USA,
1990, 105 min
Shown in 1990
CREDITS
- dir
-
Nancy Kelly
- prod
-
Kenji Yamamoto, Nancy Kelly
- scr
-
Anne Makepeace
- cam
-
Bobby Bukowski
- editor
-
Kenji Yamamoto
- cast
-
Rosalind Chao, Chris Cooper, Dennis Dun, Michael Paul Chan
- source
-
Mother Lode Productions, 397 Miller Ave. Suite 1, Mill Valley, CA, USA 94991 USA, FAX: 415-381-3724
- premiere
-
World Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Shown as one of four Opening Night films. Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto in person.
OTHER
Based on a true story, Thousand Pieces of Gold is the tale of Lalu, a beautiful, young Manchurian woman sold by her destitute father to a "procurer of women." n San Francisco's Chinatown she is auctioned to a mule skinner, who is acting as agent for a powerful saloonkeeper in the Idaho territory. During the trek through the wilderness, Lalu falls in love with her captor, and he with her. But, true to his word, he delivers her to his master, a soulless Chinese entrepreneur intent on using her as a prostitute. Lalu (renamed Polly by the townsfolk) begins an instinctual struggle to escape the path of wife-slavery laid out for her. "Freed" by Charlie, the town's shunned gentleman, in a game of chance, she learns to deal with the townspeople on their own terms. When the resented Chinese are suddenly rounded up, Lalu takes the decision to stay or leave into her own hands. The breathtaking Montana Rockies, with their rugged snow-dusted granite mountains and crisp, seasoned landscapes, provide a harsh, though beautiful setting for Lalu's struggle and evolution into one of the great legends of the Pacific Northwest. Rosalind Chao plays a strong and convincing Lalu. Directed by the Bay Area's Nancy Kelly (Cowgirls, SFIFF 1985), this debut feature is a 24-karat nugget in the growing stream of U.S. independents.
FACTOID #191
The first screenwriter to receive a Festival tribute was Truman Capote in 1974. At the tribute he confessed that, in his opinion, Audrey Hepburn was too chic for the role of Holly Golightly. He would have preferred the then unknown Tammy Grimes for the role.
