The annual Montreal Fantasia Festival starts this Thursday at various locations all over the city. Presenting films from Asia (with Japan, Korea and Hong Kong being the major contributors), Europe and North America, the festival runs from 8th – 28th July.
For those who wants to have a taste of local Hong Kong cinema from abroad, this is an event not to be missed!
A comprehensive overview of featured Chinese films from www.dreadcentral.com:
”Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Canada) is once again sponsoring the Hong Kong cinema programming this year, a listing that promises to be extraordinarily sweeping and spectacular. Following IP MAN’s success last year, we can expect a full house for every screening filled with festival-goers enthusiastic for IP MAN 2 (Canadian premiere). Donnie Yen reprises his role as Bruce Lee’s celebrated master who this time must deal with martial arts cinema legend Sammo Hung (PROJECT A). Yen is also part of the prestigious cast for BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS (Canadian premiere), an epic historical fresco filled with fantastic battles set in the middle of the Chinese revolution. Another Kung Fu legend proves his worth in LITTLE BIG SOLDIER (Canadian premiere). Jackie Chan, Hong Kong cinema’s ambassador par-excellence in the West, delivers a nuanced performance in light of his persona recently displayed in KARATE KID. Bruce Leung (KUNG FU HUSTLE) and Chen Kuan Tai will delight fans of traditional Kung Fu with the hilarious martial arts comedy GALLANTS (Canadian premiere with actor Bruce Leung and co-director Clement Cheng attending), one of the wonderful surprises to emerge from Hong Kong this year.
Johnny To returns as a producer for the acclaimed thriller ACCIDENT where a hit-man and his team conjure up fake accidents to eliminate their victims. Long-time To collaborator, Wai Ka-Fai, offers WRITTEN BY, an elliptical fantasy drama in the vein of a Charlie Kaufman script, starring Lau Ching-Wan, who also plays in this year’s suspenseful OVERHEARD, an engaging and original cat-and-mouse game in which a surveillance team gets tempted with fiscal fraud. Another festival favourite, Pang-Ho Cheung, returns with two pictures that demonstrate once again his capacity to take ordinary premises and transform them into something extraordinary, all of it sprinkled with shady social satire. LOVE IN A PUFF (International premiere) is a comedy in which smoking prohibition leads to laughs, swearing and close camaraderie, whereas the horrific comedy DREAM HOME (Canadian premiere) deals with a woman willing to kill to acquire her dream dwelling. Finally, from Mainland China, THE MESSAGE (Canadian premiere) crosses genres by offering an intense espionage suspense thriller set during World War II.”
