Country: Spain
Year: 2007
Duration: 103'
1964. Rose Hong, a beautiful and glamorous Hong Kong nightclub singer, meets Bill, an Australian sailor, and migrates with him to Australia, to the state of Victoria along with her two children, Tom and May. Rose leaves Bill soon after she gets her Australian citizenship, and moves to Sydney where she spends the next seven years working in Chinese restaurants, going from one disastrous relationship to another. “Everything that happens in the film actually happened in real life. I had an extraordinary, wild, traumatic childhood, largely due to the erratic behaviour of my beautiful, charismatic but mentally unstable mother. My sister and I were buffeted by these events, and survived mainly because of our love for each other. But also because, in spite of everything, we knew that our mother loved us. As a filmmaker, I knew that I was compelled to tell this story eventually. The fact that it is a true story imbues the film with a sense of unpredictable authenticity.”
Biography
film director
Tony Ayres
(Macao, China, 1961) graduated from a screenwriting course at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 1990 and then worked for television and for theatre. His debut as a filmaker was the short film Double Trouble in 1992, followed by another short film, Mrs Craddock’s Complaint, in 1997. Then he directed several acclaimed documentaries such as China Dolls (1997) and Sadness (1999). His first feature film, Walking on Water, had its world premiere at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award and the Reader’s Prize of the “Siegessäule” Magazine.
FILMOGRAFIA
Double Trouble (cm, doc., 1992), Mrs Craddock’s Complaint (cm, 1997), China Dolls (cm, doc., 1997), Exposed (cm, 1997), Sadness (mm, doc., 1999), Walking on Water (2002), The Home Song Stories (2007).
Cast
& Credits
regia, soggetto,sceneggiatura/director, story, screenplay Tony Ayres
fotografia/director of photography Nigel Bluck
scenografia/set design Melinda Doring
costumi/costume design Cappi Ireland
montaggio/film editor Denise Haratzis
musica/music Anthony Partos
suono/sound Craig Carter
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters Joan Chen (Rose), Qi Yuwu (Joe), Joel Lok (Tom), Irene Chen (May), Steven Vidler (Bill), Kerry Walker (Norma), Gabrielle Chan (Winnie), Pearl Tan (Agnes), Haven Tso (Wing), Ivy Mark (Kim), Darren Yap (Tom da adulto/as adult), Annette Shun Wah (Annette da adulta/as adult), Thomas
Wu (zio/uncle Yung), Ferdinand Hoang (Bing), Philip Lau (Chan), Trent Rosenberg (l’amico di Tom/Tom’s friend), Le Le Wang-Burns (la madre di Rose/Rose’s mother)
produttore/producer Liz Watts, Michael McMahon
produzione/production A Big and Little Films, Porchlight Films
distribuzione,vendita all’estero/distribution, world sales Fortissimo Films
TFF
prizes
