Zinnia Flower (百日告別)
Year 2015
Genre Drama
Format Color / Flat / DCP
Runtime 95 min
Status Completed
Release Date Oct. 8, 2015 (Taiwan)
Director Tom Shu-Yu LIN (Starry Starry Night, Winds Of September)
Cast Karena LAM (Claustrophobia, July Rhapsody)
STONE (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow)
Festival & Awards
9th CinemAsia Film Festival – Tiger Beer Jury Award
19th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival – Ecumenical Jury Award – Special Mention
52nd Golden Horse Awards – Best Leading Actress Award
15th New York Asian Film Festival – Taiwan Cinema Now!
30th Cabourg Film Festival – Feature Competiton
The Wave Film Festival (Santa Barbara International Film Festival) – Official Selection
6th Chinese Visual Film Festival– Vision Taiwan
4th Singapore Chinese Film Festival – Chinese Panorama
30th Washington, DC International Film Festival – Official Selection
8th Annual Cross-Strait Film Exhibition– Opening Film
Asian Pop-Up Cinema Spring Season 2016 – Official Selection
35th Hawaii International Film Festival – Spotlight on Taiwan
16th San Diego Asian Film Festival – Asia Pop!
19th Toronto Reel Asian International Film festival – Official Selection
12th Hong Kong Asian Film Festival – Gala Presentation
28th Tokyo International Film Festival– World Focus
34th Vancouver International Film Festival- Dragons & Tigers
20th Busan International Film Festival – A Window on Asian Cinema
17th Taipei Film Festival – Closing Film
Trailer
Synopsis
To Everything There Is A Season
On the same day, in the same accident, Wei loses his pregnant wife and Ming loses her fiancée, leaving their world with nothing but emptiness. Buddhist rituals give 100 days to mourn for the dead, and like two mice lost in a labyrinth, Wei runs around in circles, hitting walls, and still ends up where he began. Ming calmly creeps down a determined path, seemingly moving forward, but towards a fatal dead end. No matter how they choose to mourn, the pain and sorrow is all the same. With the 100th day approaching, they wonder if they will ever be able to say goodbye.
Director’s Statement
They say that time heals all wounds, but I did not want to wait. I wanted to confront my grief for the death of my wife in the form of filmmaking.
This film is my own catharsis; through the lives and choices of two characters in mourning, I wanted to honestly show the pain, loneliness and hardship of dealing with grief. With this film, I wanted to search for an answer as much as I wanted to give one. Yet through the process of making this film, I came to realize that there is no answer, and that perhaps the closest thing to an answer is the search itself. No matter how we choose to face death, the pain and heartache will always be there.
All we can do is keep going and believe that the love that has become our bondage will one day become our strength to go on. So with this film, all I can hope for is that it can be a gentle voice, whispering to us that smallest comfort, telling us “I understand”.
Director Tom Shu-Yu LIN
Born in 1976, Tom Shu-Yu Lin is commonly regarded as one of the most promising new filmmakers emerging from Taiwan.
After receiving his M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts in 2002, Tom started working in the Taiwanese film industry as the first assistant director to filmmakers such as Tsai Ming-Liang and Doze Niu. In 2005, Lin directed his breakthrough short film, THE PAIN OF OTHERS and in 2008, his first feature film WINDS OF SEPTEMBER. Both films have been screened at various festivals throughout the world and both have been critically acclaimed and loved by audiences. Since he lived in the Unites States when he was a child, he grew up learning both Chinese and English, giving him the ability to communicate fluently in both languages. His films all carry a distinctive mix of cultural backgrounds.
His works are often filled with dramatic tension, yet within the story explore the most basic problems of humanity, creating believable characters that touch the heart. He followed it in 2012 with STARRY STARRY NIGHT, an adaptation from Jimmy Liao’s famous illustration book. Because of his bicultural upbringing, his films all carry a distinct mix of cultural backgrounds, finding a balance between western narrative and eastern meditation.
FILMOGRAPHY
2012 Starry Starry Night
Taipei Film Festival – Best Visual Effects, Best New Talent
Asia Pacific Film Festival – Best Cinematography
Busan International Film Festival – Competition
2008 Winds of September
Taipei Film Festival – Jury Special Award, Best New Talent, Best Screenplay
Golden Horse Award – Best Original Sceenplay
Toronto International Film Festival
2005 The Pain Of Others
Cast
Karena Lam as Ming
Karena was working at her Vancouver family restaurant when she was discovered by a talent scout from Taiwan in 1993. Her film debut in 2002 changed all this and propelled her to real stardom. Karena starred in three successful Hong Kong films in the same year, winning the awards of Best Supporting Actress and Best New Performer for her role in July Rhapsody directed by Ann Hui (at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards) and for Inner Senses by Lo Chi Leung (at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards), gaining her recognition as a talented young actress and marking the start of her film career. In recent years she has been taking on much more challenging roles, as witnessed in the 2005 horror film Home Sweet Home, where she plays an insane and horribly deformed “phantom” monster who kidnaps a boy from his genetic mother to claim as its own, and was nominated for major awards again.
FILMOGRAPHY
2010 Lover’s Discourse
2008 Claustrophobia
Ming Pao Anniversary Award for Outstanding Actress in Film
Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Golden Horse Award for Best Actress
2005 Home Sweet Home
2002 July Rhapsody
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer
Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer
Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress
SHIH Chin-Hang as Wei
Shih Chin-Hang also known as stone from Mayday, is the lead guitar in the legendary rock band in Asia, starts his career as an actor in 2011. His film debut also from the director of , plays an elementary school teacher, gaining his recognition as an actor alongside his musician role. His refreshing performance in the next two films by Arvin Chen and ” by Chang Chen shows his flexibility and dedication as a serious and talented performer, and is sure to be one of the most upcoming and promising Taiwanese actor.
Shih Chin-Hang also known as stone from Mayday, is the lead guitar in the legendary rock band in Asia, starts his career as an actor in 2011. His film debut Starry Starry Night, also from the director of Zinnia Flower, plays an elementary school teacher, gaining his recognition as an actor alongside his musician role. His refreshing performance in the next two films Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by Arvin Chen and Three Charmed Lives –“ Inchworm” by Chang Chen shows his flexibility and dedication as a serious and talented performer, and is sure to be one of the most upcoming and promising Taiwanese actor.
FILMOGRAPHY
2014 Three Charmed Lives –“ Inchworm”
2013 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
2011 Starry Starry Night
ABLAZE IMAGE / 光在影像 