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Carpet laced in gold
Zhang Yimou, Gong Li, and Chow Yun-fat go Hollywood for the world premiere of Curse of the Golden Flower at the AFI Fest. APA's cameras were on the scene.
As it is most years, this year's edition of the American Film Institute's AFI Fest was the most glamorous film festival on the west coast. The festival held its premieres and screenings at the historical Arclight Theatre in Hollywood, an intriguing combination of commercial sensibilities and arthouse appeal. The films selected for the festival reflected those dual impulses, and the fest's Asian selections were no exception.
This year's closing night film was the world premiere of Zhang Yimou's latest action epic, Curse of the Golden Flower. The screening marks the first time one of Zhang's films premiered outside of Asia and outside of European film festivals, and given the box office and critical acclaim of his recent films Hero and House of Flying Daggers in the U.S., it's not surprising that Hollywood was the setting for this one's big debut.
Zhang Yimou was at the red carpet, as were the film's biggest stars Gong Li and Chow Yun-fat. Surprisingly though, few mainstream American television news crews covered the red carpet, although we did spot reporters from major TV news stations from Taiwan and Hong Kong, where the latest Zhang Yimou film is always awaited with some anticipation.
Asia Pacific Arts had the privilege of getting a small video crew on the scene and we recorded other reporters' interviews with Zhang Yimou, Chow Yun-fat, and Gong Li, and even got a few questions in ourselves.
Click here to view the interview in Quicktime.
Curse of the Golden Flower -- World Premiere
November 12, 2006
Interviews by Brian Hu
Camera by Oliver Chien
Video edited by Oliver Chien
Narrated and written by Brian Hu
Photos by James Hawkins
More of APA's Curse of the Golden Flower coverage:
An interview with actress Gong Li: http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/061222/article.asp?parentID=59579
An interview with director Zhang Yimou: http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/061222/article.asp?parentID=59977
A review of the film: http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/061222/article.asp?parentID=59580
A capsule review of Curse of the Golden Flower from the AFI Fest: http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/061208/article.asp?parentid=57791
Date Posted: 12/20/2006