Lkj;lj;lkjl;kjl;kj · Web viewpresents. AU REVOIR TAIPEI. Written and directed by. ARVIN CHEN Starring. JACK YAO, AMBER KUO, JOSEPH CHANG, LAWRENCE KO, FRANKIE GAO. Produced by

presents

AU REVOIR TAIPEIWritten and directed by

ARVIN CHEN

StarringJACK YAO, AMBER KUO, JOSEPH CHANG, LAWRENCE KO, FRANKIE GAO

Produced byATOM CINEMA AND GREENSKYFILMS

CAST AND CREW

Kai JACK YAOSusie AMBER KUOJi-Yong JOSEPH CHANGHong LAWRENCE KOBrother Bao FRANKIE GAO

Directed and written by ARVIN CHENProduced by IN-AH LEE WEI-JAN LIUExecutive Producers WIM WENDERS MEILEEN CHOOProducer OI LENG LUICo-Producers MICHAEL LEOW MICHELLE CHODirector of Photography MICHAEL FIMOGNARIProduction Designer MEI CHING HUANGEditor JUSTIN GUERRIERISound by TU DUU CHIHMusic by WEN HSU

TECHNICAL DETAILS:Taiwan/USA 2009Length: 85 minutesFormat: 35mm, 1:1,85Sound format: Dolby 5.1

WORLD SALES:Beta CinemaDirk Schuerhoff/Andreas RothbauerGruenwalder Weg 28dD – 82041 Oberhaching/[email protected]

PRESS MATERIAL:Pictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.comusername: ftppress01password: betapress

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For further information: Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse, Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15, [email protected], www.betacinema.comPictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.com, username: ftppress01, password: betapress

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LOGLINE

A lovesick young man is leaving Taipei in hopes of getting to Paris, but over the course of one extraordinary night, finds that the excitement and romance he was longing for is already there.

SHORT SYNOPSIS

Kai, a brokenhearted young man from Taipei, yearns to be with his girlfriend, who's left for Paris. He spends his days working at his parents’ noodle restaurant and his nights trying to learn French at the local bookstore, where he meets Susie, a sweet but lonely girl who works there. Afraid of losing his girlfriend, and in need of money to get to Paris, he accepts a dubious offer from a local gangster – deliver a mysterious package to Paris. It’s the beginning of a wild night for Kai, at the end of which he realizes that leaving both Susie and Taipei will only take him further away from true love.

LONG SYNOPSIS

The never-ending bustle of life in Taipei has become meaningless to Kai since his girlfriend left for Paris. Brokenhearted, he spends his days working at his parents’ noodle restaurant and his nights trying to learn French at the local bookstore. It’s there that he meets Susie, a sweet but lonely girl who takes an unusual interest in him. Kai, however, can only think about getting to Paris - he’s convinced himself that he’ll never find happiness or love again if he’s stuck in Taipei.

When Brother Bao, a shady neighborhood gangster and real estate magnate, offers to help Kai get to Paris, he immediately agrees. But Brother Bao’s help comes with strings attached - Kai must pick up a mysterious delivery for him on the same night that he’s set to leave for Paris. Unfortunately there are others after the delivery, including a group of aspiring gangsters who kidnap Kai’s best friend, and an emotionally unstable police detective with his own romantic issues. In the middle of all the chaos, Kai runs into Susie, and soon they are pulled together into the enchanting world of nighttime Taipei, with its vibrant nightmarkets, twisting alleyways, abandoned temples, lively karaoke bars, and love hotels.

