A week and a half ago, I had the chance to interview the director and cast members of the romantic comedy The People I’ve Slept With. They were in town because the film was one of the closing films of the Hong Kong Asian Independent Film Festival.

Three of them were there: (from left) Director Quentin Lee, actor Wilson Cruz, actress Karin Anna Cheung, and actor Archie Kao

During the interview, we discussed the film, the characters, the inspiration, and the state of Asian-American films in America.

Part 1 (128 kbps MP3, 21 MB, 23:23)

Part 2 (128 kbps MP3, 22 MB, 23:39)

Music: Judy is a Punk by James Iha from the Beams 30th Anniversary Album.

Our sincere thanks to Quentin, Karin, and Archie for talking to us. Also, many thanks to Ms. Kit Ho and Kozo for arranging the interview. Apologies for any moments where I come off unprofessional. I am, after all, just a small-time blogger.

If you’d like to find out more about the film, please check out the official website, and become a fan on Facebook. It’s a film worth supporting, not just because it’s an Asian-American production, but because it’s just a damn fun film. Look for it in a town near you.

Photos courtesy of Quentin Lee and his Alivenotdead blog. Used with permission. 

I don’t devote entire entries to the podcast East Screen/West Screen (which I co-host with Paul Fox) anymore, but our 10th episode is special, because this time lovehkfilm founder Ross Chen joins us. It runs a little long, but it’s totally worth it.

Check out Episode 10 of East Screen/West Screen on Kong Cast

As always, feel free to leave questions and comments here or at Kong Cast.

Whoa, it’s a news post! You have Tropical Storm Koppu to thank for that.

First off, the latest episode of East Screen/West Screen is up. This time, Paul and I talk about Trick or Cheat, Sophie’s Revenge, realistic romance movies, and Hong Kong’s representative at the Academy Awards.

- And as I predicted about Prince of Tears, the controversy has already started.  Just a day after we recorded the podcast, Taiwan’s Government Information Office has requested their NT$10 million subsidy back if it remains to be HK’s representative. Yonfan has also responded, saying that he would rather give back the money. He can probably afford it anyway.

- No HK box office figures yet, but South Korea’s film council already has the weekend stats up. The melodrama Ae-Ja takes the top spot in its opening weekend, as Take Off adds another 321,000 admissions (with 63,000 of those going to the new director’s cut.). Meanwhile, Haeundae has passed Silmido and is now aiming for Taegukgi with 11.18 million. The Case of Haewon Suicide opens in 3rd place with an OK 282,000 admissions.

-In Japan admission rankings, 20th Century Boys continues to hold the top spot, while Wolverine debuts at 2nd place. Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Symbol (which got its premiere in Toronto, not Venice. D’oh!) debuts at 5th place, and Tajomaru with Shun Oguri (somewhat based on the short story In a Grove, which inspired Rashomon) flops with a 7th place debut.

- Speaking of Symbol, Variety’s Russell Edwards has the first review of it after he saw it in Japan.

-Fans of Takeshi Kitano’s gangster films will be happy to know that his latest film, which is now in production, will be a return to the violent gangster genre that he departed from with three self-reflexive films.

- Though it’s yet to be officially reported, Haeundae now has a Canadian distribution deal. No word, however, on whether it’ll be the shorter cut that China and Hong Kong are getting.

- Continuing with the blog’s obsession with super-duper Communist celebration movie Founding of a Republic, a record 1,450 prints will be going out for its release this weekend.

- In a move that will confuse foreign viewers, Team Bastista no Eikou, whose characters have already been seen twice in feature films with a different cast, will be getting a one-off special episode (i.e. TV movie).

- Mark Schilling writes about the wave of 1950s nostalgia that’s been sweeping Japanese mainstream culture in recent years.

And not much else today on storm night. Hopefully this will be a daily thing again. See you all tomorrow.

The third episode of East Screen/West Screen is up on Kong Cast.

This week, it’s all about sci-fi in Asia.

So as always, please leave any comments or questions you may have here or at Kong Cast and let us know what you think!

The second episode of East Screen/West Screen - hosted by Paul Fox, myself, and guest William Chan - is on Kong Cast now.

This week - China (yay!), McDull, Girl-on-girl action, and DVD recommedations.

As always, please leave a comment at Kong Cast or here and let us know what you think or any questions you might have.

I don’t really have any time to work on my own podcast anymore, and for some reason, I don’t think people cared all that much. But thanks to the hard work of friend Paul Fox (formerly of Canton Kid), he’s started up Kong Cast. And guess what? It includes a podcast too!

Fortunately, Paul offered me the co-host spot for it, and now you can hear me ramble on about films again hopefully once a week, with much better editing.

Here’s the first episode. Please leave comments here or at Kong Cast and let us know what you guys think about it. Unless you’re gonna tell me to not be biased about China, then you can leave that to yourself.

We’re recording episode 2 tonight, and hopefully that’ll be online soon.

 
A picture of meetings going on at TPG. See more at Kenneth’s blog. Used with permission.

This semester, I got to study under writer/director Kenneth Bi again. Recently, he took a week off to go to Tokyo for the Tokyo Project Gathering, where filmmakers bring their latest potential projects and meet with investors from around the world. Many multi-national co-productions begin this way, and since there’s so much talk about film markets around here, I decided to see what it’s like to pitch a script at something as nerve-racking as the TPG.

Part 1 (128kbps MP3, 11.0mb, 12:06)

Part 2 (128kbps MP3, 13.3mb, 14:38)

Music from the Still Walking Original Soundtrack.

Many many thanks to Kenneth Bi for talking to this small-time blogger not just once, but twice. And I hope the second time is just as informative as the first for you out there. It sure was for me.

This week ended up being longer, despite having less news. Sorry if it gets back to boring from last week’s shorter entry.

The 4th Golden Rock Podcast - 7/22/2007 (right click—>save as. 96 kbps MP3. 16.2 mb. 22:29)

This week’s theme song: DJ Shadow - Mongrel Meets Its Maker

This week on the Podcast:

- Preview screenings for Hollywood films in Asia - are they really needed?
—–> Why the hell do I care about box office so much?

- the Hong Kong Television and Entertainment Licensing Council saga. How does that affect The Golden Rock?

- the LOSERS and WINNERS of the week.

Please do enjoy, and keep sending those comments in. Thanks for listening!

This week ended up being longer, despite having less news. Sorry if it gets back to boring from last week’s shorter entry.

The 4th Golden Rock Podcast - 7/22/2007 (right click—>save as. 96 kbps MP3. 16.2 mb. 22:29)

This week’s theme song: DJ Shadow - Mongrel Meets Its Maker

This week on the Podcast:

- Preview screenings for Hollywood films in Asia - are they really needed?
—–> Why the hell do I care about box office so much?

- the Hong Kong Television and Entertainment Licensing Council saga. How does that affect The Golden Rock?

- the LOSERS and WINNERS of the week.

Please do enjoy, and keep sending those comments in. Thanks for listening!

It’s a little late, but it’s here. Except I forgot to continue the Winners and Losers of the Week. Oh well, at least it’s shorter.

The Third Golden Rock Podcast - 7/16/2007. (right click—>save as. 96 kbps MP3. 10.3 mb. 14:20)

This week’s theme song - Edison Chen - TP Won!!!!!!

On the Podcast this week:

Verbal review: Transformers

Hong Kong Summer films, part 2 - This summer sucks

Future goals of Asian films - remake and foreign distribution?

Does the sales of advance tickets in Japan affect studio guesstimates?

Thanks again to everyone’s comments, and enjoy.