THE FIRST TWO EPISODES OF FUNG CHIH-CHIANG'S “I SWIM”
WILL BE PRESENTED DOWNTOWN ON APRIL 3RD
STARRING MEMBERS OF ‘MIRROR' – HONG KONG'S CANTO-POP BOY BAND
Asian Pop-Up Cinema proudly presents its first world premiere of a television series screening prior to airing in its native origin – Hong Kong's ViuTV Original Drama “I SWIM”. The first two episodes will be shown on April 3, at 4:30pm at AMC River East 21 (322 E. Illinois Street, Chicago).
Asian Pop-Up Cinema's goal is to give Chicago audiences the first look of the new production written and directed by director Fung Chih-Chiang. Fung, no stranger to the festival, attended the festival in 2018 with the premiere of Concerto of The Bully; then again in the spring of 2020 for A Witness Out of The Blue for its North American Premiere.
A Witness Out of The Blue garnered 6 nominations including Best Actor and Supporting Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, Best Film and Best Director in the HKMOVIE6 Film Awards, and once again won the first place in the audience award, the highest honor in Fukuoka International Film Festival. “I have always wanted to write a story to document the aquatic splashing journey from my childhood. I have found exactly a group of young actors with great potential, so I decided to adapt the novel into a screenplay. In those years, every game, every opponent, and every teammate are my unforgettable memories. The sweat, tears, sadness, laughter, love, and pain in those swimming lanes had made us evolve into who we are now. This story is extremely important to me because I know that each of us did our part and made the ultimate effort at that time. We did not disappoint ourselves and did not waste our time,” says Fung.
I SWIM is also the first TV production Asian Pop-Up Cinema has invited to screen at its festival. It stars members of MIRROR, Hong Kong's most popular Canto-pop Boy band, Edan Lui, Stanley Yau,and Alton Wong plus rising talents like Jeffrey Ngai, Sofiee Ng, Angela Yuen, Yeung Wai Lun, Phoebus Ng, George Au, Martin Wong, Marco Ip and Dixon Wong.
In the first two episodes of I SWIM, transfer student, Chung (Jeffrey Ngai) gets to know the swimming team captain Marven (Edan Lui), Kan (Phoebus Ng), Autumn (George Au), and Fan (Martin Wong). Marven always wants to win the inter-class relay championship, he invited Chung, a talented swimmer to join the team, led by the headteacher Ms. Yung. Although Chung is gifted in swimming, he had never been in a competition, he is forced to face the star player Lok, in the school (Stanley Yau). (45 minutes per episode)Formed through ViuTV's reality talent show Good Night Show – King Maker in 2018 MIRROR consists of twelve members: Frankie Chan, Alton Wong, Lokman Yeung, Stanley Yau, Anson Kong, Jer Lau, Ian Chan, Anson Lo, Jeremy Lee, Edan Lui, Keung To, and Tiger Yau.They debuted on November 3, 2018 with the single “In a Second”. The group won numerous accolades since their debut, including a Metro Radio Hit Music Award for Best Group, an Ultimate Song Chart Award for the Most Popular Group of the Year , and Group of the Year (Gold) at the inaugural Chill Club Music Awards. MIRROR is considered one of the driving forces in the renewed interest of the Canto-pop genre. Their 2020 single “Ignited” won Top Ten Song of the Year at the Ultimate Song Chart Awards and the Chill Club Music Awards. Their 2021 single “Warrior” topped the Ultimate 903 Chart for two weeks, the first song from a group to do so in 15 years.
“Many Hong Kong superstars like Andy Lau and Louis Koo converted their popularity from singers-songwriters to actors,” said Festival director, Sophia Wong Boccio. “I applaud these talents stepping out of their comfort zones in portraying themselves as serious swimmers in a TV production which requires a lot of training.”
Ticket are $5 per general admission, on sale at: https://buytickets.at/asianpopupcinema
Asian Pop-Up Cinema: Season 14 is currently underway with 28 films in downtown Chicago and the north suburbs, and select films available for online streaming. The joint virtual and in-person festival opened March 13 and runs through April 10. Visit https://www.asianpopupcinema.org/ for more information on Season 14.
ABOUT SOPHIA'S CHOICE / ASIAN POP-UP CINEMA
Asian Pop-Up Cinema, a semi-annual Asian Film Festival, is the brainchild of Sophia Wong Boccio, founder of Sophia's Choice, a Chicago-based 501 C (3) not-for-profit incorporated in 2015 with the multi-pronged mission of cultivating an interest in and understanding of Asian cultures via a diverse offering of Asian films; connecting the Asian film industry with local Chicago film professionals, educators and students; and promoting Chicago as a destination for international visitors.
ABOUT VIUTV
Dedicated to bring Hong Kong audiences a huge variety of television entertainment, HK Television Entertainment Limited operates two free-to-air channels – Channel 99 ViuTV, the Chinese-language channel and Channel 96 ViuTVsix, the English-language channel. With 24 hours daily broadcast of factual entertainment, variety show, drama, travelogue, infotainment, news and sports programs, ViuTV has established itself as the epitome of high quality, creative local TV production in Hong Kong.
ViuTVsix provides top-notch television programs from around the world. The channel also collaborates with major news networks worldwide to provide a variety of news programs, along with live broadcasting of the world's top sports events.
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