EAST 22nd STREET
A SHORT FILM BY DAYYAN ENG
NOTE: The following information about
"East 22nd Street" was dated March, 1999.
PRESS INFORMATION
CONTACT*
COLORDANCE PICTURES CORP.
PO BOX 7291
BELLEVUE, WA 98008-1291 USA
FAX: +1 206-888-4422
E-MAIL:
*Original contact listing was for ShadowWorks Productions
which sold all rights to Colordance Pictures.
World-wide distribution rights available!
EAST 22nd STREET
A SHORT FILM BY DAYYAN ENG
Official Selection (in-competition)
1998 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
1998 Oberhausen International Short Film Festival
1997 Austin Film Festival
1997 Wine Country Film Festival
1997 UFVA Int'l Student Film Festival (PRIZE WINNER)
Official Selection (out-of-competition)
1999 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
1997 Sao Paulo International Film Festival
1997 Welsh International Film Festival
FILM SYNOPSIS
With gentle humor and an eye for detail, parallel narratives follow two young men on a small back street in fast-changing urban China. After months in the city, construction worker Li Xiaobing-in response to prodding by his friends-decides to call his wife back home in a little village in another province. The village has only one phone and Li Xiaobing is told to call again after his wife is sent for. The call doesn't turn out as he imagines it will. Fang Zhimin is a new teacher just hired at the elementary school he graduated from many years earlier. After being introduced with great praise by the principal, Teacher Fang's first day in the classroom includes an unexpected lesson.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Original Title: Dong Er Shi Er Tiao
English Title: East 22nd Street
Language: Mandarin Chinese
35mm / Color / Optical Sound
Aspect Ratio: 1:1.37
Kodak Film & Processing / He Ping Camera and Lenses
13:30 mins. / Completed in Dec.,1996
Shot on location in Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Country of Production: China / USA
Production Company: Beijing Film Academy / ShadowWorks Productions*
Distributed by: CANAL+ (France)
*Rights reverted and sold to: Colordance Pictures Corporation.
World-wide distribution rights currently
available!
PRINCIPLE CREDITS
Production Designer / Costumes: Annie Xie
Production Sound: Zhang Yang
Editor: Dayyán Eng
Cinematographer: Gao Fei
Writer, Producer, Director: Dayyán Eng
NOTE: The information below is out-dated! Please click on high-lighted names for updated information.
FILMMAKERS' BIOGRAPHY
DAYYÁN ENG (Writer-Director-Editor) was born in Taiwan into a multi-racial family (of Scottish, Chinese, and Persian heritage). At an early age he was exposed to many cultures, gaining a wide view of the world as his family traveled and he grew up in Taiwan, the U.S., Australia, Macau, and Canada. Dayyán completed two years of film studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, then moved to China after being accepted at the prestigious Beijing Film Academy where he finished an undergraduate program in Directing. Dayyán began his career as a post-production intern at the Shanghai Film Studio; a few months later he wrote and hosted a television program for Beijing-TV; guest starred on a popular sitcom that was broad-cast all over Asia on STAR-TV; was a casting assistant for Zhang Yimou's film "Keep Cool". Before finishing his studies, he completed "East 22nd Street" that went on to receive nominations and awards at eight international film festivals before getting picked up for exclusive television broadcast rights in France by CANAL+. He currently freelance directs TV commercials in Asia.
GAO FEI (Cinematographer) was born in Northern China. Since childhood he was surrounded by movie making. His father was an art director at the Changchun Film Studio where they lived. After high school he decided to pursue filmmaking. He graduated from the cinematography department at the Beijing Film Academy in 1997. His prior work has included music videos, as well as camera assist work on several films. Gao Fei recently wrapped principal photography on his first feature film.
ZHANG YANG (Production Sound) was born in Beijing, and grew up in the film industry. His father is the head of the Central Film Studio, and a well known cinematographer. Zhang Yang decided to follow in his father's footsteps in film arts, and graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in sound recording. His prior work has included several music videos, a short film, and numerous television commercials. He is also the guitarist of the hit Chinese rock group Sober.
ANNIE XIE (Production Designer-Costumes) was born in Taiwan and studied art and design at the National Art Institute in Taipei, before entering the graduate directing program at the Beijing Film Academy. She is currently in the process of setting up a production house in Beijing.
ACTORS' BIOGRAPHY
SAM KOA (worker Li Xiaobing) was born in Hong Kong. Though he has never acted before, he is no stranger to film. He has been working in the film industry for over 8 years, and was a lighting assistant on several of Tsui Hark's films in Hong Kong. Since arriving in Beijing, Sam has worked as a cinematographer for several television commercials, and recently was a camera assistant on a commercial for Joe Pytka (Spacejam). Sam currently is a freelance cinematographer working on television commercials in China and Hong Kong.
GUO FANGHONG (teacher Fang Zhimin) was born in Dalian, China, and incidentally, is the son of two elementary school teachers. He also has had little formal training as an actor. He was discovered walking to class at the Beijing Film Academy where he studied documentary filmmaking at night school. Guo Fanghong is currently working in northern China at a private company.
LIU ZHIZI (Principal Chen) has acted in several feature films in China - last seen in the award-winning film Youchai (The Postman). He is currently vice-chairman of the acting department at the Beijing Film Academy.
KANG YU (Xu Ruijie) was a sixth grader at the time of shooting. He was selected over 40 other candidates for the part. Interestingly, both of Kang Yu's parents were Peking Opera singer/actors. He is a ninth-grader in Beijing.
YIN QIUXIA (Chen Fan) was also a sixth grader at the time of shooting. He was discovered while talking to a crew member. After East 22nd Street, he went on to act in a music video and several television commercials. Yin Qiuxia is now a ninth-grader in Beijing.
THE MAKING OF EAST 22ND STREET
"East 22nd Street" is a window for the audience to glimpse into the lives of two men-who don't know each other, or have anything in common-except for the fact that they work on East 22nd Street, a small back road in a major city in contemporary China. Prior to being selected at the 1999 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, East 22nd Street was a Prize Winner at the 1997 UFVA International Student Film Festival, an Official Selection of the 1998 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, 1998 Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, 1997 Austin Film Festival, the 1997 Sao Paulo International Film Festival, the 1997 Welsh International Film Festival, and the 1997 Wine Country Film Festival. It was later picked up for distribution by CANAL+ in France.
After Dayyán's script for "East 22nd Street" was selected as "best screenplay" in his class, he went on to cooperate with students from various departments at the Beijing Film Academy to work on his film. When the Academy notified Dayyán during pre-production that funding was not available because he was a transfer student, he decided to independently produce the student film. With his savings, and some funding from an international firm in Shanghai, "East 22nd Street" went into production. The filming of "East 22nd Street" was a low-budget independent film production in its truest form. Selecting and using volunteer actors with little or no experience, and a crew composed of friends and schoolmates, the film was completed in December of 1996.