Running, scooting, and even dancing through the city over the course of this one night, Kai and Susie gradually begin to fall in love. In fact it seems as if everyone around them is also suffering from some form of lovesickness, as Taipei itself comes alive with romance. By the early morning, Kai must make a final decision about whether or not to go to Paris, and realizes that there maybe no need to say “Au revoir…”

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

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The idea for AU REVOIR TAIPEI came during a conversation I had a few years ago while filming in Taipei. My editor and I (both of us foreigners) were riding on the elevated rail, watching the city blur by through the window, when he turned to me and said, “You know…Taipei reminds me a lot of Paris”. Having just finished shooting my short film MEI, which was very much about trying to find romance in the hidden corners of Taipei, my editor’s words got me thinking - what if somehow we were able to capture the feeling of Paris (the western ideal of both city and love) through a film that took place entirely in Taipei, in world specific only to that city?Living and working here over the last few years, I had met many young people obsessed with leaving Taiwan for the excitement of the outside world. I began to sketch out a simple storyline with this premise in mind: a brokenhearted young man is about to leave Taipei for Paris, but over the course of one night, he discovers that all the excitement, inspiration, and romance he was longing for is already there - he just has to open himself up to it. This story gave us the perfect opportunity to create a unique vision of Taipei by drawing on inspiration from the city and its people, finding the humor, romance, and absurdity in everyday life. Like the protagonist’s own journey in the film, AU REVOIR TAIPEI offers the audience a chance to enter the enchanting world of nighttime Taipei, a world of love struck characters set against the backdrop of a city waiting to reveal its magic and beauty... Arvin Chen (Writer/Director)

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

AU REVOIR TAIPEI is a sweet and comic story of a brokenhearted young man trying to get to Paris, only to discover on the very night he’s leaving that all the excitement, inspiration, and romance he was longing for is already there in Taipei. More than anything, the film is about falling in love with a city by finding the beauty and charm of its surroundings and characters. Appropriately enough, the making of the AU REVOIR TAIPEI began in very much the same way...

Though his parents are from Taiwan, writer-director Arvin Chen was born and raised in the United States, moving to Taipei only in his early 20’s to work and apprentice under renowned Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang (YIYI, A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY). Early on during his time there, Chen recalls already being “extremely inspired by Taipei...for someone like me who grew up in the suburbs of Northern California, it was a such a huge change to be in a city so vibrant and exciting...I still remember the first time a friend took me on a late night scooter ride through the city, just watching all the life on the street blur by.”

After spending a few years back in Los Angeles to attend film school at the University of Southern California, Chen returned to Taipei again in 2006 to shoot his thesis film MEI, which was set entirely in Taipei’s bustling night markets. The film was shot in only four days, with a small cast and crew made up of Chen’s classmates from the States as well as local Taiwanese filmmakers. “Ever since living in Taipei, I had always wanted to make a sweet and simple little romance

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that took place right in the night markets and back alleys of the city, something that really captured my impression of the city…and that turned out to be Mei”. The short film went on to festival success, winning the Silver Bear/Jury Prize at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, and giving Chen the confidence to start thinking about his first feature-length project.

The idea for AU REVOIR TAIPEI began with a conversation Chen had a few days after wrapping production on MEI, while he and editor Justin Guerrieri were riding around the subway in Taipei. Chen recalls: “We were staring out at the city through the window, and Justin started saying how Taipei really reminded him of Paris. When I asked him what he meant, he couldn’t really elaborate...he just said there was a certain feeling about the two cities that connected for him. I thought that was really interesting though, because for me, I didn’t really see that connection. But it did get me thinking...well, Paris is kind of an ideal...the city of love and all of that. And Paris does suggest a certain feeling…of romance, life, music…why couldn’t we try to find the same thing in Taipei?” Chen soon began to outline the storyline of what would become AU REVOIR TAIPEI. “Over the years, I had met a lot of friends that would dream and obsess about leaving Taipei and Taiwan and living overseas...whether in New York, Paris...London. I started to think about how that could be the premise of this story: a Taiwanese kid that feels like he has to get to Paris, but finds out that everything Paris means to him...it’s already all there in Taipei”.

Chen admits that he also saw an opportunity to have some fun with this premise, while breaking away from the style of traditional Taiwanese films: “I’m a huge fan of the French New Wave films, and I thought it would be interesting to incorporate some elements of those films...the silly kids falling in love, the funny gangsters, the dancing...I could see all of these things happening in a film about modern Taipei and still feeling totally authentic to that world.” Chen also knew he wanted to set the story over the course of one night in order to capture the feeling of nighttime Taipei. “Taipei is seriously one of the most beautiful cities in the world at night...there’s just so much life on the streets and colors and lights everywhere. I thought if we could bring that feeling to the audience...as if they’re going on this journey with the characters from sunset to sunrise, it could be very emotionally satisfying”.

