25th New York Asian Film Festival

July 10-26, 2026

Photo: ©Rumble Pictures Co., Ltd.

North American Premiere

I Blew Out The Candles Before Making A Wish

我未許願先吹蠟燭

Kai Ko may be the worst debt collector in a city built on casinos. As Hua, a Taiwanese drifter washed up in Macau, he is too soft-hearted to squeeze anyone, his wife gone and his life coming apart. Then Jojo turns up with a million in casino chips and one impossible plan: clear the enormous debt left by her vanished father. The kid needs an adult to gamble for her, and against all better judgment, Hua is it. A one-man disaster and a child with nerve, they work the floors and back rooms and run up against every species of Macau greed, with HK and Taiwan screen legend Elaine Jin anchoring the wreckage. Shot from inside the casino city by a Macau director, it finds the kindness people scrape together once the chips are gone.

Directors: Chao Koi Wang, HU Chin-Yen
Producer: David Tang
Screenwriters: Chao Koi Wang, CHEN Yi-Ru
Cast: Kai Ko, Elaine Jin, Mui Cheng
Languages: Mandarin, Cantonese with English Subtitles
2026; 115 min.; DCP
Country: Taiwan

SCHEDULE:

Wednesday July 22, 6:00pm
SVA Theatre

Intro and Q&A with director Chao Koi Wang, actor Kai Ko, and producer David Tang