ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the issues and politics related to international film festivals and film marketing/distribution/exhibition. It focuses on Hong Kong cinema's re-positioning vis--vis the expansion of Chinese national cinema in the twenty-first century. A good case in point in these respects is Ann Hui's recent film A Simple Life. Its popularity with audiences came as a surprise to the filmmakers. The chapter looks at the production background of A Simple Life and reviews some basic concepts and latest debates about film festivals as effective distribution and exhibition channels for films that might otherwise not be able to reach their target audiences. It provides a discussion on the presence of Chinese-language films at important international film festivals in the West. The chapter concludes with an analysis of how A Simple Life presents the perspective and sense of dislocation of diasporic Chinese people as well as filmmakers in Hong Kong, and how this representation has been reinforced via film festivals.
