Skip to main content
We Are Family film image, director Benny Lau

We Are Family

出租家人

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

Veteran Hong Kong star Eric Tsang (Infernal Affairs) has a field day here as Chi Kwong, a terrible actor (actually a retiree who works as an extra in HK movies) whose unwaveringly cheerful and sunny disposition makes him a natural for WeFamily, a rent-a-mom-and-pop operation. In his first assignment, Kwong plays a stern dad to a distraught daughter taking her first driving lesson. When a cop commandeers the car to chase a runaway criminal, he assumes that’s all part of the script (it isn’t). Another client needs a respectable family to present to her prospective in-laws (not a great long-term plan, to be sure), a scheme which immediately goes off the rails when her fiancé’s family arrives for dinner an hour early.

If the opening salvos favour broad slapstick and farce, this unapologetic crowd-pleaser has a few tricks up its sleeve and more emotional registers than you might expect. It’s a full meal, and Tsang’s fans will savour every moment.

 

Presented by

 

Media Partner

CHMB AM1320 logo

Director
Cast

Eric Tsang, Carlos Chan, Catherine Chau, Tien Niu

Credits
Country of Origin

Hong Kong

Year

2022

Language

In Cantonese with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
100 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

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

Giant

Dir. George Stevens
198 min

This was the Yellowstone of its time: a big, sweeping modern Western built around an imposing ranch and family dynamics -- except Giant is much more subversive. James Dean strikes it rich as Jett Rink, much to the disgust of his former boss, Rock Hudson.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Familiar Touch

Dir. Sarah Friedland
90 min

A loving portrait of an octogenarian transitioning into an assisted living facility, this award-winning first feature by choreographer Sarah Friedland has a simplicity and warmth that's exceptionally poignant.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Super Happy Forever

Dir. Kohei Igarashi
94 min

This beguiling film depicts a man’s return to the Japanese seaside town where he met his now-deceased wife five years earlier. He tries to relive the past, and in the film's final section -- a flashback to 2018 -- the audience is afforded that privilege.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

A Streetcar Named Desire

Dir. Elia Kazan
122 min

"I don't want realism. I want magic!" declares Blanche du Bois, the tragic heroine who meets her nemesis in her sister's husband, Stanley Kowalski, in Tennessee Williams' great play. Brando's performance as Stanley is a turning point in American acting.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light film image; painted reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows that combine to look like a flower

Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light

Dir. Paul Wagner
118 min

Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

While You Weren't Looking

Dir. Catherine Stewart
72 min

The changing landscape of South African politics and lifestyles is portrayed through a trio of artfully counter-pointed relationships.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Eric Tsang, Jason Siu

Screenwriter

Ashley Cheung Yin Kei, Wong Wing Hong, Neil, Benny Lau

Cinematography

Oliver Lau

Editor

Milk Su

Original Music

Alan Wong, Janet Yung

Art Director

Ceci Fok Pui Sze

Director

Benny Lau headshot, We Are Family director

Benny Lau

Benny Lau is a film director and screenwriter based in Hong Kong, best known for exploring love and family relationships in his films. Lau’s first short film, Mr. Right (2008), was presented in Busan International Film Festival and Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. His second feature film, When Sun Meets Moon (2017), was screened at the Beijing International Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, and won the Audience Award in the East Winds Film Festival. Lau’s next feature, Your World, Without Me (2021) was selected for the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.

Filmography: Wong Ka Yan (2015); When Sun Meets Moon (2018); Your World, Without Me (2021); Burning (2022)