《单身男女》将揭幕第35届香港国际电影节

    The 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival is to be held from March 20 to April 5, the organizer announced last week

    The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society said at a press conference that the movie “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (“Dan Shen Nan Nv”), directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai, would open the festival.

    Another opening film is “Quattro Hong Kong 2,” an omnibus* film comprising four shorts set in Hong Kong. The shorts were directed by Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza, Hong Kong’s

    Stanley Kwan and Malay-

    sia’s Ho Yu-hang.

    Apichatpong won the top prize at the Cannes International Film Festival last year for the drama “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” Mendoza was named Cannes best director in 2009 for the crime thriller* “Kinatay.”

    “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” which pairs Chinese mainland actress Gao Yuanyuan with Hong Kong heartthrob* Louis Koo and Chinese-American Daniel Wu, is part of To’s recent push into the mainland market. The veteran director is best known for his stylish action thrillers but is now hoping to reach a broader audience with light comedies.

    More than 300 films from over 56 countries and regions will be screened at the festival, including 19 world premieres and 35 Asian premieres.

    Organizers will also stage the Asian premiere of “Vampire,” the English debut of Japanese director Shunji Iwai starring Kevin Segers, Rachael Leigh Cook and Keisha Castle-Hughes. Iwai is a music video and TV director-turned-filmmaker who made his name with the 1995 romance “Love Letter.”

    (SD-Agencies)