In conjunction with the Hilo Chinese New Year Festival, the Palace Theater hosts its Third Annual Chinese Film Festival. Admission is just $7, general, $6, seniors & students, and $5, friends of the theater. Here’s the schedule:

Friday, February 12 at 7 pm
Sunday, February 14 at 4 pm & 7 pm

Three films will be screened over two days.  Lion Dancers will open the festival at 6 pm in the Palace lobby.

Friday, February 12 at 7pm

RED CLIFF (R)
Runtime:  140mins
Starring Tony Leung, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Chi-Ling Lin
Directed by John Woo
In Mandarin with English subtitles

After directing stylish action films such as THE KILLERS and FACE-OFF, director John Woo turns to Chinese history for inspiration with RED CLIFF. The Han Dynasty is facing its death in third century China, and the emperor raises a million-man army against two kingdoms that are hopelessly outmatched. This war film stars Tony Leung, the beloved actor best known for LUST, CAUTION and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE.

The film is a retelling of the battle of Red Cliff during the Han dynasty in ancient China, and is based upon the historical text Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms. Woo avoided pulling too much from the more fictionalized Romance of the Three Kingdoms in favor of historical accuracy.

Sunday, February 14th at 4pm

ASHES OF TIME REDUX (R)
Runtime:  94mins
Starring:  Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
Directed by Dar Wai Wong
In Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles

Two years after forming his own production company, Jet Tone, Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai released ASHES OF TIME, a martial-arts epic based on THE EAGLE-SHOOTING HEROES, a series of novels by Louis Cha writing under the pseudonym Jin Yong. The film was set in jianghu, an imaginary world with its own views of good and evil. In 2008, unhappy with the many alternate versions of ASHES OF TIME available, Wong reedited and restored the film, working with the original negative and soundtrack, which were in severe disrepair. The new version, called ASHES OF TIME REDUX, which screened at such prestigious international gatherings as the Cannes, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals, is a breathtaking example of Wong’s masterly storytelling technique, combined with the stunning cinematography of Christopher Doyle and gorgeous new cello solos recorded by Yo-Yo Ma. ASHES OF TIME REDUX is a visual treat, with Doyle (who has also teamed with Wong on such well-regarded films as DAYS OF BEING WILD and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE) capturing swirling sands and beautiful, treacherous landscapes, resulting in a stirring sensory experience.

Reception at 6pm – Tea will be served by the Hawaii Tea Society in the Palace lobby.

Sunday, February 14th at 7pm
2046 (R)
Runtime:  128mins
Starring:  Tony Leung, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Faye Wong
Directed by Wong Kar-Wai

In Cantonese, Mandarin & Japanese with English subtitles

Director Wong Kar-Wai’s style reaches its fullest expression in his stunning film 2046.  Picture-perfect period sets and costuming, finely wrought atmosphere, languid shots, glamorous cigarette smoke, amber lamplight, and allusions to film noir.  2046 is a meditation on memory, eroticism, love, loss, and longing which surpasses the director’s beautiful, widely acclaimed IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000) in terms of formal ambition and visual sumptuousness.