Skip to main content
Fly Me to the Moon film image; two people walk along deserted highway

Fly Me to the Moon

但願人長久

Panorama

This event has passed

Sasha Chuk writes, directs, and stars in this family drama, adapted from her novella. Spanning three decades, Fly Me to the Moon tells the story of the Lams, a Hong Kong family of Hunanese immigrants. Wu Kang-ren plays Kok Man, the drug-addicted patriarch, and Carmen Chou plays his beleaguered wife. Each of their two daughters is played by three different actresses; the film is largely the story of their progression from little girls (1997) to teenagers (2007) to adults (2017).

Chuk’s film is both expansive and richly intimate; it reaches across 30 years while never once losing its close-range dramatic power. Key to Chuk’s success is her ability to maintain an emotional continuity in the female performances. Acting as the adult daughter Yuen, she builds carefully on the work of Chloe Hui and Yoyo Tse as the character’s younger selves. As Yuen moves from youthful innocent to tough teenager to hardened, guarded adult, Chuk builds a portrait of growth that is as darkly poignant as it is convincing.

 

Best New Performer, Taipei Golden Horse 2023; FIPRESCI Prize, Taipei Golden Horse 2023

 

Supported by

Media Partner

    

Director
Cast

Kang-ren Wu, Sasha Chuk, Angela Yuen, Wing-yan Tse, Natalie Hsu

Credits
Country of Origin

Hong Kong

Year

2023

Language

In Cantonese, Mandarin, Hunan Dialect, Japanese with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
111 min
Award Winners Cinemas of Asia Drama Women Directors
The Flow of Words

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Stanley Kwan

Screenwriter

Sasha Chuk

Cinematography

Hok Lun Chan, Yuk Fai Ho

Editor

William Chang, King Lun Yeung, Kwun Tung Lai

Production Design

William Chang

Original Music

Dominique Charpentier

Art Director

Umi Ngai

Sasha Chuk headshot; Fly Me to the Moon director

Sasha Chuk 祝紫嫣

Sasha Chuk majored in Chinese literature and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. Her short film The Dropout of Her (2019) won Best Cinematography at the 13th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival. Her next short film, Plain Sailing (2022) won the Gold Award at the 27th ifva Awards (Asian Open Category) and was selected in the 2022 Osaka Asian Film Festival. In 2020, she won the 6th First Film Initiative by Create Hong Kong with her screenplay Fly Me to the Moon, an adaptation from her novel. Fly Me to The Moon is her feature directorial debut, which earned her a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the 60th Golden Horse Awards.

 

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Blue Star

Dir. Javier Macipe
129 min

In crisis, a popular singer quits Spain to backpack in Argentina. There he comes under the spell of a veteran musician, who teaches him the art of chacareras, zambas and vidalas. It's a journey of musical kinship and spiritual reawakening.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Mother and the Bear

Dir. Johnny Ma
100 min

Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sleepless City

Dir. Guillermo Galoe
97 min

The first dramatic feature by documentary filmmaker Guillermo Galoe, this is a scintillating slice of contemporary neo-realism set among the gitano community in southern Europe's largest shanty town, La Cañada Real.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

La Grazia

Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
133 min

A contemplative, mournful but richly imagined movie about a retiring Italian President (Toni Servillo from The Great Beauty) facing two thorny ethical decisions that may define his legacy.

Image: © Andrea Pirrello

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Captive

Dir. Alejandro Amenábar
134 min

Join us for tapas, wine, and the West Coast premiere of a sweeping historical epic about the young Miguel de Cervantes, held for ransom in Algiers in 1575 and hitting on his gift for storytelling as a survival tactic.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Forastera

Dir. Lucía Aleñar Iglesias
97 min

In this mysterious and subtle coming of age drama, teenager Cata is soaking up the sun, smoking furtive cigarettes, and enjoying a summer break with her grandparents and her younger sis in Mallorca. That is, until Cata's beloved abuela collapses...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema