I guess people don't call Australia 'the lucky country' for no reasons. As a film critic, I certainly feel lucky for the variety of films that we get to see down under; while as an Asian film lover, I am particularly grateful for the opportunities to go to so many different Asian film festivals. There are the Japanese Film Festival, Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) and Reel Anime Festival, just to name a few. And now a relatively younger film festival, The Golden Koala Chinese Film Festival, is due to open its 2012 season very soon.
The Golden Koala showcases great Chinese-language films and aims to promote and provide a better understanding of Chinese film culture. This year's program includes crowd favorites like GALLANTS, the Hong Kong action comedy that pays tribute to Hong Kong kung fu films of the 70s, and LET THE BULLETS FLY, Jiang Wen's box office and critical smash that stars Chow Yun Fat, Ge You and Jiang Wen himself.
Other films featured in this year's program include a trio of Hong Kong movies: GIRL$ from director Kenneth Bi (THE DRUMMER), HI FIDELITY that has Pat Ha, Michelle Ye and Carrie Ng playing housewives out to have fun, and MERRY-GO-ROUND, a drama about affection, friendship and love that stars Teddy Robin (who can also be seen in GALLANTS).
From Taiwan, there are JUMP ASHIN!, the box office hit that stars Eddie Peng (HEAR ME), and PICK THE YOUTH, a film produced by the director of Taiwanese coming-of-age classic BLUE GATE CROSSING.
Rounding out the program are three films from China: the suspenseful comedy ONE WRONG STEP, HELLO! MR TREE that exposes the dark side of the mining industry, and RETURN TICKET that tells the stories of migrant workers and stars the great actress Qin Hailu (DURIAN DURIAN, AFTER THIS OUR EXILE).
The Golden Koala Chinese Film Festival will run in Sydney from 5 to 12 February and Melbourne from 13 to 17 February. For more details, please refer to their official website.
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