My Blueberry Nights

Wong Kar-Wai's My Blueberry Nights will be the centrepiece film at the 10th Osian's-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.

Wong Kar-wai is undeniably an auteur of striking and salient cinema, standing apart from mainstream Hong Kong cinema.

Wong belongs to the mid-1980s Second New Wave of Hong Kong filmmakers who continued to develop the innovative and fresh aesthetic initiated by the original New Wave.

The innovation of this group of filmmakers was linked to the social and political issues facing Hong Kong as well as to an artistic impetus.

Like most filmmakers from Hong Kong, Wong has confronted the notions of identity and alienation in the wake of the 1997 handover to China.

However, rather than engaging with the issue in a direct, 'political' manner, he subtly exposes it within the fabric of his urban landscapes and in the lives and relationships of his characters, lifting Hong Kong cinema to a new level of maturity. Osian's-Cinefan had a retrospective of five of his films in 2004.

In Wong Kar-Wai's debut English feature, the internationally acclaimed director takes his audience on a dramatic journey across the distance between heartbreak and a new beginning.

After a rough break-up, Elizabeth sets out on a journey across America, leaving behind a life of memories, a dream and a soulful new friend, in search of something to mend her broken heart.

Travelling across the country, Elizabeth befriends others whose yearnings are greater than hers, including a troubled cop and his estranged wife and a down-on-her-luck gambler with a score to settle. The star cast includes Norah Jones and Jude Law.

My Blueberry Nights opened the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as one of 22 films in competition. The lead, American singer-songwriter Norah Jones made her acting debut in the film.