Paradise Girls

Colour, 35 mm
Netherlands, Germany, 2004, 97 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

The lives of 23-year-old Miki, 21-year-old Pei Pei and 24-year-old Shirley indirectly intermingle. All three young Asian women are coming to terms with a life crisis. Careless Miki arrives in Holland to visit her boyfriend Benny despite having originally refused to leave Japan. Pei Pei  works at her father’s Chinese restaurant and is trying to decide what to do with her life. And the attractive Shirley, who looks after her little boy, is desperately looking for money for an complicated operation. At first glance, it might seem that Paradise Girls is constructed from three independent short films. At the end of the film, however, the fates of the three young girls from Japan, China and Hong Kong, come together in an ingenious way the moment they arrive at a turning point in their lives. The film, which not only tells a tale of three women, but also of three different Asian cultures, was screened at the IFFs in Rotterdam and Pusan.

About the director

Fow Pyng Hu (b. 1970, Netherlands) studied industrial design at the Technical University in Delft, graduating from Amsterdam’s Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy in 1996. He also studied at the Parsons School of Design and the School of Fine Arts in New York. He has shot several video productions and five shorts. He debuted in features with Jacky (2000), co-directed by Brat Ljafiti. The film was an international success, and was screened at the 2000 Cannes IFF (Un certain regard), at the Pusan IFF, and at Karlovy Vary as part of Variety Critics’ Choice.