Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman. The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a cop obsessed by his breakup with a woman named May, and his encounter with a mysterious drug smuggler. The second stars Tony Leung as a police officer roused from his gloom over the loss of his flight attendant girlfriend by the attentions of a quirky snack bar worker.
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed partly by income from his acting work. AllMovie called him "an iconoclastic maverick", while The New Yorker suggested in 2013 that he "may be the most influential American director of the last half century."
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a 1976 American neo-noir crime film written and directed by John Cassavetes and starring Ben Gazzara. A rough and gritty film, this is the second of their three collaborations, following Husbands and preceding Opening Night. Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel, Morgan Woodward, Meade Roberts, and Azizi Johari appear in supporting roles.
Seth Landau is an actor/writer/director and former newspaper reporter for The Arizona Republic and New Times. Landau is known for two independent films, Take Out and "A.P.U.: Art, Pot and Underwear". The latter was termed by Film Threat as "a look at Hollywood you're not likely to find anywhere else". The former, "Take Out", was the target of a locally publicized dispute regarding Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou's film of the same name. Landau also directed the 2008 horror film Bryan Loves You.
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, from poorer to richer countries. Illegal residence in another country creates the risk of detention, deportation, and/or other sanctions.
Sean Baker is an American film director, cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is best known for the independent feature films Starlet, Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket, as well as his involvement in the Fox/IFC puppet sitcom Greg the Bunny and its spin-offs.
Cinephilia is the term used to refer to a passionate interest in films, film theory, and film criticism. The term is a portmanteau of the words cinema and philia, one of the four ancient Greek words for love. A person with a passionate interest in cinema is called a cinephile, cinemaphile, filmophile, or, informally, a film buff. To a cinephile, a film is not just a form of entertainment as they see films from a more critical point of view.
Shih Chih-wei is a retired Taiwanese baseball player. He played for the amateur Taiwan Cooperative Bank baseball team before being drafted by the La New Bears of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in 2004.
Kenzo is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1970 by Japanese designer Kenzo Takada and owned by parent company LVMH.
Shih-Ching Tsou is a Taiwan-born film producer, director, and actress. She co-directed the film Take Out (2004) with Sean Baker. She also produced Baker's other films Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021).
Hollywood Hong Kong is a 2001 Hong Kong film directed by Fruit Chan, with screenplay written by Kei To Lam. It is the second instalment of his "prostitution trilogy" which Chan directed from 2000–02. The other two movies in the trilogy are Durian Durian (2000) and Three Husbands (2018).
Jose Antonio Vargas is a journalist, filmmaker, and immigration rights activist. Born in the Philippines and raised in the United States from the age of twelve, he was part of The Washington Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting online and in print. Vargas has also worked for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Daily News, and The Huffington Post. He wrote, produced, and directed the autobiographical 2013 film Documented, which CNN Films broadcast in June 2014.
L'Est Films Group Int’l Co (EFG) is an entertainment industry company involved in movie distribution and production.
Joshua Safdie and Benjamin Safdie are independent American filmmakers and actors based in New York City, who frequently collaborate on their films. They are best known for writing and directing the crime thriller films Good Time (2017) starring Robert Pattinson and Uncut Gems (2019) starring Adam Sandler.
Take Out is food purchased at a restaurant that the purchaser intends to eat elsewhere.
Yao Wen-chih is a Taiwanese politician also known by the appropriated Tsou name Pasuya Yao. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party, he served in the Legislative Yuan from 2012 to 2018.
Tangerine is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by Sean Baker, and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch, starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, and James Ransone. The story follows a transgender sex worker who discovers her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her. The film was shot with three iPhone 5S smartphones.
Slice is a 2018 American horror comedy film, written and directed by Austin Vesely. The film stars Zazie Beetz and Chance Bennett, with Rae Gray, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Katherine Cunningham, Will Brill, Y'lan Noel, Hannibal Buress, Tim Decker, Joe Keery, Chris Parnell, and Paul Scheer appearing in supporting roles. It follows the murders of several pizza deliverymen in the Ghost Town neighborhood of Kingfisher, and various townspeople's efforts to solve the crimes.
Red Rocket is a 2021 American black comedy drama film directed by Sean Baker from a screenplay co-written with Chris Bergoch. It stars Simon Rex, Bree Elrod, and Suzanna Son. The plot follows a porn star (Rex) who returns to his hometown and begins a relationship with an adolescent girl (Son).
The Worst Person in the World is a 2021 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Joachim Trier. It is the third film in the director's "Oslo Trilogy", following Reprise (2006) and Oslo, August 31st (2011). The film premiered in competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival to widespread critical acclaim, with Renate Reinsve winning the award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. At the 94th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay. The score for the film was written by Ola Fløttum.
