THE RECEPTIONIST is a drama based on an illegal massage parlour in London, and follows the lives of the employees and clients as seen through the eyes of a Taiwanese graduate employed

as a receptionist.

Weighed down by financial problems, a Taiwanese girl Tina secretly takes a job as a receptionist at an illegal massage parlour in London. As she slowly gets to know the women who work there, Tina is forced to question her values as she discovers humour and humanity in the most unlikely of places. But how far will she be drawn into this world, and can she avoid losing herself in the process?

DIRECTOR & WRITER’S VISION

The global financial crisis of 2008 had a universal impact, affecting every individual from the richest banker to the struggling university graduate, and the young generation tasted the bitterness of the grown-up world for the first time.  During this time my Chinese friend committed suicide by jumping off a bridge outside Heathrow Airport and it made the news. Later our circle of friends learned that she has been working in the sex industry for a long time but none of us knew. Her story and the harsh reality of my job hunting situation inspired me to write the story of Tina, and her struggle to live independently.  I felt that the illegal massage parlour illustrated well how people are defeated by a money-oriented society, and are willing, or sometimes forced, to sell their body and soul for an easier life.

Each year, thousands of people move across the world in search of their dreams for a better life, sometimes illegally. Most of the illegal immigrants’ lives are hidden from the rest of the world, sometimes in plain sight and their stories are lost forever. As there are not many modern films about the life of Far Eastern immigrants in the West I wish to tell the stories of a small part

of this hidden world to bring their stories to the consciousness of the mainstream. In many countries, the UK is often seen as the land where streets are paved with gold, where people can go to try and make their fortunes and escape the harshness of their lives. However, these people’s dreams are sometimes shattered once they do reach this promised land but they are maybe too scared or too proud to go home. These people then blend into the crowd or disappear from visible life altogether, but they are still part of Britain, however much they may seem to be apart from it. I want to tell this story of a hidden Britain, one that people are all too willing to overlook or to forget. Apart from exploring the issue of immigrant sex workers in the UK, in my film I want to tell a human story of how these women from distant lands create special bonds between each other and how each one reacts differently to their shared experience.

CAST

Teresa Daley Taiwanese rising star Teresa Daley has recently appeared as ‘Loli’ in Transformer4: Age of Extinction and HBO series ‘Grace’. TV movie ‘Days We Stared at the Sun’ for which she won best female support in a mini-series at the 2011 Golden Bell Awards in Taiwan. She also appeared in the feature film ‘Winds of September’ by Tom Lin, which was nominated for best screenplay at the 2009 Asian Film Awards and for the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Chen Shiang Chyi Chen has had starring roles in most of the award winning director, Tsai Ming-liang’s, films including ‘What time is it there?’, ‘Goodbye Dragon Inn’, ‘The Wayward Cloud’, ‘I don’t want to Sleep Alone’ and ‘Stray Dogs’. In 2003, she was nominated for the Best Actress award at the Golden Horse Film Festival. In 2014, she won Best Actress Award in ‘Exit’ at Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival and Taipei Film Festival.

Josh Whitehouse Josh plays central character Matt, bad boy of Elaine Constantine’s ‘Northern Soul’ (2014) and Chris in bike-racing film ‘Alleycats’ (2015). He recently was signed by Burberry and is the face of Burberry in 2016 -2018.

Crew

Executive Producer (UK) - Damian Jones

Damian Jones is a BAFTA–winning English producer. Jones has produced over twenty feature films including ‘Adulthood’, ‘The History Boys’, ‘Welcome to Sarajevo’, ‘Gridlock’d’, ‘Millions’, ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’, ‘The Iron Lady’, ‘Fast Girls’, ‘Powder Room’ and ‘Belle’. Jones is currently producing ‘Dad’s Army’, and ‘The Lady in The Van’, based on the play by Alan Bennett. Jones has recently agreed a first look deal with Bathe following their collaboration on ‘The Iron Lady’.

Executive Producer (Asia) - Jimmy Huang Chih-Ming

Jimmy Huang is an experienced Taiwanese producer who has worked on both commercial and art house films. He has worked with the most talented directors, including Tsai Ming-liang (‘River’, Berlin Film Festival) and (‘Hole’, Cannes FIPRESCI Award). He is the producer of ‘Double Vision’, which is an international cooperation that is financed by Sony Columbia. Jimmy has firmly ingrained in Taiwan’s modern cinema as a producer.

Director Filmography

Jenny Lu has written and directed ‘The Man who Walked on the Moon’ (2014) (Won a Van Gough Best Fantasy Award for Amsterdam International Film Festival 2015, selected for London Short Film Festival 2015, Reykjavik International Film Festival 2014, Kaohsiung International Film Festival 2014 and TCIF3 International Film Festival). ‘The Receptionist Teaser Trailer’ (2012) and ‘London Visit’ (2012). Most recently her feature film script, for this project, ‘The Receptionist’, won the Best Screenplay Award in Taiwan in 2013 and was given a development/production fund of £120,000 from Taiwan.

‘The Receptionist’ was selected for Golden Horse Project Market in Taiwan 2014. Jenny was selected for Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab 2014 and Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Lab 2012 as a director. The Receptionist was selected for Edinburgh Works In Progress 2016.