It's been a few weeks since my trip to NYC so thought I should throw up a post of a few memories. We screened RED LIGHT REVOLUTION for the first time there and it seemed to go down really well (there's link to the Q&A from the screening below).

Highlights of my week in New York were:

Seeing a play right after a 13 hour flight.
Eating fried chicken on waffles in Harlem.
Sitting on a bench above traffic on the High Line.
Pizza by the slice in Greenwich Village.
Strolling past a film set in Queens - and seeing all the teamsters.
Going to an old butchers that's been converted into a meat-lovers' restaurant called Carnivore.
Getting the bill at Carnivore and calculating how much chuan'r in Beijing I could buy with that.
Looking for Humphrey Bogart's chair in the Friars Club.
Getting used to paying a buck tip every time I order at the bar. Trying to think of what to do when I run out out one dollar notes.
Trying to meet a friend at one of the 7 exits of Penn Station... and forgetting which exit.

I've just returned from Cluj, Romania -- in the heart of Transylvania -- for the Comedy Cluj International Film Festival. Transylvania seems like a rather unexpected place for Europe's largest comedy film festival (horror may be what first comes to mind), but Cluj is a real fun-loving college town and very much went against any stereotyped expectations I may have had. Unlike the movies, there was no horse drawn carriage to meet me at the airport. Though I did see far more people at night than in the day-time hours (!) I spent 4 days exploring the city, hanging out with filmmakers, and showing "Red Light Revolution". It turns out Romania has quite a few sex shops, but they are mostly only open in the day-time. One of the things I learnt during my trip is that the Transylvanian accent we hear in vampire movies doesn't exist, folks don't talk like that at all!

An official government building hangs the festival poster.

The closing gala was a serious affair with the host giving a long off-the-cuff lecture on the nature of comedy and the voices he hears in his head. Was bizarre but very memorable.

Red Light screened for the first time in a converted synagogue. Here's me, the doll, and participating filmmakers from Munich.

Closing night party with filmmakers.

Cluj has some very interesting old architecture.

And retro public telephones.

Would be a great location to shoot a spy movie set in the 60's.


Very cool alley-ways, a real cinematic town.


Overall an amazing trip and a very fun festival, thoroughly recommended.

Things I've Never Done in Wuhan Before with a Sex Shop Comedy:

Going into a Chinese sex museum.

Going into a Chinese sex museum to showcase my own work. (never saw that one on the "to-do" list growing up)

Having people not attend the sex museum screening because they said they were too shy to enter the sex museum (but would you please tell me the address of the next screening).

Discovering that the people who attend sex museum screenings are very academic. (It was one of the most intellectual Q&A's we've had for the film so far). It was interesting to see that none of the "trench-coat crowd" attended. If anyone knows where the trench-coat crowd watches their movies in Wuhan, please let me know, but it's not the sex museum.

Having a sex museum provide me and the film's team with free accommodation and breakfasts (in the hotel owned by the sex museum).

Finding out that sex museum breakfasts are the same as regular breakfasts.

Having receptionists at the hotel leave their posts to sneak into the screening mid-way through.

Screening the movie at someone's 12th floor 80 square metre apartment, an apartment that has been transformed into an indie film club with a hefty mailing list. If you didn't know where this club was, you'd never find it, it's totally off the radar.

Playing to the Wuhan university crowd in the university district -- and finding out that some of the Beijing slang used in the film isn't used down in Wuhan.

Hitting up Vox, an indie music venue, and packing it out.

All in all an eye-opening 48 hours in Wuhan! Cheers to Waiting in Wuhan for organizing it!

Finally 《红灯梦》 gets it's own clapper board announcement!

Show-time outside the Prince Charles Cinema with Candy the inflatable doll. One audience member won the same Beijing sex toy T-shirt she is wearing (well, not THE same one).


Candy has traveled to Brazil, the USA, and now England. Customs inspectors have been very friendly at national borders.


Guest actors and Directors. From left: Kim (Breathless), me, Tak (Yakuza Weapon), Rina (Karate Girl), Clement (Gallants).


With guests and the organizing team at Terracotta at the Slug & Lettuce Bar, just down the road from the cinema. The pub was offering 25% off to festival-goers, something I forgot to run with.


The festival hosted a great Sichuan dinner and after party.


Discussing indie filmmaking at a festival class with Londoners before the screening.


Q&A with Joey from Terracotta.





The rest of my stay in London I spent exploring the city by foot. The weather was perfect and there were heaps of surprises behind every corner.


The swans of Kensington Palace.


The Big B.


The gate to Chinatown, with a banner celebrating the royal wedding.

The makers of the upcoming Swiss/Australian/Chinese film "Ring Roads" (working title "Beijing Taxi") have just sent me some great stills from the movie.

 

"Ring Roads" is currently in the final sound mix and will be festival-bound shortly. So far it's looking pretty breath-taking. Below photographs are copyright of the directors Qiao Li, Montague Fendt, and Nora Wang (Li/Fendt/Wang).