Title: 亲密
English title: Claustrophobia
Other Title: 花非花 Hua Fei Hua
Genre: Romance
Release date(s): 12/02/2009 (HK, China), 04/2009 (Taiwan)
Running time: 100 min
Theme Song:
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese/Mandarin
Budget: $5,400,000 HKD
Gross revenue:
Producer: Cary Cheng 鄭劍鋒, Yee Chung Man 奚仲文
Director: Ivy Ho 岸西
Art Director: 戴美玲
Screenwriter: Ivy Ho 岸西
Music: Anthony Chue 褚鎮東
Cinematography: Mark Lee Ping Bing
Editing by: Kong Chi Leung 鄺志良
Presented by: An Irresistible Films, Film Development Fund of Hong Kong
Produced by: A Runaway Films, Mega Profit Creation production
Distributed by:
Related Movie(s):

Tom ( Ekin Cheng ) is Pearl’s ( Karena Lam ) boss, a marketing manager in a logistic company. He is a well mannered kind gentle married man and also a good boss, treating Pearl politely and with patience. Tom’s team also include mischievous Jewel (Chucky Woo), blank face John (Derek Tsang) and experienced Karl (Felix Lok). From Monday to Saturday, they work from 8-10 in a small cramped “claustrophobic” office. After work, Tom will give his team a free lift home in his car every day. As time passes, the small cramped office space becomes more than just work. Pearl’s feelings toward Tom have also slowly developed into something different. “Is this love? If it is love, is it one sided or mutual?” Pearl questions herself.

Claustrophobia is a film written and directed by renowned Hong Kong scriptwriter Ivy Ho. The script was original written for Director To Kei Fung (Running Out Of Time 2) who initially requested a simple office love story. However, due to some unknown reasons, the movie was never made thus Ho bought the rights from To and filmed the movie herself. It is her directorial debut.

Claustrophobia is one of the first movie along with " Mc Dull Mo Dong " 麦兜武当 who are funded by the newly founded "Film Development Fund of Hong Kong". It is bordering the line between commercial and independent films. The movie was shot amazingly in 16 days in February 2008.

One distinct aspect of this film is it only consist of 8 scenes in a movie length of 100 min. Due to its limited budget, most of the scenes were shot in the car and office with five main characters. The cast and the crew, Cheng and Lam, costume designer Yee Chung Man all gave Ho a "friendship" discount in their salary to help reduce the production cost as much as possible.

Ekin Cheng 鄭伊健 as Tom 湯少
Karena Lam 林嘉欣 as Pearl 珮
Felix Lok 駱應鈞 as Karl 球叔
Derek Tsang 曾国祥 as John 松仔
Chucky Woo 活己嵐 as Jewel 珠珠
Eric Tsang 曾志偉 as Dr Chiu
Andy Hui 許志安 as Taxi Driver

Hong Kong Film Critics Society (2008)

The 3rd Chungmoru International Film Festival (CHIFF) (2009)

Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) (2008) in "competition" ^{Ref 3}

45th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (2008) ^{Ref 4}

52nd San Francisco International Film Festival ^{Ref 5}

Hong Kong Asia Film Festival (HKAFF) (2008)

59th Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) (2008)

The Claustrophobia Radio Drama will be released as part of the movie promotion on 2nd February 2009. The drama will be broadcasting on HK Radio Station CRHK 叱o宅903 between "On a Clear Day" 在晴朗的一天出發 and "Please Go Home" 好回家.

1. TIFF
2. Taiwan Golden Horse
3. Hong Kong Film Crtics Society
4. Berlinale
5. HKAFF
6. Twitch Review
7. Variety Review
8. A Nutshell Review

1. Ref 1: Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards List
2. Ref 2: Reuters CHIFF, with Theme, 'Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,'
3. Ref 3: TIFF Competition Film List
4. Ref 4: Gold Horse Awards List 2008
5. Ref 5: SF360
6. Ref 6: HKAFF Closing Film 2008
7. Ref 7: Berlin Film Festival Panorama Special

(c) 2009 Ekinpedia

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