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Legendary Hong Kong New Wave director Patrick Tam will attend the Opening Gala and North American premiere of his much anticipated film - "After this our exile" - at the 2006 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival tomorrow (November 15, Toronto time).
Presented by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office (HKETO) in Canada, the film was recently nominated for seven Golden Horse Awards, which is commonly known as the Oscars for Chinese movies, including Best Feature Film and Best Leading Actor. The film was well received at its World Premiere at the recently held Rome Film Festival as well as the Pusan International Film Festival. It was also given the "Best Asian Film Award" and "Award for Best Artistic Contribution" at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival about a week ago.
To anyone familiar with the Hong Kong New Wave cinema of the 80's, Patrick Tam needs no introduction. His 1982 classic "Nomad" confronted realistic topics of sex and violence with unflinching brutality, sending a seismic shockwave throughout the film industry. He is also considered by some critics as internationally-known film director Wong Kar-way's teacher, as well as his editor. But after his award-winning 1989 film "My heart is that eternal rose", Tam stopped directing and turned to film editing on select projects, including Wong Kar-way's "Ashes of Time" and "Days of being wild", and Johnnie To's "Election". After a lapse of 17 years and to everyone's great surprise, he produced his latest masterpiece, "After this our exile".
Prior to the Opening Gala presentation, the HKETO will host a pre-screening VIP reception to share with the guests Tam's "astonishing 160 minutes", and to celebrate the achievement of the cast of the film, including acting talents Aaron Kwok, Charlie Yeung and Kelly Lin.
The pre-screening VIP Reception will be held tomorrow from 5pm to 6pm at Bar Mercurio at 270 Bloor Street West. The film will be screened the same evening from 7pm at Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West (east of Bathurst).
A film seminar entitled "In the Director's Chair: A Conversation with Patrick Tam" will be held Thursday (November 16, Toronto time) evening at the Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility of the University of Toronto. It will be conducted by Patrick Tam and Professor Bart Testa of the Innis Cinema Studies Program at the University of Toronto. The presentation is open to the public.
For details on the Reel Asian programming, please visit www.reelasian.com
Ends/Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 09:49
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