VIFF -- Review: Farruquito: A Flamenco Dynasty

A scene shows Farruquito's brilliance as a dancer (centre) 

As I was writing my posts about Paris (finally finished!), I attended the 45th Vancouver International Film Festival and saw 12 films, a mixture of dramas, documentaries and animation.

For 11 days I had quite the schedule, in many instances seeing two films per day! It almost felt like a job, having to wake up early to take public transit downtown and get there at least 30 minutes before the screening to queue up in order to get a good seat in the movie theatre!

In some cases there was already a long line half an hour before. To pass the time I either chatted up someone in front of me in the queue, or read a book -- the most reading I've done in 11 days.

Some screenings included interviews with the filmmakers which just added a greater appreciation for their work.

Here are my brief reviews in the order in which I saw the films:

Farruquito: a Flamenco Dynasty (2025)

I've always found flamenco dancing fascinating because of its raw emotion and intense endurance, which is why I picked this documentary. Farruquito is the stage name of Juan Manuel Fernandez Montoya, the third generation to dance in his family.

It was his grandfather Farruco who was a legend for creating his own steps that were inspired by nature, like horses' hooves as they run on the grasslands. He had one son who was destined to be great -- Farruquito -- but he died at the age of 18 in a car accident.

But when the young Montoya showed talent in dancing, he inherited his uncle's stage name and learned dancing from his grandfather, and music from his guitar-playing father. The budding Farrquito became quite the celebrity in Spain.

The documentary is filled with a treasure trove of old videos of the grandfather, and of Farruquito as a child -- watching them gives viewers an insight into how he learned from his master, and also the family dynamics. At the same time the film doesn't hold back on confronting Farruquito's demons and how he must reconcile them to move forward.

There is already a fourth generation coming up -- Farruquito's son, who is a teenager and beginning to develop his own style of dancing, which Farruquito is more than encouraging. 

Some of the present-day scenes are staged, but for the most part viewers get to know most of the key family members and their own take on what it's like to be part of this flamenco dynasty.

Farruquito: a Flamenco Dynasty

Directed by Santi Aguado Reuben Atlas

90 minutes

Alexandra Eala is a Filipino Phenom

Eala lifts up her trophy winning the Washington Open

Asian tennis players are on fire these days. Although Hong Kong's Coleman Wong Chak-lam flamed out in the semi-finals of the Mifel Open a few days ago at an ATP event in Los Cabos, Mexico, Alexandra Eala is hot property now that she is the first Filipino to win a WTA singles title.

The 21-year-old defeated top-seeded Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 today to win the Washington Open in the United States capital.

Eala now ranked No. 20 in the world

"Oh my gosh, winning a [WTA] 500 is insane. It's an incredible milestone for me," she said.

"At the beginning of the week, there is no way I would have thought that I would be holding this trophy. Even at the beginning of the year," Eala said. "These things kind of creep up on you and I hold these moments really close to me."

Now ranked No. 20 in the world, Eala was overcome with joy when she won the game. Like Wong, she also trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain, so the Spanish champion's tennis school is definitely honing players' talents to win.

Eala turned heads earlier this summer at Wimbledon when she defeated defending champion and world No. 6 seed Iga Swiatek in the third round. 

Eala learned tennis at four

Not bad for Eala, who comes from a sporty family: her mother Rosemarie Maniego-Eala was a former national swimmer, and her paternal uncle is a former Philippine Sports Commission chairperson and Philippine Basketball Association commissioner, Noila Eala.

At Wimbledon, Eala talked about learning tennis at the age of four from her maternal grandfather Roberto Maniego.

"I went to train with my brother and my grandfather everyday after school with my ruffled socks and my light up shoes and my chubby cheeks," she recalled.

With today's historic win, Eala is definitely one to watch!

Tennis Phenom Coleman Wong Blazing Trails in US Open

Wong is enjoying his ride into the third round of the US Open

The US Open has started and already Canadian sensation Victoria Mboko was eliminated in the first round.

But there's another dark horse to cheer for -- 21-year-old Coleman Wong Chak-lam.

The Hongkonger has made history not only to qualify for the US Open, but to also to be the first to make it to the third round!

Bruce Wong (far left) is so proud of his son

Earlier today the world No. 173 Wong upset No. 85-ranked Australian Adam Walton 7-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in three hours.

There were huge cheers for Wong when the match ended, and he looked in disbelief that he has made it this far.

"I'm swinging it, I'm feeling good," Wong said with a big smile. "This is my first main draw, first best of five, first everything. For me, for Hong Kong, for my team, everything is very new, so, no pressure.

"This is something that I dreamed of. For every tennis player, to keep going in a slam, it's one of the biggest tournaments in the world. So, at the moment, I'm still digesting, I still need to calm down, but I'm really happy."

After the match he used his coach's phone to call his parents to come to New York to watch him play this weekend. His father Bruce is a primary school headmaster, and his wife a teacher, both busy gearing up for the school year that starts on Monday.

Wong will meet No. 15 Rublev in the next match

Bruce Wong told RTHK he didn't have high expectations for his son, but him making it into the third round has made the family proud.

"It was really unbelievable for most of the Hong Kong people, like myself. Of course we're very happy, not only because of the result but the performance," the father said.

"In these few months, there were so many ups and downs, a lot of struggles. We're so happy we can see some good results at this moment."

Wong, who trains at Rafael Nadal's tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain, will next meet Russian Andrey Rublev, ranked No. 15.

"For me, I just want to go out there, enjoy, and I'm in the third round of the US Open, so I don't need to think so much," Wong said. "I just want to go out, enjoy the atmosphere, feel the vibe, and... stay as long as I can, because this is tough. Everyone is so good, everyone is so tough to play, so this means a lot to me."

Wong has an awesome attitude about being in this major tennis tournament -- relishing every moment, and trying not to put too much pressure on himself. He is the underdog, but at the same time totally blazing trails and giving Hongkongers someone to be proud of on the world stage.

Fact of the Day: Hongkongers' Long Lives

Hongkongers have some of the longest life expectancies 

An Associated Press article about life expectancy has some interesting facts about the places in the world where people live the longest.

S. Jay Olshansky is a University of Ilinois-Chicago researcher and he and his team found that humans have pretty much hit the limit of life expectancy.

As part of the study, the researchers focused on eight places where people live the longest. In alphabetical order they are: Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.

There seems to be more people reaching 100 years old -- like former US President Jimmy Carter last week. And Olshansky says in 2019, a little over 2 percent of Americans made it to that age, compared to 5 percent in Japan and 9 percent in Hong Kong.

9 percent! That's a pretty amazing statistic, though five years on, one wonders if that percentage still stands.

Nevertheless it's pretty impressive!

Chinese Police Stations Shut Down in Canada

One of the alleged police stations in Markham, Ontario

Canadians can breathe a sigh of relief now that the RCMP has shut down the Chinese police stations that were in British Colombia, Quebec and Ontario -- but did not make any arrests.

This latest news follows the expulsion of Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei for allegedly targeting at least two federal politicians for intimidation because of their pro-democracy stance on China.

Mendicino said the RCMP shut down the stations

In April, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told a parliamentary committee the federal police force had taken decisive action to close down the alleged stations.

According to Spain-based human rights watchdog group Safeguard Defenders, these police stations monitor Chinese nationals and persuade those who have been suspected of committing crimes to return to China to face charges.

However, the Chinese embassy denies this claim, saying the stations provide Chinese nationals with assistance to things like renewing driver's licenses. 

Last fall the RCMP began probing the alleged police stations in the Greater Toronto Area, and then by mid-March it announced it was also looking into reports of stations in Vancouver and Montreal.

The RCMP later told a Canadian news outlet that some of the activity it's investigating "is occurring at locations where other legitimate services to the Chinese Canadian Community are being offered."

An alleged station in Montreal, no arrests made

In other words, the stations were irrelevant.

The RCMP says it continues to investigate "transnational repression activity, and those responsible for transnational repression, to ensure Chinese and other Canadians are safe from foreign influence."

Now if only the Canadian government finally get its act together and hold some kind of inquiry into foreign interference to really clear the air...

Booming Light Display

The show began with a big red boom

After two years of the pandemic shut down large gatherings, the Celebration of Light, a fireworks competition is back on in Vancouver.

Three countries compete, and this year it's Japan, Canada and Spain in this order. Last Saturday it was the Land of the Rising Sun, and today it's Canada's turn.

We had the opportunity to go to a family friend's apartment right by the water in the West End where we could get a totally unobstructed view of the barge. However, that meant getting there very early as the police close the roads. 

Lovely sunset this evening in the West End

It says 7pm but we got there at 6pm and they were already blocked off and no officers manning them so we had to drive through an alley to get to the apartment building.

We brought dinner with us and heated it up, chatted for a while and then had our meal of ribs, rice with Chinese sausage, chicken and mushroom, and stirfried vegetables. 

Then we had to wait and wait and wait for the sun to go down -- for the show to start at 10pm.

We were not disappointed! As there has been no fireworks in Hong Kong (OK except for tiny ones on midnight January 1 this year), I've been looking forward to seeing this show. 

There's two barges attached to each other lengthwise, hardly like the three to four barges in Hong Kong.

Nevertheless the crowd seemed much more appreciative here, with people hollering and boats in the area blowing horns.

There were a few fireworks I hadn't seen before, including half circles, and even a rectangular-shaped one! The Canadian team made good use of the low-flying fireworks as an opportunity for the skies above to clear a bit, and some red fireworks even landed in the water and continued to glow for quite a while.

Enjoyed the view from up here

After it was all over, the crowds started leaving, but we had to wait until the area was cleared, which meant waiting at least another hour and a half. So we cut up a sweet watermelon and enjoyed several slices before finally the roads were cleared and most people had gone.

Late night but it was still worth it for the view!