HONG KONG: The 6th Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (HKAFF) kicked off yesterday, bringing a wider variety of regional films and artistic visions to the local audience.

This year's highlights include the opening films, Chinese director Tian Zhuang-zhuang's fantasy epic "The Warrior and the Wolf" and Korean director Park Chan-wook's vampire thriller "Thirst".

"The Warrior and the Wolf" is based on Japanese writer Inoue Yasushi's novel of the same name. It marks the comeback of the celebrated Fifth Generation director to the big screen after a 10-year absence.

Between the brutal battles sequences, steamy love scenes and supernatural anecdotes, Tian challenges the notions of triumph and defeat, and the darkness of humanity through an ill-fated love story.

The film's protagonists - a frontier warrior and a tribeswoman from the wolf-overrun north border in Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) - are played by Joe Odagiri and Maggie Q. After falling in love, the pair must endure a curse and transformation into wolves.

"I think the ending is really touching. The two lovers are willing to be transformed into animals to safeguard their love. That would be anyone's last choice, but they make it," said Tian.

Renowned for his "Vengeance" trilogy, Korean director Chan-wook delivers a refreshing Eastern take on the vampire film genre in "Thirst". The movie is partly inspired by French writer Emile Zola's 1867 "Therese Raquin".

The protagonist, played by leading actor Song Kang-ho, is a Roman Catholic priest who accidentally turns into a vampire after he volunteers for a vaccine experiment that goes deadly wrong.

The tortured priest struggles between his thirst for blood and his feelings for Tae-ju, a young woman who is stuck in an unhappy marriage. Through the night the lovers stay in isolation, fending off hallucinations and their impending doom.

The spotlight also falls on regional talents from the mainland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Korea and Singapore. The organizer, Broadway Cinematheque, is a devout promoter of independent cinema in Hong Kong.

The selection includes familiar names such as Danny Pang from Hong Kong, whose mystery thriller "Seven 2 One" was selected as the closing film. Japanese animated sci-fi thriller by Mamoru Hosoda "Summer Wars" will receive a special presentation.

To commend the efforts of emerging talents, the festival features the New Talent Awards. The competition includes Singaporean Ho Tzu-nyen's "Here", Hong Kong director Risky Liu's "Pastry" and Bono Lee's "Beijing is Coming".

The HKAFF runs until October 30.

(HK Edition 10/16/2009 page1)