neil---

i was just using the term loosely refering to the likes of hou hsaio hsien, edward yang, wong kar-wai, stanley kwan etc...mostly from china/taiwan/hong kong/south korea.
yes, i think they have been here for awhile, but they are still quite unknown if you're not into asian films.  it is hard to get access to these films if one's not locate in a 
relatively large city.  
---nana
