Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2008

Colourful contortions charged with political urgency result in explosive confessions that reveal some of the deepest, darkest imaginations of directors from Japan, Hong Kong, and Canada. Razor-edged wit and stunning shots that both enthrall and offend, this selection humorously uses outrageous performance, wacky video effects, and a whole lot of stage props to rebel against institutionalized misconceptions of sex, violence, and the human psyche. COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Charles Street Video, Twitch, Para/site, Videotage

CONFESSIONS OF A SALESMAN In a world obsessed with the consumption of provocative pictures of desire, where almost everyone must be a salesman, Ho Tam’s Confessions of a Salesman weaves between salesman, artist, and consumer. While re-mixing images of Asian businessmen in glasses, school boys in catholic school uniforms, and young basketball players who could be movie stars, Tam humorously asks: When, where, and how will we see the next ‘Jacky Chen’, ‘Bruce Li’ or ‘Yao Meng’? The fictionalized autobiography reveals Tam’s complex sentiments about both the creation and experience of the Asian male identity. Comprised of some of his best works from 1994 to 2008, this series of rich montages re-contextualizes (perhaps even re-appropriates) his experimental body of work in a larger global context. As Tam does with Matinee Idol (starring Cho-Fan Ng, ‘The Movie King of South China’ from the 1930s to 1960s, and immigrant to Canada), Confessions of a Salesman portrays the ‘everyday’ Asian man who argues, weeps, and romances. My Memories of Me is a charming selection of images from Tam’s boyhood contrasted by an intense cinematic sound track. Yellow Pages takes found footage to explore the history of immigration in North America and re-mixes film reels from the Chinese railroad labourers, the Japanese in WW II, the U.S. involvement in the Korean War, the arrival of the boat people, and the 1997 Hong Kong money crisis. Men with Digital Cameras is a lovely medley of erotic, or maybe exotic, self-portraits of Asian men found online. With a refined sense of satire, Tam’s signature style juxtaposes sweetness with bitterness and beauty with discomfort while continuing to negotiate contradictions found in pop-culture and iconography. Armed with a video camera and an abundance of found ‘oriental’ images, Tam playfully tackles issues of race and queer identity in consumer society. Confessions of Salesman not only looks at how images in the media create discrimination against or desire for Asian-ness, but also how our personal perceptions have the power to reaffirm or dismantle these typecasts. Ho Tam was born in Hong Kong and educated in Toronto and worked in advertising firms and community psychiatric facilities before turning to art. He works within a variety of artistic disciplines including painting, video, photography, print, and public art and has exhibited in various cities across North America. He currently teaches at the University of Victoria. In 2006, Tam was Reel Asian’s Canadian Spotlight Artist. COMMUNITY PARTNERS: XTRA!, Images Festival, Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival

At 65 years of age, Hai Tran is on a mission to leave a legacy of 3-D photos. Photography has been the most important thing in his life. Even when he and his family were forced to flee Vietnam on a small boat, he packed only one suitcase of photographs and three cameras. Who knew that his love for photography would save their lives? Arriving in Calgary, Alberta, in February 1980, Tran started his photo career in Canada working for minimum wage at a photo lab; but, over the next 17 years, he would develop a vision for “Vintage Visuals” which became the largest used camera store in Western Canada. Through vivid accounts of his childhood, marriage, children, boat refugee experience, a portrait of a unique man is revealed, one whose fears, insecurities, and volatile personality are balanced by his tenacity, charisma, love of life, and passion for photography. Siu Ta is a Toronto-based actor and filmmaker. Her films Urge (2000) and Kata Practice (2004) have screened in over 50 international film festivals, including Reel Asian. Daddy Tran: A Life In 3-D is a collaboration with her husband and cinematographer John Minh Tran, who is also a son of Hai Tran.

This catchy musical tells a love story about Mario, a mute who can’t talk but can sing, and Gloria, an ex- psychiatric patient who’s not allowed to dance. Mario is an auto mechanic at Gloria’s mother’s auto shop, but Gloria’s overbearing mother is convinced that Charlie Cho, a seemingly nice boy from church, is the right husband for Gloria. Juli Kang was born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Los Angeles and has an MFA in film directing from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the recipient of several filmmaking awards, including the Jack Nicholson Distinguished Student Director Award and the Edie and Lew Wasserman Fellowship in Film Directing.

