Letters to Ali

2010 scifi short by clara law

Four women filmmakers examine sexuality in this anthology. Segment 1 is entitled "Let's Talk About Sex" and is the story of an aspiring actress whose day job is as a phone-sex operator. Tiring of listening to callers' fantasies, she finds a caller who is willing to listen to hers. Segment 2 is called "Taboo Palor" and tells the story of two lesbians, who, for variety, pick up a man for sex. He ends up getting more than he bargained for. Segment 3 is "Wonton Soup." Here an Australian-Chinese man tries to rekindle his affair with a Chinese woman by returning to their roots: both in the kitchen and in the bedroom.

They Say the Moon Is Fuller Here

Insurrection deposes the tyrannical first emperor of China during the evil Qin Dynasty. Warrior/general Xiang Yu and the cunning peasant Liu Pang join forces to win through civil war. Xiang Yu's weakness for Lady Yu combine with Liu Pang's treachery result in Liu founding the legendary Han dynasty

Clara Law's debut feature deals with her common theme of emigration as two people, man and woman, from separate couples, have to room together while their spouses are in America to finalize the Canadian citizenship process.

A Japanese tourist, Tokio, meets a 15-year-old Hong Kong girl and her grandmother left behind in Hong Kong while their family emigrates to Canada.

While on a business trip in Shanghai, a man sees a woman he has had recurring dreams of.

Fan Ruyi, a detective, finds himself framed after getting a top secret mission. Along the way he meets a blind performer and a powerful warlord's daughter that further complicates his quest to clear his name.

An aging Hong Kong couple move to Australia with their two youngest sons. They stay with a daughter who has already begun a successful career. Meanwhile their eldest daughter lives in Germany and their eldest son remains in Hong Kong. The film explores the different ways the family members cope with isolation and alienation.

Private investigator Jacky Cheung is adrift. He has separated from his wife (Kathy Chow) and misses his young daughter. His next assignment seems fairly simple: he must track down a troublesome teenage girl (Mavis Fan) and return her home to China. Powerful behind the scenes forces soon become apparent, however, and plunge our intrepid hero into greater trouble than he's ever known.

Kawashima Yoshiko was originally the 14th daughter of Emperor Xu. She was sent to Japan to train in the ways of the Samurai but lost her virginity to Samurai. She then married a Mongolian prince and set her mind to fight for the independence of Mongolia but the marriage failed. Arriving Shanghai, she met an opera singer Wan Hoi. Because of her beauty and background, she achieved a great deal, including successfully smuggled a Queen, Yuen Yung and helped Pu Yi to establish Manchuria. Unexpectedly, she met up again with Wan Hoi, who was the number one singer at that time but also part of the rebel force, and tried to unsuccessfully assassinate Yu-Yeh resulting in his own death. Yoshiko saved him but he could not be bought, so she set him free without Japanese' permission. The Japanese were dissatisfied and eventually she was exiled back to Japan. She later returned to China. However, because of the lost of Japan, she got arrested and executed. (Joy Sales)

In 1913, 17-year-old Dafu travels from China to Japan to study. Japan is on the rise, a nation of proud people. China, on the other hand, is in turmoil. Dafu takes his demanding courses and racial discrimination in stride, but he finds his nascent manhood difficult to handle. In a hot-springs spa, he meets Lung Erh, his dream girl, but she soon disappears.

Eddie Fong makes his directorial debut with this acclaimed and pointedly feminist period erotic drama about an independent woman born in conservative times. Taoist priestess Yu Hsuan-chi (Pat Ha Man-chik) longs for the sort of earthy experience that a woman born to her lofty station is not expected -- or desired -- to have. While putting in an appearance with society's elite, she carries on a passionate affair with an itinerate swordsman named Tsui Po-hou (Alex Man). With both Hsuan-chi and Po-hou fighting against the tedium and hide-bound conventions of Chinese society, the two seem like a perfect match. Yet the ever restless Po-hou soon leaves her and continues on his travels. Hsuan-chi develops a reputation as an amoral libertine, partially because she is having sex with her maid Lu Chiao. After Po-hou returns and leaves her again, Hsuan-chi learns that Lu Chiao is pregnant but she refuses to divulge the name of the father. Hsuan-chi's reaction ultimately results in tragedy.