Promise of Decades

A Macau photographed with elegant realism forms the backdrop to the life of Lina, a Chinese immigrant working both as a waitress in a restaurant and as a hostess in a bar in order to save money to join her mother and daughter in China. By chance she meets taxi driver Mada, also an immigrant from China. Both have a past they want to forget and love feels like it might be their last chance to avoid being alone. But as is always the case in a melodrama, the past isn't easily tamed.

At 17, Xin lived a simple life in Macau. She enjoyed exploring the “world” with her DV camera, understanding the value of ordinary life. However, everything changed when she met her senior schoolmate Fei, who brought a new rhythm to Xin’s life. At 22, Xin embraced a free life in Taiwan, studying journalism and living with her girlfriend, Qing. Despite seeming ordinary, her life was also marked by graduation uncertainties. Xin wanted to stay in Taiwan but faced obstacles, and returning to Macau meant confronting her family. At 34, Xin lived a busy life shuttling between Hong Kong and Macau. Anxious to break free from the curse of being an assistant director, she felt pressured by her eligible actress girlfriend, Bei, to become independent. Facing external worries and internal conflicts, Xin finally realized that embracing her true self and being carefree might be the best way to survive.

Love intertwines at the wrong time. Sei and Ling, former masseuses in Macau, in retrospect, had the best time together. Decades after, Sei learns that her late best friend has kept a secret she never knew...

This is a story about how family can impact the growth of a young woman. It follows Elaine, who grew up in poverty in the 1980’s, and her best friend Ying as they enter the Hong Kong entertainment industry to change their fate. In the golden era of Hong Kong cinema, Ying becomes a popular erotic star while Elaine struggles between her identity and her job as an actor. When Hong Kong cinema’s glory fades a decade later, the two women end up on diverging paths due to their life choices.

"Years of Macau" is an anthology film consisting of nine short films set in different years and locations in Macau. They include "Go Back Home", "REC-Last Days", "Sparkling Mind", "The Last Show", "Till the End of World", "The First Cigarette", "A Moment", "Dirty Laundry" and "Summer". All nine directors are from Macau, most of whom were born and raised here. The stories of each film share what the directors feel about Macau using the language of cinema to convey their love for the city.

Filmmakers love making films about filmmaking, but not many of those films can truly explain where the passion comes from. Who are more qualified to answer this question than the new Master of Fine Arts graduates from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts’ School of Film and Television? In their graduation thesis, award-winning director Man is sentenced to community service for drunken behavior. Assigned to a youth center, Man has to guide a group of eight-to-twelve-year-olds to make a short film. At first, Man feels he’s too good for such an assignment. However, the kids’ enthusiasm and unique perspective of life eventually inspire him to rediscover why he loved filmmaking in the first place.

Coming out of the closet is never easy, especially if you're living in a small city like Macau, where you bump into friends and relatives every day. Two out of the closet girls and their friends and relatives tell their stories.

Chen, a compulsive smoker, crosses paths with Keung, an overzealous security guard who sees himself as the enforcer of the no-smoking rule: a confrontation is inevitable. As Keung relentlessly hunts him down, Chen struggles to resist. An absurd, darkly comic tale blending slapstick, thriller, and fantasy elements.