Qiu yue (Autumn Moon)

An atmospheric meditation on life in transition, an exercise in the visual power of slowness: in almost deserted Hong Kong, 15-year-old Chinese girl Wai (Li Pei-hui), who is supposed to emigrate to Canada to join her parents, meets Japanese boy Tokyo (Nagase Masatoshi), who is probably twice her age and travelling the world with his video camera out of boredom. From their fumbling conversations in broken English and the cooking skills of Wai's grandmother (Choi Siu-wan), Clara Law develops a melancholy, reflective narrative full of in-between spaces and worlds. When the grandmother expresses the hope of her life at the threshold of death, a transformation is set in motion: Tokyo finds a way to his feelings and Wai navigates the uncertainties of first love. The world of fading memories seen through the viewfinder of the video camera culminates in a firework display in honour of the autumn moon. (Tom Waibel)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum