Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity

There's love and laughter on these garbage-strewn streets, where survival is never easy, but miracles are made!

This February, ReelTime @ The Radio Room presents Golden Globe-winner Sandra Oh of GRAY'S ANATOMY in a fitting film for Valentine’s week.  LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY is a heartwarming and magical tale about fate and the many facets of love set in Vancouver’s blue-collar Chinese Canadian community.

Filled with both gravity and humor, the affectionate stories comprising  LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY center around Mindy, a young girl overcome by her mother’s unending despair in the wake of her father’s departure.

Determined to change their fortunes and find true happiness for her mother, Mindy seeks resolution with the aid of a Taoist book of charms in the undying hope that magic spells will alter their fate for the better.

But a series of mishaps result in unintended consequences for neighboring residents, whose destinies take unexpected, yet ultimately life-affirming turns.

Set against the backdrop of Chinese immigrant culture, the film plays hilariously to the conflicts between the community’s native traditions and the North American lifestyle.  However, the stories’ central themes -- love, hope, acceptance, and keeping faith in a difficult world -- are inherently human and therefore universal.

“With the sure hand of a skilled miniaturist, Mina Shum has crafted a nearly flawless film in LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY, a movie that locates the universal in the particular.”
-- TORONTO STAR

LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY is the third film in co-writer/director Mina Shum’s growing filmography and the second to star actress Sandra Oh.  All three films are set in the same Vancouver neighborhood from which Shum herself hails.  Shum claims the city itself as her muse and the only place she could ever call home.

The project originated as three separate short films with roots in the co-writer/director’s personal history.  Only after working with these stories over time did Shum begin to recognize their interconnectedness.

The stories are integrated through a dramatic style she dubs “magic realism” -- a portrayal of real life stories interwoven with magical elements that doesn’t tread into the fantasy realm.

Mina Shum’s charming film adds to the series’ award-winning lineup of films, having garnered numerous festival honors including Official Selection at the Sundance Festival and Winner at the Vancouver Film Festival.