Hawaii International Film Festival 2009

Mike Leigh defies all expectation with this sparkling film about the relentlessly cheerful Poppy, a London teacher whose boundless optimism protects her from the darker things in life. Overly effervescent at first, Poppy's spritely, joking, bounding way becomes increasingly endearing as she prevails through a series of uproarious encounters with her bigoted, uptight driving instructor, parties with her housemate and best friend Zoe and plots the rescue of a troubled little boy. Sally Hawkins positively shimmers in a performance that occupies every frame and won her Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival. While Leigh continues to root things in a palpable and at times troubling reality, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY exhibits a new kind of playfulness, the director firmly in cahoots with the sunny lead character in his determination to do things. --Australian Premiere

For nearly a century, people have turned to this prophetic dessert for advice, inspiration, and even winning lottery combinations. While the fortune cookie has been a source of fascination and a Chinese cuisine staple in North America, it remains nearly non-existent in China. This film will examine the heated debate over the true origin of the fortune cookie, the mixing of eastern and western cultures that produced it, and the cookie's rise from a simple pastry to a pop culture phenomenon.