24 July, Sunday. I arrived at Wisma Atria shopping centre at 3:00pm. It would be another hour-and-a-half before TSUI HARK, DONNIE YEN and CHARLIE YOUNG make their appearance in the shopping centre atrium to promote SEVEN SWORDS. Only 15 or so people have gathered near the stage area. I was firmly rooted at my strategic spot to document the event. The crowd and I could not take our eyes off the SEVEN SWORDS goodie bags onstage.

Stage area and goodie bags galore.	SEVEN SWORDS banners adorn the atrium.

By 4:00pm, a large crowd had gathered. The emcee appeared onstage to greet the audience and played trivia pursuit to give away the goodie bags. I knew I had to bag (sorry about the pun) a goodie bag for myself. "Name a Tsui Hark movie which spawned a sequel.", the emcee fired. Dozens raised their hands. "You there." Yup, the emcee was pointing at me. "Swordsman", I replied. SCORE! A SEVEN SWORDS goodie bag with a poster (non-autographed), a set of postcards, a notepad and a BLANK CD with the SEVEN SWORDS artwork imprinted on it.

4:45pm. Still no sign of the trio. PR folks explained to the emcee that the celebs are stuck in traffic. Another round of trivia pursuit to kill time.

5:05pm - Visual confirmation of TSUI HARK, DONNIE YEN and CHARLIE YOUNG! At long last.

The crowd cheered. In that bubble lift, the trio descended upon us and went onstage. DONNIE YEN - imagery from IRON MONKEY, DRAGON INN and ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 2 flashed in my head. CHARLIE YOUNG - looking radiant and a definite crowd pleaser. TSUI HARK, the entity whom I maintain this 9 year-old website/shrine to show my adoration...a mere 10 feet away from me. It was almost a mental overload for me.

The trio greeted the crowd and Charlie's fans were screaming her name non-stop.

While Tsui Hark and Donnie were introducing SEVEN SWORDS, etc, Charlie was every photographers' dream.

Turned to her left, posed for the cameras there. A few to her right yelled:"CHARLIE!!! OVER HERE!!!" Charlie turned in response, raised her eyebrows, nodded her head enthusiastically in acknowledgement and mouthed a "gimme a moment, be right back with you".

MOVIE TICKETS GIVEAWAY TIME and more trivia pursuit. Charlie teased Donnie:"Donnie has a few STEAMY SCENES in the movie! And..."

Donnie gestured to Charlie: "C'mon, gimme a break, will ya?" and laughed.

Charlie continued:"Name the Korean actress-!"

Dozens raised their arms before Charlie could complete her question.

Charlie gestured:"Hey, hey, Arms down everyone, let me finish my question first. No need to get overly excited!"

A lady behind me got Charlie's attention. That's when I got to see CHARLIE up close.

Could almost feel Charlie's breath.	Donnie decided to give away two goodie bags.

Charlie told the crowd to support SEVEN SWORDS and go watch it more than once because it's an excellent production. Donnie saw an opportunity to get payback. He added:"Yeah, a kiss from Charlie for those who watch." Charlie giggled sheepishly.

Tsui Hark rushed to Charlie's defence:"Not just that, you'll also get kisses from Donnie and I!".

Donnie gets payback.	Tsu Hark jumped to Charlie's defence.

The trio laughed and the crowd applauded.

Afterwards, 25 lucky persons who won the SEVEN SWORDS SMS contest went onstage to receive an autographed poster from the trio. I had no luck with that contest. But at least I got my goodie bag. I remain envious nonetheless.

Right after, the trio were whisked away by security personnel and the divine entities of showbiz were out of sight.

What a great day.

As a treat, I present two video clips from the event, enjoy :)

>> Watch Video		>> Watch Video
Tsui Hark, Donnie Yen and Charlie Young arrive and address the crowd. Tsui Hark talks about how the wu-xia [martial chivalry] movie genre is unique to Chinese culture and he's honoured that SEVEN SWORDS was chosen to open the Venice Film Festival.		Charlie and Donnie play SEVEN SWORDS trivia pursuit with the crowd. Following that, Donnie and Tsui Hark tell the crowd that SEVEN SWORDS will not disappoint them.

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