The project really started moving after Chen was introduced to In-Ah Lee, a Korean-German independent producer based out of Los Angeles with experience in international co-productions. Lee had been a fan of Chen’s short MEI, and connected to the material of AU REVOIR TAIPEI too. “Not only do I love movies about cities and food”, she explains, “and there was also something very touching about the story that I got to me...there are no bad guys in this world...everyone is just trying to find love”. Lee agreed to sign onto the project through her production company, Greenskyfilms, and soon she and Chen began presenting the project at various film festival financing markets around the world, including the PPP at the Pusan International Film Festival and L’Atelier at The Cannes Film Festival.

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Chen and Lee were also able to find a local partner in Atom Cinema, a Taipei-based production company, also known as a boutique distributor of American and European art house films. Producer Wei-Jan Liu welcomed this opportunity to work on the project, their first international co-production, seeing it as “a way to try something new and unique and to make a type of Taiwanese film that no one else has ever tried to make”. Oi Leng Lui, a Singaporean producer based in London, came on board soon after, bringing to the project her extensive background in international sales and distribution.

Lee, who had produced several films for award-winning German filmmaker Wim Wenders (PARIS - TEXAS, WINGS OF DESIRE), felt it would also be interesting to involve him on AU REVOIR TAIPEI. “Of course Wim’s one of the great filmmakers who everyone looks up to, so I was more than a little intimidated and nervous when In-Ah suggested he come on board as an executive producer”, Chen remembers. Lee began to facilitate what Chen describes as a “courtship process”. Wenders watched Chen’s short, read his script, and even arranged a visit to one of his sets. To Chen’s relief, Wenders loved the project and agreed to help in anyway he could, specifically drawn to the way Chen wanted to capture the world of Taipei. "Both Arvin and I share a love for films that are portraits of cities," says Wenders, who describes his role on the project as simply being “a guardian angel from Germany”.

“Wim has been great, especially as a teacher and mentor”, says Chen. “He gave me a lot of creative guidance on the film, but even more…I just like hearing him talk about his experiences as a filmmaker and how he sets out to capture the life of cities in his films.” Wenders also made a trip to Taipei during pre-production to meet with the Taiwanese cast and crew and to scout locations, almost 30 years after his first visit there to screen his film AN AMERICAN FRIEND. This time around, Wenders was once again seduced by the city, which he describes as “a very elegant woman”.

With this international producing team behind him, Chen soon began the process of putting AU REVOIR TAIPEI together, starting with casting, which began over half a year before production. This process proved to be quite difficult since Chen wanted very specific types of characters for this world - each representative of a different kind of Taipei – from sleazy gangsters to everyday convenience store employees. This required a slightly unorthodox approach to casting that was equally specific, with Chen and his casting director looking in every imaginable place to find the right actors. “We tried a lot of things, in many ways this film is an ensemble, with 12 key roles, and each piece had to be perfect. So it didn’t really matter as to what the actor’s backgrounds were…they just had to be right for that character and have the right quality in them”. Beyond just film and television actors, Chen also auditioned pop singers, musicians, theatre students, and even people literally from off the street. “My casting director and I would go around from college to college, and just sit in the cafeteria during lunch and look at hundreds and hundreds of kids at a time. As soon as we saw someone that looked promising, we’d run over and say hey, do you want to audition for a film?” The result was a combination of veteran actors and non-

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professionals, including entertainers from other fields who had never before acted on film, all coming together to help shape the world of the film.

The toughest role to cast proved to be the one that Chen thought would be one of the easiest: Susie the bookstore girl. “Susie is based on a type of girl I see everywhere in Taipei…the sweet, but kind of sad city girl who’s in search of love…but once we started looking for an actress to play her, we discovered that Susie wasn’t as ubiquitous as we had assumed.” Despite months and months of searching and auditions, Chen still hadn’t found the right actress. It wasn’t until the shooting of the film was moved back a few months that Chen and his casting director remembered that there was a popular young singer, Amber Kuo, they had wanted to audition but never had the chance to meet. “Amber was shooting her first television show when we initially tried to contact her”, Arvin recalls, “but there was no way her schedule would have worked out, so we had to give up on her.” Yet a few months and hundreds of actresses later, Chen tried contacting her again: “I remember when she walked in, the casting director and I just looked at each other and smiled. I felt like the film was finally coming together”. Asked to describe the character of Susie, and what he saw in Kuo, Chen says, “In many ways, she’s just like the tone of our film...bittersweet”.

To help Kuo as well as many of the non-professional actors get used to performing, Chen and his director’s assistant began running acting workshops every weekend. “At the core of the film are these two simple love stories between the characters of Susie and Kai (played by Jack Yao, who had previously worked with Chen on his short film), and between Gao and Peach (newcomers Paul Chiang and Vera Yen), all of who had little to no experience acting. It was important for us to get them to open up and feel comfortable playing off each other.” Rather than making them rehearse the same scenes over and over, Chen spent most of the time leading them in games and improvisation exercises, as well as in-character improvisations that would help them get into the mindset of their roles. For both Kuo and Yao, who were both understandably nervous about being the lead actors in their first feature length film, this was essential in providing the two young actors with confidence. As Kuo recounts, “Being new to acting...these workshops were so much fun...Arvin created a very relaxed mood which helped us to forget the pressures of the film and focusing on just interacting with each other”.

Chen also cast several established actors for the film, including Lawrence Ko (LUST, CAUTION) and Joseph Chang (ETERNAL SUMMER), in roles unlike anything that had previously ever done. Ko, who plays the aspiring gangster/real estate agent Hong, welcomed the challenge of playing such a quirky character, while trying to match the tone of the world Chen was creating. “The character Hong is a strange invention, born completely out of our heads...he’s stylized yet real...it took me a long time to figure out how to play him”. Up until the first day of shooting, both Ko and Chen still didn’t know if the character would work. “I remember that day, after filming one of my first scenes, I looked over at Arvin and he looked at me...and we both knew that Hong had emerged...it was a great feeling”. Chang, known in Taiwan as something of a heartthrob, loved having the

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chance to do what he calls “an absurdist, screwball comedy”, even having to wear a wig for the film.

Chen also made an interesting casting choice by asking Frankie Gao, a famous Taiwanese pop singer and variety show host, to play Brother Bao, the retiring gangster with romantic yearnings. “It’s been years since I’ve been in a film, so of course I was surprised when Arvin asked me to if I wanted to be in AU REVOIR TAIPEI”, remembers Gao, “but I was very happy to bring what life experience I could into that character…it was something very new to me”. For Chen, “I didn’t want to just cast a stereotypical gangster-type actor in the role...something about Frankie...he has this kind of soul, a weight to him that draws you in. But at the same time, he’s a little offbeat, and I thought that we could use all of that.”

Collaborating closely with Emmy award-winning director of photography Michael Fimognari (DARE), who Chen met during film school, and Taiwanese production designer Mei Ching Huang (THE WAYWARD CLOUD), Chen and his team began the challenging process of bringing this vision of Taipei to life. They set out to create a world that was “slightly hyper-real, taking the elements of everyday life that I observed in Taipei, but then playfully romanticizing it to fit the tone of our story, which was all about how this kid could find love and fun again in a city that he had essentially given up on”. Chen attributes this to his own unique perspective on the city and its people: “Because I’m not from here, I think I see things in Taipei in a very different way...I look at these old women dancing in a park at night, and I see a musical dance sequence, I see these all-night convenience stores, and I think they’re romantic...the real estate agents here remind of gangsters, and for some reason, I think you can find love in a 24-hour bookstore”. For similar reasons, Chen wanted to bring an American director of photography to Taipei, lending the film yet another unique perspective. As Fimognari explains it, “Just stepping off the plane and being in Taipei...I feel there’s a certain sense of magic in the air that’s so different than what I’m used to...” With the city as inspiration, Chen, Fimognari and Huang went through hours and hours of creative discussions, talking about color palettes, scene design, visual structures, and of course, watching films. “It was great working with the two of them, one of the most rewarding experiences in the process”, says Chen, “We would just sit there and talk and watch films together...everything from French New Wave to Wes Anderson to Classic American Musicals.” Chen and Huang eventually decided that they didn’t want to create a world where everything just looked exactly the same. Huang suggested that “every location should have its own specific feeling, but they will all be designed and shot with the same sense of playfulness, bringing to life the world of the characters”. With this in concept in mind, Fimognari and Chen set out to design a visual “guideline” of colors and shots that would be appropriate for the both the romantic and comedic tone of the film. The result of this collaboration is what Chen describes as a “poppy, color-coated, surrealistic, romantic, magical vision of Taipei that I think I can safely say has never quite been done like this before”.

