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Pinoy Sunday

Pinoy Sunday

Ho Wi Ding

  • Country: Taiwan
  • Year: 2009
  • Language: Tagalog, Mandarin
  • Producer: Ho Wi Ding, Natacha Devillers
  • Executive Producer: Chih Hsin Hu, Gus Adapon
  • Screenplay: Ajay Balakrishnan, Ho wi Ding
  • Runtime: 84
  • Programmes:

Pinoy Sunday is the story of Manuel and Dado, two Filipino migrant workers, who discover a discarded sofa. This transforms their normal Sunday routine into a tale of adventure, perseverance and self-discovery.

screening times

    • Sunday September 12
    • 6:00:00 PM
    • AMC 5
    • Thursday September 16
    • 10:00:00 PM
    • SCOTIABANK THEATRE 3
    • Saturday September 18
    • 3:30:00 PM
    • AMC 4

Note: indicates Premium Screening.

official description

Nomadic in spirit, Pinoy Sunday is an atypical road movie that shows Taipei from the point of view of immigrant workers. Inspired by Roman Polanski’s 1958 short film, Two Men and a Wardrobe, the film follows the absurd adventures of Manuel (Epy Quizon) and Dado (Bayani Agbayani), two Filipino workers in a bicycle factory, during a day-long journey of self-discovery.

Constrained in alienating working conditions, Manuel and Dado spend their time between the factory workshop and the adjacent dormitory. They live in fear of breaking the factory’s strict rules and being deported back to a life of poverty. Starved of connections to their home culture, they live for Sunday, when they can meet fellow countrymen at church, speak their native language, fall for the beautiful singer in the nightclub, or even for break up with a lover. Sunday is when real life begins.

And it’s on a Sunday like any other that Manuel and Dado spot a bright a red couch, abandoned on the sidewalk. The couch becomes a sudden materialization of a colourful mirage, the incarnation of comfort and of the future beautiful décor for their dormitory. Embarking on a journey through parts of the city totally unknown to them, Manuel and Dado will carry the heavy couch far from the factory into remote urban landscapes, populated by locals who only speak Mandarin.

Light and humorous, the narration takes on the contours of a fine tale of adventure, even though discrimination, hardship and injustice are visible beneath this cheerful veneer. The sparkling performances of both protagonists give the film an aura of innocence. Pristine photography and carefully composed images make Pinoy Sunday a surprisingly accomplished debut feature for Ho Wi Ding, and a shining gem of the new Asian cinema.

Giovanna Fulvi

director bio

Ho Wi Ding was born in Malaysia and graduated with a degree in film from the Tisch School of Arts at New York University. He has made the short films Still (00), Respire (05) – which premiered at the International Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival and won The Kodak Discovery award for best short film – and Summer Afternoon (08). Pinoy Sunday (10) is his first feature film.

full credits

Principal Cast: Epy Quizon, Bayani Agbayani, Alessandra De Rossi, Meryll Soriano
Producer: Ho Wi Ding, Natacha Devillers
Executive Producer: Chih Hsin Hu, Gus Adapon
Cinematographer: Jake Pollock
Editor: Wei Yao Hsu
Sound: Tu Duu Chih
Music: Yao Jen Tsai
Production Designer: Tian Jue Li, Yu Fang Lee
   
International Sales Agent: Good Films Workshop
Production Company: Changhe Films/Les Petites Lumieres
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