Odyssey 2024 announces closing film for its 4th edition, Fresh Off Markham’s UK Premiere to be presented at the historic Regent Street Cinema.
Annual film festival Odyssey 2024 is proud to present Fresh Off Markham as its closing film this year, responding to its theme of 2024 – #foodandtravel.
The festival takes place between 16 September and 16 October across the UK and online, powered by Shift 72. Odyssey 2024 opened with Chungking Express’s 30th Anniversary 4K restoration at Ritzy Picturehouse Cinema in Brixton last month on 16 September. It attracted over 160 audience to turn up in South London on a Monday night.
The festival is still ongoing, we have been screening films across different cities in the UK as well as online. All official selections this year response to the theme “food and travel” in their own creative way. The closing film Fresh Off Markham, a new cr0ss-cultural feature fresh off this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival and Beijing International Film Festival will be the highlight to wrap our annual event.
ABOUT FRESH OFF MARKHAM
Director: Kurt Yuen, Cyrus Lo, Trevor Choi
Cast: Jessica Chan Yee Chun, Chang Nian, He Li
Production Country/Region: Canada/China/Hong Kong SAR
Hong Kong International Film Festival
Hong Kong, China
April 2, 2024
World Premiere
Official Selection / Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language) / Firebird Awards Nominated
Beijing International Film Festival
Beijing. China
April 19, 2024
Mainland China Premiere
Official Selection/Panorama
In Markham, a multi-ethnic cluster in Canada, a Chinese immigrant and a small-time crook’s attempt to rob a Japanese restaurant goes terribly wrong. Unsuspectingly taking up the two fleeing gangsters and a Hong Kong influencer in a carpool, a black Uber driver is entangled in a sinister predicament larger than their language barriers. Meanwhile, the influencer is ushered into the dark side of local history while searching for a luxury home. A tripartite film with interlocking stories, this black comedy takes a satirical look at the absurdity faced by Chinese immigrants (Chris Lau, Co-Lead Curator of Odyssey 2024).
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY
Kurt Yuen, Cyrus Lo, Trevor Choi
Kurt Yuen is born and raised in Hong Kong. He is a graduate of the Hong Kong Film Director’s Guild (HKFDG) Masterclass and has been involved with numerous productions with Hong Kong Television networks (RTHK) and video production companies.
Cyrus Lo is a Chinese Canadian immigrant. His debut short, Aftershock, was an official selection at Vancouver Asian Film Festival. He strives to tell meaningful stories through the film medium.
Trevor is a graduate of the Hong Kong Film Director’s Guild Masterclass and has written and directed short film Ouroboros (2018), which screened at the 42nd New York Asian American International Film Festival. He is now working on post-production of Smashing Frank (2024), his solo debut feature length film. Fresh off Markham is the directing trio’s first feature film.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
Markham is a Canadian town occupied by hard working Chinese people. They hope to make a living while dealing with problems that ethnic minorities struggle with. After the global pandemic, this seemingly peaceful “Chinatown” has attracted a growing number of new immigrants and unsurprisingly, there’s bound to be good and bad seeds. Our story revolves around a couple of bad seeds that’s been transplanted to a foreign land to take root. The film is a fictitious anthology black comedy that satirizes the experiences and issues that some Chinese immigrants will encounter after arriving in a foreign land.
ABOUT THE CLOSING VENUE
Regent Street Cinema is where UK cinema began. In 1896 the Lumière brothers debuted their Cinématographe machine for a paying audience. They didn’t know it then, but that night, an industry was born and Regent Street Cinema became a landmark venue for the UK film industry: the birthplace of British cinema, if you will.
That spirit of innovation and creativity stuck with us, too. From early demonstrations of the famous Pepper’s Ghost illusion through to 14 years of continuous screenings of Alfred West’s Our Navy and Our Arm films and even screening the first ever film to be awarded the notorious ‘X’ certificate, Regent Street Cinema has always been right at the forefront of the cultural conversation.
Between 1980 and 2012, the cinema was closed to the public and used as a lecture hall and function venue. In 2015 with support from the University of Westminster and funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Quentin Hogg Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundations and many other sponsors, Regent Street Cinema was restored and reopened to the public in 2015.
SCREENING DETAILS
Wednesday, 16 October 20:00
Regent Street Cinema, 307 Regent St.
London W1B 2HW | BOOK NOW
ABOUT ODYSSEY 2024
Cinema is where people connect.
60+ films, masterclasses, discussion panels and exclusive Q&As.
Odyssey is the biggest annual film festival in the UK, engaging with Greater China and Chinese communities worldwide.
The theme for 2024 is “Food and Travel”
Presented by UK-China Film Collab
Festival Date: 16 Sep – 16 Oct 2024
Format: Across UK cinemas and Online
Festival Website: odysseychinesecinema.uk
Instagram & Twitter Handle: @odysseyccs
Hashtags: #odysseyfilmfest #foodandtravel #foodporn #peace
Media & Press: odysseypr@ukchinafilm.uk