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The shoot itself took 34 days, with the crew filming every night from sunset to sunrise in order to capture Taipei at night. “Everyone thought we were crazy when I said I wanted to shoot a film that’s basically 99% night”, says Chen, “but after a while...I really came to love it. I think we all did. It felt like every night we were in a new part of the city...whether it was running through the night market or taking over an entire subway station...it was kind of exhilarating just to throw our actors into a location and shoot.” Lawrence Ko also came to love the all-night shooting: “At some point in the middle of every night, it would feel like the rest of the city was asleep and we were the only ones around. The city belonged to us.” It became a ritual for the crew to watch the sunrise every morning as well, and sometimes that would have a profound affect on the shooting itself. Amber Kuo remembers shooting one of the pivotal scenes of the film, “when Kai (Jack Yao) is about to leave...we filmed that scene right before sunrise, and just the feeling of the morning about to come and the whole cast and crew being there together...suddenly I was hit with emotion, just like Susie in the scene”.

Very much in the spirit of the film, even the cast and crew began to fall in love with the city. “I never considered Taipei a romantic city until this film”, says Jack Yao, “but now when I walk around Taipei, I can’t help but feel that there’s a sense of a romance in the air, but sometimes you also have to look for it”. Kuo shares a similar sensation: “We actually shot a lot of places in Taipei that I hang out at, but now when I walk by...I can still hear the music of our film in my head, and the I even feel like there’s a certain rhythm to the city as well”. Chen also feels there was something definitely infectious about the filming, “We were shooting the dance sequence in the middle of the night in this huge park, and by the last shot, there was no one around anymore, just the crew. We were minutes from the sun coming up and we started blasting the music...watching Jack and Amber dance in the middle of this circle of women. I looked around and everyone was swaying along with the rhythm of the music, smiling. For lack of a better word...it was magical.”

For the score of the film, Chen wanted to find a style of music that would compliment the film’s unique, romanticized vision of Taipei. As he explains it, “From the very start I knew that this film would need more than a traditional score....I had always felt that old jazz had the right feeling....even though we were making a film about modern Taipei. Jazz can be romantic, sad, but also light and jaunty, just like our film. I’ve also always felt that it’s very much the music of the city”. Instead of working with a film composer, Chen decided to ask Wen Hsu, a jazz composer and guitarist who studied at New England’s Berklee School of Music, to come up with the score for the film. “I was a little surprised when Arvin asked me to do this, since I’ve never done a film score before. But he said what he wanted the film to feel like it has songs as opposed to score, and to create the feeling of a jazz band playing over the film. It sounded intriguing”. Hsu then wrote over fifteen original compositions, all arranged for a four to five piece jazz ensemble. “The recording was so fun”, says Chen, “we did it in a real concert hall, all on the spot, to capture the feeling and spontaneity of a live performance. It was like more aspect of the film suddenly coming to life”.

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Reflecting on the film now, Chen can’t help but to be reminded of a quote from Wim Wenders: “It’s something I read a long time ago, I think from the making of PARIS, TEXAS. I’m paraphrasing...but he said that every film reflects its production...that the making of the film leave its mark on the film itself. Well, I think that’s especially true in our case. We set out to make a film about falling in love in with Taipei, finding the beauty in the city and its people, and that’s exactly what the process of making the film was like. My hope now is that feeling we had, that everyone on the cast and crew carries with them, is what we’ll be able to share with the audience through AU REVOIR TAIPEI”.

