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Fagara

Hua jiao zhi wei
dir. Heiward Mak
China, Hong Kong 2019, 120’
European premiere
Awards and festivals
Busan IFF 2019
Credits
China, Hong Kong 2019
Duration: 120’
director: Heiward Mak
screenplay: Heiward Mak
cinematography: Yip Siu-ki
editing: Heiward Mak, Cheung Siu-hong
music: Yusuke Hatano
sound: Tu Duu-chih, Chiang Yi-chen
VFX supervisor: Shigeharu Tomotoshi
cast: Sammi Cheng, Megan Lai, Li Xiaofeng, Kenny Bee, Richi Ren, Andy Lau
producer: Ann Hui, Julia Chu
production: Media Asia Film, Emperor Motion Pictures, Lajin Film Co., Dadi Film
language: Cantonese, Mandarin
colouration: colour

Film description

After receiving news of her father's sudden death, Acacia, a young Hong Kong woman, is faced with a difficult task of organizing a funeral and taking care of a family restaurant. She was long estranged with her father and while looking through his contacts she finds out about the existence of her two half-sisters, one from Taiwan and the other from China. Three women meet at a funeral, which gives them the opportunity to confront their childhood memories, feelings of abandonment, resentmen towards the constantly absent father and selfish mothers. The sisterly reunion will change their lives in an unexpected way.

Losely based on Amy Cheung's 2010 bestseller novel, "Fagara" is an intimate picture of difficult family relations, as complicated as the contradictory sentiments between Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and mainland Chinese. The motif of a broken family reflects the situation of the three sisters, as well as the represented areas, separated by history, very different, but originating from one lineage. The director and screenwriter Heiward Mak pushes aside the romantic plot dominant in the book and focuses on the theme of the family, the generational conflict, to which the solution lies in the culinary art. After all, in Sinophone cinemas, the process of preparing food and a shared meal is the best family therapy, especially in a holiday movie such as "Fagara", which plot coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival. Exactly twenty-five years after the premiere of Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman", Haiward Mak creates a modern portrait of the three sisters, reflecting the political and social situation of the second decade of the 21st century.

Maja Korbecka

Heiward Mak

Born in 1984, she studied Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. At the age of 24, she completed her debut feature film "High Noon" (2008) about the rebellious Hong Kong high school students. She worked with Pang Ho-cheung on the script "Love in a Puff" (2009), one of the biggest hits of the Hong Kong box office, which has already seen two sequels and received the script award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. "Mad World" (2016) was her debut in the role of a producer. Mak continues to support other young Hong Kong filmmakers, sharing her decade knowledge of working within local film industry, shooting short films, full features as well as many commercials and music videos. "Fagara" is her sixth film, completed with Ann Hui as the producer of the project.

Filmography:

2008 Lit yat dong hung / High Noon
2010 Chin do / Ex
2010 We Might As Well be Strangers (kr.m.)
2011 Xing fu de pangbian / Beside(s) Happiness
2012 Diva wah lai ji jan / Diva
2016 Good Take, Too!
2019 Fagara / Hua jiao zhi wei / Fagara

Festival guests

Heiward Mak

reżyserka

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