, shocking the world. Her funeral was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourning fans.Ruan entered the film world at the age of 16. In the short span of 9 years, she made 29 silent movies and became the idol of tens of thousands. As she rose to fame, she also rose to infamy with scandals over her private life. Her death at such an early age has given rise to much debate: did she kill herself because of her career? Or for love? In her farewell note,Ruan wrote four words–"criticism should be feared"–and gave her final condemnation on the merciless public.
A BETTER TOMORROW
HONG KONG,CHINA | 95 min
Director: John Woo
Scriptwriter: Chan Hing Kai / John Woo / Leung Suk Wah
Cast: Ti Lung / Leslie Chueng / Chow Yun Fat / Waise Lee / Emily Chu
Sung Tse-ho and Mark are blood brothers in the Triad.Ho's own brother, Tse-kit, is a policeman, and Ho leads a double life. Ho is in Taiwan for a counterfeit money deal when local gangsters ambush him. His right-hand man, Tam Shing, betrayed him. Mark goes to Taiwan to take revenge for Ho, but is wounded and becomes a cripple. After serving three years in a Taiwan prison, Ho returns to Hong Kong hoping to start a new life, but his brother Kit still distrusts him. At the meeting, shooting breaks out among Ho, Mark and Shing. Ah Kit arrives in time to see Mark shot and Shing shot by Ho. Kit finally forgives his brother…
A CHINESE GHOST STORY
Hong Kong, CHINA | 96min
Director: Ching Siu Tung
Scriptwriter: Yuen Kai Chi
Cast: Leslie Cheung / Joey Wong / Wo Ma / Lau Siu Ming / Lam Wai
A rainstorm compells LING Choi Sin to trespass Lan Po Temple for a night on his way to Kwok Pak Village collecting debts. In the middle of the night, LING is awakened by the bewitching music played by the feminine and attractive LIT Siu Seen. LING is unaware that the resident Taoist Monk YIN Chek Hsia has impeded LIT's murder attempt.Despite YIN's objection, the young couple are madly in love and decide to run away from the monastery…
AN AUTUMN’S TALE
HONG KONG,CHINA | 98 min
Director: Mabel Cheung
Scriptwriter: Alex Law
Cast: Chow Yun Fat / Cherry Chung / Danny Chan
Beautiful and spoiled Jennifer leaves for New York City so as to live with her boy friend Vincent and study.Yet, once she arrives she discovers that Vincent has an affair with another girl and the two are planning to leave New York! Jennifer is utterly shattered by the fact, she begins to cloister up herself. One day, she almost dies of gas leak. Fortunately, Boat Head comes and rescues her. Under Boat Head's care, she gradually recovers and adapts to the new surrounding confidently. As time goes by, Boat Head has fallen for Jennifer, but is Jennifer ready to fall in love again?
ROUGE
HONG KONG,CHINA | 96 min
Director: Stanley Kwan
Scriptwriter: Lee Pik Wah / Chui Dai An Ping
Cast: Anita Mui / Leslie Cheung / Alex Man / Emily Chu
Rouge stars Leslie Cheung as Chen, the never-do-well son of a wealthy and powerful family, who defiantly falls head over heels in love with prostitute Fleur in the 1930's. Disowned and despised, the hopeless couple makes a suicide pact-but Chen finds himself unable to carry through with it. Fleur's pining spirit returns to the thriving Hong Kong 50 years later and finds Chen a withered has-been old-timer, suffering the humiliation of a parasitic and destitute existence. With time running out, Fleur faces her last chance to test Chen's devotion. Passionate, moving, and exquisitely executed, Rouge is a must for all those who live for cinematic excellence.
JULY RHAPSODY
HONG KONG,CHINA | 103 min
Director: Ann Hui
Scriptwriter: Ivy Ho
Cast: Jacky Cheung / Anita Mui / Karena Lam / Shaun Tam Chun Yin / Eric Kot Man Fai
High school teacher Lam Yiu-Kwok is in the midst of a midlife crisis. His wife, Man-Ching, has been unfaithful; his friends are reaping the rewards of successful business careers while he earns a comparatively meager salary at an unglamorous job;and one of his young students, Choy-Lam, has fallen for him. When Man-Ching leaves for a month to help her former lover, a jealous Yiu-Kwok is tempted to retaliate by pursuing an affair with Choy-Lam.
DOMESTIC FILM SECTION
&
Youth Short Film Season@CGRFF
HOME COMING
CHINESE MAINLAND | 137 min
Director: Rao Xiaozhi
Scriptwriter: Qin Haiyan / Shi Ce / Lei Zhilong / Bu Jingwei
Cast: Zhang Yi / Wang Junkai / Yin Tao / Cheng Taishen / Zhang Zixian / Chen Haoyu
War broke out in Numia, Zong Dawei, a Chinese diplomat previously stationed in Numia, and Cheng Lang, a new attaché in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, are sent to assist in the evacuation of Chinese nationals. Upon completion of the original task, they found out that a group of stranded Chinese led by Bai Hua, the General Manager of Huaxing Company Numia Branch, was heading towards a meeting point at the border for evacuation. Zong and Cheng decided to brave the war zone. The last 100 kilometers of distance saw how these two unarmed diplomats took 125 people through gunfires and desert back home.
KONG AND JIGME
CHINESE MAINLAND | 110 min
Director: Rao Xiaozhi
Scriptwriter: Dong Danrui / Chen Guoxing / Yang Guoying / Zhang Dalei / Lhapal Gyal
Cast: Song Yang / Jinpa
The film is based on a true story. Kong, who had come to work in Tibet for the first time, be in urgent need of a translator, found Jigme who had study in the Chinese Mainland under the coincidence. Kong and Jigme from contradictory to understand each other, and eventually become lifelong friends......
WANDERING DAYS
CHINESE MAINLAND | 85 min
Director: Wu Youyin
Scriptwriter: Wu Youyin
Cast: Huang Xuan / Jiang Wenli / Ma Sichun
In 1993, under the floor of an old Shikumen house in Shanghai that was about to be demolished, Xuan, an 18-year-old young man who was just mucking around every day, found a hidden diary. On the title page of the diary, there was a photo of a girl, and the beautiful handwriting recorded a past event of her, which deeply attracted Xuan. By chance, 36-year-old Lan caught Xuan's attention, and he realized that Lan was the owner of the diary. Xuan began to play the same scenes in the diary in front of Lan, but never thought that this would reveal the pain that had been buried in Lan's heart for many years. Lan hid her secret to help the confuse youth improving his painting skill. A chase full of love and growth began.
LIFE OF LAI
TAIWAN, CHINA | 14 min
Director: Huang Chi-Yung
One sunny morning, Mr. Lai, a longtime background actor is lying rest on a bench. People are walking in and out of the film set, the noise of the crew getting ready to shoot can be heard everywhere. All of a sudden, Mr. Lai wakes up coughing. Aside from this warning sign of his physical health, he also receives a call from the hospital bearing bad news. To make matters worse, he just gets notified that the scene today, besides from playing a dead body, also requires him to lie in a coffin. Looking at this seemingly real mourning hall built for the film set, Mr. Lai can't stop having mixed feelings. After being teased by other background actor friends, and getting mistreated by the film crew, this memorial service rehearsal somehow inspires Mr. Lai to find a perfect condition to lie in a coffin.
MY OLD PAL
HONG KONG, CHINA | 19 min
Director: Yim Yu Hei
Tao Bo, a protection racket collector and a divorced father, is having an awful day. His ex-wife won't let him visit his son and he also failed to get money from a sex toy owner. Due to the pressure from the mafia boss, Tao Bo is counting on this hotpot restaurant. While beating the restaurant owner Cao Jun, he accidentally bumped into his son, Tao Yi, who is coming to the restaurant with his friend for his 9-year-old birthday dinner. Tao Bo realizes that he has forgotten his son's birthday. Also, Tao Yi's friend is the son of the owner of this restaurant. Therefore, he is facing a double awkward situation⋯
SOUTHERN AFTERNOON
CHINESE MAINLAND | 15 min
Director: Lan Tian
A Uyghur father living in Southern China, Saramu accidentally discovers that his 14-year-old elder daughter has received a possible love-letter. Desperate to resolve his doubt but unable to read Chinese mandarin, Saramu can only ask his younger daughter for help to read him the letter.