ABOUT THE CAST

JACK YAO (KAI)

Jack Yao is an up-and-coming actor and recent graduate of the Taipei National University of the Arts, where he studied performance in the theatre arts programs. In addition to starring in many plays, he has also acted in several television movies and short films, including Arvin Chen’s award-winning film Mei. AU REVOIR TAIPEI is his first feature film.

AMBER KUO (SUSIE)

Amber Kuo is a popular young Taiwanese singer, actress, and model. Her first album, 2007’s “Invisible Superman” and her 2009 follow-up, “I Amber”, (both released on the Warner Records label) were best-sellers in Taiwan and other Chinese-speaking territories. She has also starred in two popular television series, Invincible Shan Bao Mei, and All the Happiness Throughout the Year. She is also known for her work as a commercial spokesperson. AU REVOIR TAIPEI is Amber’s first feature film. She is currently filming her second feature film, CLOSE TO YOU.

JOSEPH CHANG (JI-YONG)

Joseph Chang is a Taiwanese actor and model. He is best known for his role in the critically -acclaimed drama ETERNAL SUMMER (2006), which earned him two “Golden Horse”-nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best New Performer. Critics have hailed Chang's ability to portray characters that are simple in appearance but intense at heart. He is currently one of Taiwan’s most sought-after leading men, and most recently starred in Yon Fan’s PRINCE OF TEARS, which was in competition at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.

LAWRENCE KO (HONG)

Lawrence Ko began his career as a child actor starring in several of Edward Yang films, including A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (1991), and MAHJONG (1996). Since

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then, he has established himself as one of Taiwan’s most versatile young actors in both film and television. He was most recently featured in Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION, and is currently starring in the popular television series “All the Happiness throughout the Year”.

FRANKIE GAO (BROTHER BAO)

Frankie Gao, also known as the “Frog Prince”, is a popular Taiwanese singer whose career in Chinese-speaking Asia has spanned over three decades. In addition to his career as a singer, Frankie has also successfully ventured into other areas of the entertainment field, including television and variety shows. He still performs regularly throughout Asia.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

ARVIN CHEN (WRITER/DIRECTOR)

Arvin Chen is a Chinese-American filmmaker based in Taipei, Taiwan. Arvin grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, studying Architectural Design at the University of California, Berkeley. After graduation, he moved to Taipei to apprentice with Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang (YIYI, A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY) before completing his masters in film production at the University of Southern California’s (USC) prestigious School of Cinematic Arts. In 2006, Arvin’s short film MEI won the Silver Bear at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, as well as honors from the Director’s Guild of America and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Arvin recently completed his first feature film project, AU REVOIR TAIPEI, a romantic comedy set over the course of one night on the streets of Taipei. The film is executive produced by renowned German filmmaker Wim Wenders (PARIS – TEXAS, WINGS OF DESIRE), and was selected for both the 2007 PPP (Pusan Promotion Plan) as well as L’Atelier at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. AU REVOIR TAIPEI will have its world premiere in the Forum Section of the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival.

Arvin is currently writing and developing several projects set in Asia but dealing with cross-cultural themes, including “Nanjing East Road” (a selection of the 2010 HAF: Hong Kong – Asian Film Financing Forum), which takes places around the economic boom of 1980’s Taiwan, and “Nessun Dorma”, a East-meets-West musical set in the world of contemporary opera.

WIM WENDERS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

One of the most influential figures of the New German Cinema in the Seventies, Wim Wenders’ films - among them THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1978), PARIS – TEXAS

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(1984), WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) and BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (1999) - have won numerous prestigious awards and international critical acclaim.

