''Mei Mei'' is a 2009 Chinese and US co-production

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by Xu Xiaoxi and written by Roberto F. Canuto and Xu Xiaoxi. The film's premiere took place in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, where the film was part of the official selection at the 3rd Annual Slow Film International Film Festival, a successor to the 32-year-old Hungary Film Festival, born of the Film Art Initiative that includes films from Europe and North America. ''Mei Mei'' was screened in late August 2009 to an international crowd and was received as one of the festival's finest. ''Mei Mei'' tells the story of the neighbours Lulu and Julian. Lulu is a prostitute who receives constant visits from Julian, as he believes that she is his missing ex-girlfriend, Mei Mei. Thinking that he is merely trying to win her over, Lulu rejects his advances, but something happen that makes Lulu change her impression. From there, the two embark on a journey in search of companionship in a beautiful and heartbreaking love story. Australian actress Janet Chiarabaglio, best known for her roles in ''Songbird'' (Official Selection of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival), ''Inspector Gadget II'', and ''Jeopardy 3'', appears in the lead role following her Jury Award at the Boston Independent Film Festival. Los Angeles-based Alex Best, whose feature credits include '' American Dreamz'' with

Dennis Quaid Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...

and ''Vicious Circle'' (winner of the Best Film in the New York International Latino Film Festival) is the male lead of the cast, as the love sick Julian. The film, due to the relationship that the main character Lulu establish with her "special friend" CoCo, was included in some

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

events, as lesbianism is in the subtext of the story. The film also received the nomination for Best Cinematography at the 2009

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Scholarship Awards in the United States, being the official representative of NYFA from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Plot

Lulu, a high class prostitute, receives constant visits from her neighbor Julian, as he believes that she is his missing ex-girlfriend Mei Mei. He begs her for the chance to start their relationship again. Lulu rejects him as she thinks that he is just making up stories to win her over. Soon she starts to miss him, however it may be late as she discovers that Julian has found the real Mei Mei, who looks startlingly similar to her.

Cast

* Janet Chiarabaglio as Lulu / Mei Mei * Alex Best as Julian
(credited Nima Dabestani) * Alexandra Smothers as CoCo * Kjord Davis as Driver * Alexander Aguila as Client 1 * Gudmundur Luovik Porvaldsson as Client 2 * Miles Wood as Client 3

Production

''Mei Mei'' director, Xu Xiaoxi, created the film as a graduation project at the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, ...

(NYFA) at the

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

in Hollywood, but he finish the post-production after graduation, including the involving and atmospheric music of

Andrea Centazzo Andrea Centazzo (born 1948) is an Italian-born American composer, percussionist, multimedia artist and record label founder. Music career Centazzo was born in Udine, Italy. In the 1970s he played percussion in avant-garde jazz with John Zorn, S ...

. The film was one of the first collaborations of the director with the composer, that work together in the next projects, the feature film '' Desire Street'' and the short film '' Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal''. In both cases Xu Xiaoxi co-directed with Roberto F. Canuto. The film was shot on

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...

film by a grant from

and the principal photography took place in the Summer 2008 in California. Some of the locations where Munholland Drive in Los Angeles and Burbank in California. The postproduction was completed in 2010. Xu, in addition to his directorial films, has worked as a video artist, cinematographer, and editor, collaborating with Roberto F. Canuto in the short film ''

Toto Forever ''Toto Forever'', also known in Spanish as ''Toto Para Siempre'' or ''Siempre Toto'', is a 2010 dramatic short film directed by Roberto F. Canuto, written by Canuto and Xu Xiaoxi, and starring Kylan James, Kjord Davis, Diana Grivas, Alexander Ag ...

'' (Best Short winner at the ''3rd LesgaycinePTY International Film Festival'' of Panama and Third Award at ''9th Asturian Film Festival'' in Spain, among other distinctions). Director Xiaoxi Xu mentions that his focus in creating the film ''“was to explore the internal feeling of an abused and beaten down woman that tries to move forward with her life, turning the tables and using men as objects through her career as a prostitute”''. The film also addresses the question of identity. “''I create two characters that look identical and probably are also very similar in terms of general personality, but their life experiences and environment determine their confidence and how they find control in their lives.”''

Reception

After the screening in ''"Hungary's Slow International Film Festival"'', the reactions were very positive, and it was received as one of the festival finest works. Some of the media mention that Mei Mei is a "''beautiful and heartbreaking love story''". In addition to the festival selection, the film received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the ''Kodak Scholarship Awards'' 2009, in representation of NYFA from

, Hollywood. The

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

of ''Mei Mei'' was the filmmaker and usual collaborator of Xu, Roberto F. Canuto.

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

References

External links