“All my life I’ve been looking for someone like you.” With the hypnotic ambience of a nightclub scene and the dreamy images of boys dancing, Tam’s analysis of how we identify with the language of love and desire takes classic pickup lines and uses them in oddly poetic subtexts. Ho Tam currently teaches at the University of Victoria. He is a graduate of the Whitney Museum Independent Studies Program and the Bard College (MFA) and is the recipient of various fellowships and artists’ grants. In 2006, Tam was Reel Asian’s Canadian Spotlight artist.

Families and friends are both lost and found in wistful journeys mingled with tales of twisted desperation. These characters struggle to stay grounded resulting in unfortunate moments of weakness and troubling consequences. From Philippine slums, Taiwan’s countryside, and Canada’s suburbs, these late-night dramatic shorts traverse dark territories with the most beautiful cinematography. COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Toronto, Twitch, Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Charles Street Video

Dream of Me is a fragmented portrait of Daniëlle, the filmmaker’s sister she never knew. Separated by adoption and killed suddenly in a car accident, Daniëlle is portrayed in this video through testimony from various subjects and home movie footage of another Daniëlle who acts as an imagined surrogate for the filmmaker’s actual and lost sister. Agnes Moon is an award-winning experimental film and video maker. Her work has screened at festivals and venues such as the Pacific Film Archives, Anthology Film Archives, Impakt, Viper, Videoex, Paris/Berlin International Meetings, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the Gwangju Biennale, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

THE DRUMMER Voted Favorite Dramatic Film, Locarno International Film Festival Voted one of the Top Five Audience Favorites, Seattle International Film Festival Named Critics' Pick by the Hollywood Reporter, Sundance Film Festival Best Supporting Actor, Tony Leung Ka Fai , the 44th Taipei Golden Horse awards In the East, the drum is the “king” of all musical instruments. The sound of the drums can penetrate one’s body. The solemn beat of the drums can open a man’s heart. The powerful vibrations of the drusm can awaken a man’s soul… Banished by his father from the face-paced city of Hong Kong to the serene, peaceful mountains of Taiwan, a young man is enlightened and transformed through the powerful vibration of mesmerizing drumbeats. Sid (Jaycee Chan, son of action star Jackie Chan) is a smart-mouthed wannabe rock-star drummer and young heir to a leading role in the Hong Kong criminal world. Recklessly overconfident, he challenges his father’s associate and head tycoon Stephen Ma (Kenneth Tsang) by sleeping with Ma’s sexy girlfriend Carmen (Yumiko Cheng). When his furious father Kwan (Tony Leung Ka Fai) is called upon by Ma to punish his son by cutting off his precious hands, even Sid’s headstrong sister (Josie Ho) can’t protect him. After a violent chase that resonates with Sid’s abusive upbringing, Sid is forced to hide in the tranquil hills of Taiwan with Kwan’s dubious right-hand man (Roy Cheung). Struggling with boredom and looking to escape, Sid inadvertently discovers a group of Chinese Zen drummers. Drawn to the power of the drums, he confronts the drummers and insists on joining the group. While the members are skeptic, the Master decides that she will accept him as a student, and perhaps help him learn a sense of humility. Encountering a minimalist, austere lifestyle combined with rigorous physical training for the first time, Sid’s patience is tested as he is assigned to daily domestic chores. Instantly clashing with a fiery junior member of the group Hong Dou (Angelica Lee), he must learn to realize that the art of music is not defined by power. But just as harmony begins to captivate his turbulent spirit, his dark past finds him again and he must choose between his new ways or the life he was born into. Part gangster drama, part spiritual journey, THE DRUMMER features a powerful soundtrack and a delightful performance by Jaycee Chan as he takes on the most physically and emotionally demanding role of his young career. The Drummer was filmed on location in Hong Kong and Taiwan and stars some of the most celebrated actors and actresses in Chinese cinema today: Tony Leung Ka Fai (Best Actor, 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards), Jaycee Chan (Best New Actor Nominee, 2004 Hong Kong Film Awards), Lee Sinje (Best New Talent Award, 2001 Berlin International Film Festival) and Josie Ho (Best Supporting Actress, 2003 Hong Kong Film Awards). The cast also features bona fide Zen drummers. - Alice Shih & Heather Keung Kenneth Bi was born in Hong Kong and graduated with honours in theatre/film from Brock University (Canada) in 1989. He has written, acted, and directed numerous theatre, film, and music video productions in Canada and Hong Kong. His feature film debut, A Small Miracle (2000), was featured at Reel Asian in 2001. His second feature, Rice Rhapsody (Hainan Chicken Rice, 2004), has won numerous awards worldwide, including Best New Director at the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards. THE DRUMMER is his third feature film. SPONSOR: Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, Toronto