Wim Wenders was born on August 14th, 1945 in Düsseldorf. After two years of studying medicine and philosophy and a one-year-long stay in Paris as a painter, he attended the Academy of Film and Television in Munich from 1967 to 1970. From 1968 to 1972 he worked as a film critic. In 1971 he was one of the founding members of “Filmverlag der Autoren”, the driving force behind the “New German Cinema”. In 1975 he started his own production company in Berlin, “Road Movies”. In 1984 he became a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. He received a doctor h.c. of the Sorbonne University in Paris and of the theological faculty of the University of Fribourg. From 1991 to 1996 he was the appointed Chairman of the European Film Academy, of which he has been the elected President ever since. He teaches “digital cinema” as a professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. A major survey of Wenders’ photography, Pictures from the Surface of the Earth, has toured museums and art institutions worldwide since 2001. Wim Wenders has also published numerous books of essays and photographs. He lives in Los Angeles and Berlin with his wife, photographer Donata Wenders. He is member of the order “Pour le Mérite”.

IN-AH LEE (PRODUCER)

In-Ah Lee is a producer based in Los Angeles and Cologne. Prior to establishing LeeLee Films with writer/director Grace Lee, In-Ah Lee was head of production at the German-based “Reverse Angle Production” owned by Wim Wenders and his partner Peter Schwartzkopff. There, she was production executive on Wenders’ SOUL OF A MAN (Cannes 2003), part of an Emmy nominated seven film series about the Blues, executive produced by Martin Scorcese. She was also the executive producer at Wim Wenders productions for commercials and music videos for clients such as Audi, Barilla and Afri-Cola. Her producing credits include DON’T COME KNOCKING, written by and starring Sam Shepard and directed by Wim Wenders (Cannes 2005, Competition) and LAND OF PLENTY, also directed by Wenders and co-produced by Indigent and IFC Films (Venice 2004, Competition), as well as Grace Lee’s BEST OF THE WURST and THE GRACE LEE PROJECT (SXSW 2005).

In 2006, In-Ah Lee joined with producers Philipp Steffens, Lynn Schmitz and Thomas Brettschneider to form greenskyfilms, a Cologne and Los Angeles based production house specializing in international co-productions and German independent cinema. Greenskyfilms is currently in production with DER LETZTE BULLE, a prime time crime series for German network SAT-1.

She recently produced THE WAY I SPENT THE END OF THE WORLD for Romanian director Catalin Mitulescu (Cannes 2006, Un Certain Regard, Best Actress Award), a French Romanian co-production, and Grace Lee’s AMERICAN ZOMBIE (Slamdance 2007) in Los Angeles. Her upcoming projects include IN THE MISOSOUP and SECOND COMING with Wim Wenders, AU REVOIR TAIPEI by Arvin Chen, and WHIRRRRRR by award winning cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.

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WEI-JAN LIU/ATOM CINEMA (PRODUCER)

Atom Cinema is a Taiwanese distributor of quality independent films, founded in 2005 by Liu Wei-Jan - former Programming Director of the “Golden Horse”-Film Festival. Atom Cinema has acquired and distributed a variety of award winning international films such as ONCE, PERSEPOLIS, CONTROL, BECOMING JANE and MYSTERIOUS SKIN, in addition to being a dedicated supporter and distributor of recent Taiwanese independent film successes such as SPIDER LILIES, DO OVER and WINDS OF SEPTEMBER.

Through Atom Cinema’s video distribution labels, Taiwanese audiences have been introduced to some of the most important classic and contemporary films in the world. These include works from great masters of cinema such as François Truffaut, Luis Buñuel and Werner Herzog, as well as contemporary masters such as Krzysztof Kieslowski, David Lynch, Takeshi Kitano and Tsai Ming Liang. Atom Cinema continues to present highly regarded works of film with selections from newly released films.

Atom Cinema has now embarked on a new chapter with film production in Taiwan, and has three new projects in the pipeline - all emphasizing the best of new Taiwanese filmmaking talent. Two of the projects – AU REVOIR TAIPEI and IN CASE OF LOVE have both been awarded the Taiwan GIO film production subsidy and are scheduled for production in early 2009.

