Asian Heritage Month features Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s THREE TIMES

Asian Heritage Month features Taiwan movie director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s THREE TIMES at York University

In celebration of Asian Heritage Month, the Reel Asian Spring Showcase will present free screenings of internationally acclaimed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s latest work THREE TIMES (Taiwan, 2005, 132min | Mandarin with English subtitles) on Saturday, May 24 (7:00 p.m.) at Nat Taylor Cinema, Ross Building North 102 at York University.

As one of Hou’s best, THREE TIMES takes us on a journey through three love stories in three different time periods. Shu Qi and Chang Chen meet in Taiwan during the early days of Japanese colonial rule and then in the swinging sixties, before being brought directly into the here and now of modern-day Taiwan. In this film, Hou poetically express deep sympathy and a profound humanism as it reflects on the past and the people who suffered through difficult times.

THREE TIMES won the 42nd Golden Horse Awards for Best Actress (Shu Qi), Best Taiwanese Film of the Year, and Best Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year. In 1988 a worldwide critics' poll championed Hou as "one of the three directors most crucial to the future of cinema.” Hou's intimate expressions of Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s reflect on the beginnings of the most significant social change in modern Taiwan. This is the best opportunity to have a grasp of Hou’s talent as well as Taiwan’s rapid transformation in recent decades.

The REEL ASIAN SPRING SHOWCASE will present seven screenings of Asian films and videos from May 23 to 25, 2008, including Ho’s THREE TIMES. For screening information, please go to the website: www.reelasian.com. For 10 or more tickets group, bookings are available till 6 p.m. on May 20, 2008. Please contact Reel Asian by phone 416-703-9333 or by email springshowcase@reelasian.com.