IFFAM ADDS HAYNES, MALICK FILMS, AARON KWOK-STARRER I’M LIVIN IT AND PORTUGAL’S THE DOMAIN TO FOURTH FESTIVAL LINEUP

Over The Sea join New Chinese Cinema competition, and Wang Xiaoshuai will introduce Antonioni’s Blow Up at festival which runs December 5-10

International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) has added a slew of film titles for its fourth edition which runs December 5 to 10 in Macao, China. These new films complete the programme for the festival which kicks off with a star-studded opening ceremony followed by a gala screening of Taika Waititi’s JoJo Rabbit at the Macao Cultural Center on December 5.

The new titles confirmed include i’m livin it which will be the closing film of the festival on Dec 10. Marking the directorial debut of veteran AD Wong Hing-Fan, the heartwarming Hong Kong drama stars Asian icon Aaron Kwok as an ex-con living homeless in a 24-hour fast food joint who leads a rag-tag community of poor and disenfranchised. Kwok was IFFAM’s talent ambassador in 2018 and he is joined in the film by IFFAM’s 2017 talent ambassador Miriam Yeung.

New films by two of the world’s greatest directors will screen as special presentations.

From Todd Haynes, the brilliant director of Carol and Far From Heaven, comes Dark Waters, the powerful account of how one crusading lawyer took on chemical giant DuPont after he discovered toxic leaks into a small West Virginia town. Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway star in the film which will be IFFAM’s Hollywood special presentation.

And from the legendary Terrence Malick comes A Hidden Life, the epic story of young Austrian man and devout Catholic Franz Jagerstatter who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. The film had its world premiere in competition at Cannes, and IFFAM will be presenting its Asian premiere. August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Matthias Schoenearts and the late Bruno Ganz star.

One of the best Portuguese films of the year A Herdade (The Domain) will also screen as a special presentation. Tiago Guedes’ highly acclaimed film had its world premiere in competition in Venice in September this year. Another epic chronicle of the 20^th Century, The Domain stars Albano Jerónimo as a landowner caught up in the political turmoil of the 1970s.

Also confirmed to screen as a special presentation by the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) is the newly restored print of 1998 classic Flowers Of Shanghai directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. The gorgeously shot, beautifully directed movie is set in the “flower houses” of 19th century Shanghai where several young courtesans vie for the attentions and proposals of the male callers. The film stars Tony Leung, Michiyo Hada, Vicky Wei and IFFAM’s talent ambassador this year Carina Lau. It was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival and its restored version had its world premiere at SIFF earlier this year.

And joining the New Chinese Cinema programme of the year’s best Chinese-language films is Sun Aoqian’s Over The Sea, the poignant tale of a young Chinese boy left behind by his parents who went away to work and never came back.

Palme d’Or winning Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu is heading the New Chinese Cinema jury which will award films in five categories.

In IFFAM’s Director’s Choice strand, where directors select and introduce their favourite classic films, the festival has added Blow-Up, the timeless 1966 film by Michelangelo Antonioni which has been chosen by one of China’s greatest directors Wang Xiaoshuai. Director Wang will present the film in Macao on December 9^th.