Terri Kwan on New Currents Jury at PIFF, in case you missed it.

Terri Kwan, in addition to her duties promoting her new film "Prince of Tears" at the Pusan International Film Festival in October was also on the jury for the New Currents section, a not in competition section of the festival to introduce, publicize and reward young Asian directors. THR has coverage of it here. The jury was headed by French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix who has been producing for the past decade but who will be remembered by many in the United States as the director of "Diva" the film that helped push reading subtitles into the movie going mainstream.

There are two prizes of $30,000 each, which could be important to young directors trying to raise money for their second or third feature. For example one of the films under consideration was "True Noon" the first film produced in Tajikistan since the break-up of the Soviet Union. It took director Nosir Saidov seven years to put his film together.

Some pictures of Terri Kwan being judicious:

Here she is listening along with Turkish director Yesim Ustaoglu to Beineix. Photo from Zimbio.


And here is Beineix listening (or at least not speaking) while Terri Kwan holds forth. While Beineix doesn't show the same intense listening posture that Terri did, as a trained actor she could have been finishing that day's crossword puzzle from the "South China Morning Post" in her head while acting like a listener. Photo from Life.

With Chinese actress turned director Jiang Wenli, whose film about rural China "Lan" was in the New Currents section. Remaining photos from Zimbio


Here she is on the jury panel, looking lovely:


And another--nice eyelashes!

A still from "Prince of Tears" that looks almost hand colored. It is from a review in The New York Times

Terri Kwan, Zhu Xuan at Prince of Tears Opening--How to wear (and not wear) a cheongsam

The the recent Taipei premier of "Prince of Tears" Terri Kwan wore a radically styled cheongsam with the usual demure neckline but with a more daring cut on on the back and particularly the sides. She paired it with pumps that closely matcher her dress and simple accessories and looked great. As did Zhu Xuan in a short eventing dress that looked like it was made of dyed feathers and Christian Louboutin T-strap pumps. Christian Louboutin seems to be one of the weapons of choice on the red carpet this season for Chinese stars. From szonline through Dennis Lee's blog.

A few pictures from the red carpet showing that Terri Kwan is fully aware of the power of the traditional Chinese dress, updated but still with much the expected structure.

Here are a couple of Terri Kwan and Zhu Xuan, the first particularly showing the bold cut of Terri's gown.

While the cheongsam is by no means foolproof--here Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki shows that it is not always flattering to the wearer. For example if the placement of the side slit makes it difficult to sit in a ladylike or even comfortable looking position:

And Paris Hilton shows a westernized, updated (updated to the Madonna Blonde Ambition Tour 20 years ago) and quite dreadful version, although picking on Paris Hilton's fashion sense really isn't fair.

The ne plus ultra of the cheongsam as a ravishing outfit, of course, is Maggie Cheung with her 32 or 33 different ones in "In the Mood for Love". Since the film was set in the 1960s and Maggie's character lived among people from Shanghai who had been uprooted to Hong Kong, the dresses were traditionally cut with the silk printed in astounding patterns. A few examples:

Here is a close-up to show the lavish pattern of one of them:

The lovely Tang Wei, while most notorious for her nudity in "Lust Caution" also wore great looking cheongsams during scenes in which she was allowed to keep her clothes on. For example:


And there is Gong Li. There is always Gong Li. Any actress who could look exquisite in a padded peasant's coat with a ratty scarf tied around her hair (which she did in "The Story of Qiuju") is going to be simply sublime in a cheongsam, particularly one cut like this one:

Terri Kwan, Zhu Xuan on the TIFF Red Carpet for Prince of Tears

The next stop for the Prince of Tears road trip was the Toronto International Festival where the plucky trio of Terri, Xuan and Yonfan hit the red carpet. More coverage of Toronto can be found at Dennis Lee's blog.

Our heroines' outfits seemed completely at odds with each other. The publicists may have wanted that contrast in an attempt to make a bigger press splash in a very important North American venue, they actresses may have not told each other what they were wearing or maybe they just threw on what they had. The last in unlikely since Terri Kwan wore a bright red ball gown with very little make-up and, it seems, no accessories while Zhu Xuan was carefully put together with an artistically ripped white T-shirt, black lipstick and funky accessories. Terri Kwan could have been on her way to box at the bullring in Seville or to audition for the chorus in "Carmen" while Zhu Xuan was looking for directions to the Sex Pistols concert where she planned to dive from the stage.

