The Hilo Chinese New Year Festival presents the 1st ANNUAL HAWAII ISLAND CHINESE FILM FESTIVAL.

Saturday February 9, 2008 Palace Theater, 38 Haili Street, Downtown Hilo.

Seating is limited.

Tickets are available at the Palace Theater Box Office:
Monday-Friday 10am-3pm or call 934-7010

1st Annual Hawai'i Island Chinese Film Festival
Saturday • February 9, 2008
Palace Theater, Downtown Hilo
Admission is Free!

11:00 a.m The Drummer (Hong Kong, 2007)

Kennith Bi, Director 120 minutes Cast: Jaycee Chan (son of Jackie) as Sid

The Drummer is an original and stylistic cinematic feast of sight and sound. It is the first feature film to combine an engaging character-driven story with dramatic action and the stunning art of Chinese Zen drumming.

The compelling and emotional story follows Sid, a reckless youth raised in a Hong Kong triad family, who flees to Taiwan upon enraging a mob boss. Hiding out in the mountains of Taiwan, he encounters and joins a group of Zen drummers whose mesmerizing art, rigorous physical training, and austere way of life eventually transform him into an extraordinary young man.

Sid’s independence from the triad life is profoundly challenged, however, when a twist of fate awaits him back home in Hong Kong and forces him to choose between loyalty to his family and his new found faith in himself. (From Beyondhollywood.com)

1:30 p.m. All in This Tea (USA, 2007)

Les Blank, Gina Leibrecht, Directors 70 minutes Les Blank, Cinematographer Cast: David Lee Hoffman (available following the screening for a Q&A Session)

All in This Tea is a brilliantly realized documentary by filmmakers Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht. It examines the world of real life adventurer David Lee Hoffman, a man tramping through the hinterlands of China in search of unique sources of handcrafted, high quality teas.

The fascinating and highly amusing film follows the khaki-clad explorer through friendly encounters with small farmers who somehow manage to figure out what herbal treasure Hoffman—who speaks only a few words of Chinese—is searching for. (Paul Ventura and Jason Soeda)

3:00 p.m Tea Tasting Reception (Hong Kong, 2007)

5:00 p.m. Lust, Caution (USA, 2007)

Ang Lee, Director 160 minutes Cast: Joan Chen, Tang Wei, Tony Leung *Rated NC-17 (Some explicit sexuality)

Ang Lee's Lust, Caution is first languid, then passionate, as it tells the story of a young woman who joins a political murder plot and then becomes emotionally involved with her enemy. It begins at a 1942 Mah-Jongg game in Hong Kong, when erotic undertones become clearly audible to us, and then flashes back to Shanghai, 1938, during the Japanese occupation of China. One of the rich ladies at the game table is revealed to have been a college student, and not really the wife of a wealthy (but unseen) tycoon.

Failing to find the connecting link between such Ang Lee films as "Sense and Sensibility," "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Hulk," I was quickly corrected by readers who said, obviously, all his films are about people trying to realize their essential natures despite the constraints of society. Readers, you were right. (Roger Ebert)

9:00 p.m. Kung Fu Hustle (Hong Kong, 2004)

Stephen Chow, Director, Co-Producer, Co-Writer 95 minutes Cast: Stephen Chow

Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004 Hong Kong martial arts film co-written, co-produced, directed by and starring Stephen Chow.

The film is a humorous parody and a homage to the wuxia genre, and contains most of the characteristics of a typical wuxia movie with exaggerations, serious situations and comic plots.

Set in 1930s Shanghai, it is a tale of redemption for the central character, portrayed by Chow, a petty criminal who is trying to join the city's most-powerful gang.(Wikipedia)

From wildly imaginative kung fu showdowns to dance sequences featuring tuxedoed mobsters, you’ve never seen action this outrageous and characters this zany! With jaw dropping fight sequences by Yuen Wo Ping (famed action choreographer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix) Kung Fu Hustle will blow you away! (Sony Pictures Classics)