Cirrus@Austlit

'Drifting Petals is inspired by the novels of W. G. Sebald and the meandering aesthetic of classical Chinese gardens; combining memoir, fiction, travelogue, history and personal biography. Law and her long-term writing-producing partner Eddie Fong embark on an entirely fresh and unfettered approach to the creative process over four years. It begins with a filmmaker and a piano student, who first meet in Australia. Two stories intertwine as the characters try to make sense of a past imbued with mystery in Macau, and an uncertain future in Hong Kong. The living and the dead move freely through this loose and charming filmic journey.'

Source: Sydney Film Festival.

The 'goddess' in this film refers to the Citroën DS (nicknamed 'Déesse'), a famous French car first produced in the fifties. The story concerns J. M., a young, well-to-do Japanese man who desires owning a Déesse. When one comes up for sale in Australia via the internet, J. M. travels there to buy it. Upon reaching his destination, however, he finds the seller and his wife dead and their house inhabited by a seventeen-year-old girl. He initially runs out in horror but returns in order to find out if the car is still there. He and the girl soon afterwards undertake a five-day drive into the outback. It also becomes 'a trip back in time into the early youth of the girl and into her family's chronicle'.

Source: IMDB.

Exploring multicultural themes such as identity, isolation, and alienation, Floating Life tells the story of Mr and Mrs Chan, an aging couple from Hong Kong who move to Australia with their two youngest sons prior to China's takeover of the island in 1997. They stay with a daughter who has already begun a successful career. Meanwhile, their eldest daughter lives in Germany while the eldest son remains in Hong Kong. The Chans are forced to confront some difficulties due to their dislocation and their position between two cultures, but retain high expectations.

In the early years of the Tang dynasty, a general retreats to a remote monastery after a political coup.