Films and Broadway musicals at Cultural Centre in November

“The View Finder to Asian Film” and the “Musical - Broadway Express” are the highlights of Macao Cultural Centre's upcoming programme for the next month.
Scheduled to run between November 24 to 30, “The View Finder to Asian Film” (VFAF) continues its partnership with the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, but has been revamped: this year the VFAF is entering a new phase where, from now on, it will take place every two years, and in each year it will focus on a specific Asian country or region. Still faithful to the more alternative and artistic side of eastern film making, the VFAF will be taking a more in-depth look at what is happening in a particular Asian country. This reflection will be further enhanced with several open talks that will be introducing and analysing each of the country’s featured films.
In the upcoming edition, the festival is zooming in on China, screening a special selection of unique films and documentaries that cover several provinces and communities. The VFAF opens with a collection of several locally produced short films titled “Macao Stories”, scheduled for November 24, 19:30 pm, where each director focuses on one of our city’s districts. The “three lamps” area, the Camões garden, Almeida Ribeiro Avenue and Ilha Verde are some of the chosen locations. This launch screening will be complemented with a meet-the-director session.
On November 25, at 19:30 pm, “Young Blood”, “Mine” and “Goose and Duck”, three Chinese short stories, will be presented. “Young Blood” just competed in the Pusan Festival’s documentary section, and “Mine” in the same section of the 2008 Venice International Film Festival. On the following day, also at 19:30 pm, it's the turn of “The Summer Solstice”, featured in this year’s edition of the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
On November 27, CCM will present a double screening of two films that link China and the UK - “We Went to Wonderland” (presented at the Rotterdam and Buenos Aires 2008 festivals) and “Address Unknown”. Friday, November 28, VFAF continues with “PK.COM.CN”, a portrayal of modern Chinese youth featured in the Shanghai and Udine Far East Festival, followed by “River People” at 21:30 pm, screened in the Pusan Festival.
During the weekend, “Cucumber”, a part of this year’s Venice Critic’s Week and São Paulo Film Festival, will be projected on Saturday at 14:30 pm. “Taxi”, also featured in the same events, is on at 19:30 pm. “The Fury of Guangrong”, presented at the 2006 Berlin and Shanghai festivals, is the highlight of Saturday evening at 21:30 pm.
On Sunday, the VFAF comes to a close with “Ghost Town” at 14:30 pm, topped with “Ticket” at 19:30 pm, a film by Jacob Cheung, the renowned director of period blockbuster “A Battle of Wits”. Tickets for all of VFAF’s films are priced at MOP40, with several discounts available. All films will be subtitled in English.
Another upcoming highlight at the Cultural Centre is the “Musical - Broadway Express”, a show featuring local artists that will be staged on December 6 at 20:00 pm and December 7 at 15:00 pm. The song and dance tribute is a part of CCM’s three-year Art-in-Residence Project entitled “A Local Original Musical Comes to Life”, that set out with the goal of training a group of people to create and perform a Macau-made musical. Since 2007, the project has been working with several local talents, encompassing different types of activities and featuring guest professional instructors. The 2008 segment of the initiative will now come to a close with this musical, that also serves as a preparation for the final show to be produced and staged at the end of 2009.
“Broadway Express” is originally an educational program produced by the Hong Kong 3 Arts Musical Institute and artistic director and choreographer Mohamed Drissi, a specialist in this theatrical genre and an experienced song and dance instructor. In Hong Kong, the show toured through the city’s high schools, giving teenagers an entertaining lesson about musicals through a display of songs and dances specific to Broadway’s different periods and styles. In Macau, the show was especially directed and adapted for the CCM project by Mohamed Drissi, but will keep its’ original formula of recapturing several classic musical numbers, such as the energetic Luck Be A Lady from “Guys & Dolls”, as well as some more contemporary musicals like “Mamma Mia”.
Preparations for this performance started in August, with CCM organising an open audition where Mohamed Drissi selected the current performers of “Broadway Express”. Training for the show is running from mid-September to the performance date, with the final rehearsals currently taking place. The youthful cast from Macau will lead audiences through several classics, all sung in English, and featuring the original choreography sketches of each show. Tickets are priced at MOP60.Tickets are available on CCM and Kong Seng outlets from today with several discounts.

Source: macaudailytimesnews.com