OI LENG LUI (PRODUCER)

Oi Leng Lui is an independent film producer working with greenskyfilms for AU REVOIR TAIPEI.Oi Leng was previously Head of Distribution at Cathay-Keris Films, the film distribution arm of Cathay Organisation - one the top cinema exhibition circuits in Singapore and Malaysia. There, she was responsible for acquiring and distributing over 40 films a year, ranging from commercial titles to award winning films such as THE LIVES OF OTHERS. In addition to film distribution, Oi Leng was also responsible for the re-launch, programming and marketing of The Picturehouse, Singapore’s first arthouse cinema; and also managed the Cathay Classic Film library - a collection of over 400 titles with festival screenings and remake potential.

Since leaving Cathay, Oi Leng has been based in London, and is part of the international film sales team at AV Pictures Limited. She has also consulted in film acquisitions for UK distributor Optimum Releasing, and Transpacific Media - a Los Angeles company representing 14 international distributors for film acquisitions.Oi Leng graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Anthropology and worked as a business consultant with McKinsey & Co., before joining the film industry.

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MICHAEL FIMOGNARI (DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY)

Michael Fimognari, an ASC honored cinematographer, two-time Emmy Award winner and member of the International Cinematographers Guild, has traveled the world to light and lens motion pictures.

His award-winning films have screened theatrically, in home theater and at notable festivals including Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca and Camerimage. His recent feature releases include DARE (Emmy Rossum) which premiered in the Dramatic Competition at Sundance ’09; YONKERS JOE (Chazz Palminteri); and SHUTTLE (Peyton List). Other features include THE NEIGHBOR (Matthew Modine) and BLACK IRISH (Brendan Gleeson). He recently completed AU REVOIR TAIPEI with director Arvin Chen and producers Wim Wenders and In-Ah Lee, and he is currently in production on BEAUTIFUL BOY, starring Michael Sheen and Maria Bello, directed by Shawn Ku.

Fimognari’s commercial and documentary work has taken him around the globe to locations such as Kosovo and Israel for Marla Altschuler’s White Picket Fences, to Madagascar with Jim Carrey for his foundation’s humanitarian projects and to Tokyo, Japan for Sony Playstation. Among his awards and critical praise, Fimognari received the Best Cinematography Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival for FIGHTING TOMMY RILEY and an Honorable Commendation for the Robert Surtees Heritage Award from the American Society of Cinematographers for ISSAQUENA.

Fimognari holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California School of Cinema where he photographed numerous shorts and directed the Japanese-language film OCHA CUPS FOR CHRISTMAS which played 36 festivals and won eleven awards.

BETA CINEMA (World Sales)

Beta Cinema is the theatrical division of Beta Film. Launched in 2001, Beta Cinema has established itself as a "boutique operation" for independent feature films with strong potential for theatrical distribution. Beta Cinema's philosophy is to limit its selective acquisition policy of 10 to 15 titles per year in order to fully develop the theatrical potential of each title according to its individual character. Beta Cinema’s portfolio includes outstanding productions like JOHN RABE, which won four German Film Awards 2009, Cannes 2008 Jury Prize-winning IL DIVO, Academy Award 2008-winning THE COUNTERFEITERS, Academy Award 2008 nominated MONGOL, Academy Award 2007-winning THE LIVES OF OTHERS and the Academy Award 2005-nominated DOWNFALL.Beta Cinema will continue to pick the most promising German films as well as to offer its service and expertise to other European producers looking for individual handling of their productions.

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http://web.mac.com/michaelfimognari/Site/News/News.html

http://web.mac.com/michaelfimognari/Site/Awards.html

Beta Cinema's strength lies in its focus on a carefully selected line-up and development of individual sales strategies with the perfect mix of marketing and festival platforms. Beta Cinema is the best address for established and up-and-coming independent producers and directors looking for individual international handling of their projects.

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Documents

Lkj;lj;lkjl;kjl;kj · Web viewpresents. AU REVOIR TAIPEI. Written and directed by. ARVIN CHEN Starring. JACK YAO, AMBER KUO, JOSEPH CHANG, LAWRENCE KO, FRANKIE GAO. Produced by