Taiwan-born actress/recording artist Vivian Hsu may be the most exposed actress at the 2010 Hawaii International Film Festival, starring in three films.

But with the film festival winding down this weekend, Sunday’s repeat showing of "Fire of Conscience" is the last chance to catch Hsu on screen. Last night she joined award-winning directors Li Qian Kuan and Xiao Guiyan here for the world premiere of "The Star and The Sea." She also had a role in "Hot Summer Days," which showed earlier in the festival.

With the assistance of interpreter Marshall Wu, Hsu talked about her dual careers in film and music, the roles she’d like to play, and a story she’d like to share with America in a major film.

John Berger: You have three movies here at the festival. Each one represents a different genre. Do you have a favorite genre or a favorite type of character?

Vivian Hsu: I particularly like "The Star and The Sea." The role of Xinghai’s mother is very challenging. I’ve never played a mother before. Also, it is a period piece that takes place 100 years ago. However, l also like the challenge of working with different crews and different directors because it inspires different kinds of creative sparks. In the future I would like to do something I’ve never done before, particularly like a thriller, a crime story or a ghost movie.

JB: What is your next project?

VH: I just finished a film produced by Ang Lee in which I play a person with a birth defect. It is a type of role I have never played before and I enjoyed it.

JB: You have had a successful career as a singer and a successful career as an actress. At this point in your life do you have a preference?

VH: I enjoy acting more.

JB: Is there a director or actor you would like to work with?

VH: I would like to be in a movie directed by Ang Lee, not just produced by him, because his films are always a deep and special portrayal of humanity and timeless emotion. Also, I have never been in a true action movie and I would like to also work with a classic action film director. I have been in action movies but the female’s role is always "damsel in distress" — I only scream and run away, and for me that is not actually a female action part. I want to be a martial arts heroine with a sword.

JB: Is there a story you would like to share with Americans in a movie?

VH: Americans might be very familiar with the struggle of native Americans in the United States but have no knowledge of aboriginal groups in Asia and the struggle of Taiwanese indigenous people resisting Japanese colonization. I hope with this kind of film I can introduce this part of Asia that is largely unknown to American audiences and preserve this culture in film.

JB: Is there anything you haven’t done yet that you would like to do?

VH: What I really want to do is publish a book on the aesthetic and beauty of Asian woman. I think it is very different from the Western view of beauty and aesthetics. This project has been on my mind for a very long time but I’ve never had the time to do it. For a girl, learning how to maintain yourself and how to keep yourself beautiful is an important lesson and a big struggle, and I want to tell how Asian females — in China, Japan, Korea — face the challenge. I think it would be a cultural exchange with Western audiences.

JB: One more quick question. You speak several languages. Was English more difficult to learn than Japanese or Korean?

VH: Learning Japanese was easier for me than Korean because Japanese still uses a lot of kanji but Koreans now use entirely the Korean alphabet, so Korean is more difficult. The grammar structure of English is much closer to Chinese than Japanese and Korean, and growing up in Taiwan, part of the education we receive is English — American English, not British English — but the best way to learn it would be to live here.

TODAY’S HIFF HIGHLIGHTS

All showings at Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theaters in Iwilei:

» "Puzzle" (2 p.m., World Cinema): A middle-aged housewife, when given a puzzle for her birthday, discovers she has a gift for assembling them very quickly. Soon after, she takes on a training partner and a suave millionaire, in preparation for a world tournament. IFC Films picked up this Argentinian film for U.S. distribution.

» "The Arrival" (3:30 p.m., Asian Showcase: Spotlight on the Philippines): Director Erik Matti, known for his cult sci-fi and fantasy films, makes the transition to more experimental cinema, telling the story of a colorless man who dreams every night of a beautiful woman coming out of a house and welcoming him with a tender kiss. One day, he decides to embark on a journey to look for the woman.

» "Peepli Live" (4:30 p.m., Asian Showcase: Spotlight on India): Put into consideration for an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, this satire takes on the real-life media frenzy surrounding farmer suicides — a drastic option for families of poor farmers to benefit from a government aid program.

» "Queen to Play" (6:15 p.m., EuroCinema Hawaii): An inquisitive hotel maid, tired of her humdrum life, cultivates her curiosity for chess into an obsession and employs the help of an American expatriate and retired doctor, whose house she cleans a few times a week. Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline and Jennifer Beals star. (Also screens 11:30 a.m. tomorrow.)

» "This Movie Is Broken" (7:30 p.m., Sound x Vision): Part narrative and part concert film, it’s a simple love story about a young man’s last chance to win the girl of his dreams by getting her tickets to see her favorite band, Broken Social Scene, in concert. (Also 10:30 p.m. tomorrow.)

» "Bill Cunningham New York" (9 p.m., Art + Design): A documentary about the 80-year-old New York Times photographer who has become a bit of a cultural anthropologist through his years of documenting fashion trends observed on city streets. (Also 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.)

» "Gallants" (10 p.m., Asian Showcase: Extreme Asia): The young writer/director duo of Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng has assembled a cast of aging Shaw Brothers alumni to play out an action-packed comedy about restaurateurs defending their property from encroaching gangsters.

Call 792-1577 or visit www.hiff.org.