The seventh Hong Kong Salento International Film Festival (HKSIFF) presents six of the best films from last year’s Salento Film Festival at the Grand Cinema from the 8-13 May. The films are from from Italy, Russia, Israel, Taiwan and Iran.
American Fango, the semi-autobiographical film by Italian director Gabriele Altobelli, presents a love and self-searching story about an Italian actor who leaves Rome and goes to New York where he pursues romance with several beautiful ladies.
Blue Hollywood, the feature directorial debut of award-winning Italian director Francesco Gabriele, is about two young actors who meet on the path to a shared dream, the Acting Summer Programme held in London. Stepping foot in Hollywood, they walk at their own pace due to different approaches, priorities and even life-changing decisions. It is a journey filled with desire, determination and disappointment.
Beneath the Silence is set in 1973, a time when PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) was not recognized as a medical condition. Daphna, the wife of an ex-soldier, struggles to get help from the military in order to maintain her husband Menashe’s last bits of sanity while their 10-year-old son, Shlomi, tries to understand what has happened to his father and why he is different from what he was. It is the debut feature film by the Israeli filmmaking duo Erez Mizrahi and Sahar Shavit.
About Love, directed by the famous Russian Director Vladimir Bortko, is inspired by L. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”. It is a film about adultery and erotic romance, showing the life and moral values of modern elites.
The Iranian film Cold Breath, directed by Abbas Raziji, illustrates the struggles of Maryam, an impoverished person who was born as a woman but lives as a man. When her daughter succumbs to cancer she must find a way to pay for treatment. Trusting in love for survival, Maryam faces her greatest fears head on when her secret is revealed.
The Receptionist is the debut film of London-based Taiwanese director Jenny Lu. The story is based on real facts and portrays the dark underworld of the illegal massage parlours business in London. It is filmed in the first person angle of the Taiwanese college graduate Tina who has resorted to work as a receptionist in a massage parlour during the economic crisis in 2008.
HKSIFF Screening Schedule:
8 May, 7:50 pm – About Love
Vladimir Bortko | Russia 2017 | 93 min | Category: III
9 May, 7:50 pm – Beneath the Silence
Erez Mizrahi & Sahar Shavit | Israel 2016 | 106 min | Category: IIB
10 May, 7:50 pm – American Fango
Gabriele Altobelli | Italy/USA 2017 | 104 min | Category: IIB
8 May, 9.45 pm / 9 May, 9.55 pm / 10 May, 9.50 pm / 11 May, 7:50 pm (SOLD OUT) / 13 May, 7.50 pm – The Receptionist
Jenny Lu | Taiwan/UK 2016 | 100 min | Category: IIB
12 May, 6:10 pm – Blue Hollywood
Francesco Gabriele | Italy/UK/USA 2017 | 82 min | Category: III
13 May, 6:10 pm – Cold Breath
Abbas Raziji | Iran 2017 | 85 min | Category: IIA