It was a very odd pairing but we are always happy to see beautiful women wearing almost anything.

The cut of Terri Kwan's dress combined with its lenghth and the endless ruffles make it seem very formal while the color says something else (not sure what) entirely.


She clearly decided not to let anything compete with the dress--no jewelry at all, not even earrings. This is partially due to the ambience of Toronto compared with Venice where the diamonds and platinum come out for every photoshoot lent by the merchants specifically for the world wide publicity their wares will get. Toronto (based solely on the coverage of the TIFF I have seen over the past few years) seems more informal. Venice, like Cannes, is partially a fashion show where Toronto is all about the movies. No matter what the case, Terri looked stunning. Here is a shot showing some detail of the dress and her minimal make-up and accessories look. Her lovely smile is the perfect finishing touch.

Zhu Xuan with her off the shoulder ripped T-shirt, spiky mascara, dark lipstick, dangling earrings and come-hither look presents a very different picture.


A couple of shots showing details and accessories: one transparent opera glove (?), clunky bracelets, five-pocket jeans, wide belt with a big buckle, unbuttoned vest. She makes it work but needs to get at least one more look--her smoldering, challenging look is very striking but loses its punch if seen all time time. She is very new to the business--she was a student in Paris who won the TVB sponsored Miss Chinese International Pageant just last year and has plenty of time to develop.



And the two of them, apparently still getting along.


All photos from Zimbio

Venice International Film Festival

There were plenty of photo-ops at the recent Venice International Film Festival where Accident and Lei Wangzi (Prince of Tears) were shown. Unlike the recent festival in Shanghai, where the women's outfit ranged from sublime to hideous, at Venice none of the Chinese actresses strayed far from the norm for the red carpet.

Anya, whose career survived a featured role in Naked Weapon and Tan Wei-Wei, a singer with no credits other than her current film were there supporting Chengdu, I Love You.

Tan Wei-Wei in a simple pink and revealing gown that looks great-- but clunky shoes don't help the look and she should have gone with the formal ankle tattoo.




Anya, delectably voluptuous enough to carry off a dress with both an asymetrical hem and a one-shoulder neckline


Together, looking quite fetching


Michelle Ye Xuan and Han Yuqin were supporting "Accident".

Han Yuqin in a nice red carpet gown, low cut with an understated animal print. The shoes are anything but understated. They are from the Dior spring/summer 2009 ‘Tribal Chic’ collection that is very popular among young Western actresses, Marion Cotillard the most notable of them. The heels are "inspired" by a statue of an African fertility godess--strange but true.



A close up shot show the cut of of the neckline of Han Yuqin's dress.



Michelle Ye knowing she looks great--which she does in a classically cut gown, perfect make-up, simple up-do, show stopping accessories. Simply outstanding.

A lot of sequins died to make that dress.


Huang Lu stars in Between Two Worlds which was in competition at Venice.

Here she is at a screening:

And quite pleased with the world at a photocall:

Perfect hair and make-up in the picture above. With jet black hair, cheek bones to die for and a lovely face generally she has just the right look for a minimalist approach: with her hair in a simple updo, bright red lipstick with almost no make-up otherwise and shot in bright sunlight. Looks great and knows it.

Huang Lu at the Jaeger-LeCoultre Party in Venice very much in a cat that got the canary mode. That dress is a great color but otherwise looks like a costume fitting for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame in China".


Tina Ren (Richie's wife) Michelle Ye and Huang Lu waiting for a screening to start--and the popcorn to arrive.

Oceane Zhu Xuan, Terri Kwan for Prince of Tears
Here with director Yonfan between them. Nice work if you can get it.

And without him:

Terri Kwan's "barely there" dress from the front:

Which goes perfectly with these Christopher Leboutin peep-toe pumps--and a tasteful ankle tattoo.
One more--just hanging around in the hallway, a symphony in red and black:

Lastly, because she was a guest at the Shanghai International Film Festival this year and because she was the official hostess and because there are never too many pictures of gorgeous Italian actresses, Maria Grazia Cucinotta: