The Tiger Factory

Regent Square Theater: May 7 @ 1:00PM & May 13 @ 2:30PM

Passes not accepted on Opening/Closing Night. Please arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of start time to ensure availability of seating. Film schedule and Q & A's are subject to change.

[Film Contains Sexual Content]
2010/Japan & Malaysia/Director: Woo Ming Jin/84 min
Cast: Fooi Mun Lai, Pearlly Chua, Susan Lee, Rum Nun Chung (Language: Malay)
Festivals and Awards: Cannes Director’s Fortnight Section 2010
Detached yet poignant, The Tiger Factory delves into the life of Ping Ping, a 19-year-old struggling under the control of her aunt and guardian, Madame Tien. Set in modern Malaysia, the film is a juxtaposition of personal trial set on the backdrop of the greater social issues of Southeast Asia. Ping Ping is caught in an imbalance of powerlessness, economic dependence, and traditional loyalty --- pushed to the limits of the human spirit, she demonstrates raw perseverance.
Director Woo Ming Jin, also of Woman on Fire Looks for Water, has been called master of “intimate, slice of life” cinema, magnifying the proverbial intricacies of private experience. Ping Ping, played by Fooi Mun Lai, lives a broken life in search of relief and compassion, disenchanted with humanity.
With desperate dreams of going to Japan, she works long hours at two jobs as a caretaker at a pig farm and in the kitchen of a failing restaurant. Whether through pride or fear, she works to the point of collapse, which she then hides. Ping Ping has also been drawn in to her aunt’s baby racket, pairing immigrant workers with young women and selling the children. Involvement in the racket is voluntary, but the operators prey on the vulnerable.
Though Ping Ping finds brief comfort in an unlikely friendship, her world is turned on end when a truth about her aunt is revealed. Grief and deception cause her to question the extent of her morality in exchange for long last personal reprieve. In addition to the compelling heartache and at times emotional austerity we see in Ping Ping, her character demonstrates the other side of hurt --- tenacious resilience.