synopsis

HENRY is a chubby, lonely, 32 year old, chinese male computer technician that still lives with his mother.  he also happens to be gay and posts ads as a pretty Asian female student to lure pictures of attractive straight men. one night he decides to take matters a step further by having an unsuspecting male meet him at a bar.

JULIA, 23, has a pretty face but is thicker than she wants to be.  she’s also less attractive than her friend MARGARET who can flirt with her eyes.  Just out of college and willing to try just about anything, julia responds to an ad where she’d be the center of attention for an older couple.  when the male of the couple shows up alone, is she safe and can she trust him?

JOSE and maria are a middle-aged hispanic couple with two kids.  as they get older, Jose has more and more trouble satisfying his wife.  so, they find a younger man, ERIC, who is more virile.  

ERIC also happens to be a struggling actor who regularly hits on attractive women.   his live-in girlfriend is clueless to his many infidelities.

MIYUKI is the cute, young japanese girl that henry sends out pictures of and pretends to be.  she’s new to the country and her english is far from perfect, which is why she mistakes the “casual encounters” section as a place to make platonic friends.

through five stories, each character meets their online respondent for what they think will be a simple encounter.  what they discover is very different.

press

"'miyuki' is less about modern love than the squirmy, toxic subject of asian fetishism, which it treats in an interesting way." - mike hale, new york times, featured in the sunday edition of the arts and leisure section on the "watchlist"

"what makes this comedy of errors involving personal ads such a fun flick to watch is the title character’s cheerful, good-natured attitude. dana shiraki does a fabulous job with a character who doesn’t speak much English but says so much with her facial expressions." - kim adelman, indiewire

"countless filmmakers get their start in 'the business' and/or make the money that feeds them and pays their rent as they push the rock up the hill that is making their first films by working for film festivals and organizations like the film society of lincoln center. on average, very few ever return to that film fest with a film of their own. having had his short film, MIYUKI play at the recently concluded new directors/new films festival, will mccord is that exception." - john wildman, film society of lincoln center

status of the film

HENRY, JULIA and MIYUKI are complete and have been shown at festivals as short films. the final stories, JOSE and ERIC have been shot and are in post-production.  the complete feature is now being sent to festivals.  

CASUAL ENCOUNTERS was recently selected as 1 of 25 projects to take part in the emerging visions program, presented by the IFP and film society of lincoln center, held at the 2011 new york film festival.  

for more information on helping us fund some of the post-production costs, please visit the "join the cause" page.

music

the soundtrack of the film includes music from the ballet, jim yoshii pile-up, deathray davies, my teenage stride, headlights, my brightest diamond, moby, we can't enjoy ourselves, liechtenstein, and pants yell!.