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Cinema Hong Kong: Kung Fu

Filmmaker Ian Taylor examines the impressive legacy of Hong Kong cinema -- specifically, how martial arts crossed borders and become an international phenomenon -- with the help of footage and interviews with the stars who made the genre what it is today. Director Lau Ka Leung (who helmed The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) joins in, sharing his thoughts on how certain cinematic technologies have improved martial arts films and expanded their appeal, on the set of Drunken Monkey (2003).

Cinema Hong Kong: Kung Fu

7.1 2003
Nobody's Perfect

Former classmates Alexandra and Alexis may share the same name, but they couldn’t be more different. Alexandra is beautiful, intelligent, rich, and completely insufferable. Self-centered and patronizing, she’s an expert in quick put-downs, nasty name-calling, and brokering gossip into profit. Alexis is a simple-minded, pure-hearted, and hard-working gal who is constantly bullied by her future sister-in-law’s family with whom she stays. Crossing paths again by chance, the two girls don’t want anything to do with each other – until a freak accident causes them to switch bodies!

Nobody's Perfect

4.0 2008
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Kung Fu World!!!

A spoof of the "investigative journalism" format of the HK TV show, "The Great Disclosure" (a program similar to "Hard Copy" and "Entertainment Weekly"). The program interweaves silly shenanigans with equally silly segments debunking common legends about Shaolin Temple, Hopping Corpses, the origins of Wing Chun, and the origins of Kung Fu in general. The film also hits on popular Qigong feats such as walking on fire, rolling in glass, breaking a spear with one's throat, and breaking bricks over one's head with a sledge hammer.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Kung Fu World!!!

5.5 2000
Cinema Hong Kong: The Beauties of the Shaw Studio

Hong Kong cinemas had a wide range of glamorous female stars during the golden age of the 60's and 70's. The series will take the audience on a sentimental journey to the good old days and once again look at the expansive epic costume dramas and huangmei operas in which actresses played both the male and female roles. Rare interviews with Sir Run Run Shaw, stars Ivy Ling Po, Shaw Yin Yin, Tanny Tie Ni and Cheng Pei Pei are also featured.

Cinema Hong Kong: The Beauties of the Shaw Studio

7.0 2003
Bruce Lee in G.O.D.

Bruce Lee in G.O.D. is a "docudrama" about the filming of Game of Death. The first 40 minutes of the film is a dramitisation of events before Lee dropped filming for GOD to do Enter the Dragon, with interviews with people associated with the film. The remainder of the movie is an alternate cut of the found Game of Death footage. It uses archive footage from the original film and recreated scenes with stand-ins and the plotline of Bruce's screen notes to bring us what some would call a more complete version of Lee's Game of Death.

Bruce Lee in G.O.D.

4.5 2000
Dong

Jia Zhangke travels with painter Liu Xiaodong from China to Thailand as they as they meet everyday workers in the throes of social turmoil. Liu Xiaodong is well-known for his monumental canvases, particularly those inspired by China's Three Gorges Dam project. Jia Zhangke visits Liu on the banks of Fengjie, a city about to be swallowed up by the Yangtze River. The area is in the process of being "de-constructed" by armies of shirtless male workers who form the subject of Liu's paintings. Liu and Jia next travel to Bangkok, where Liu paints Thai sex workers languishing in brothels. The two sets of paintings are united in their subjects' shared sense of malaise in the face of the dehumanizing labor afforded them.

Dong

5.6 2006
Perfect Life

Perfect Life, the second feature by Emily Tang (Tang Xiaobai), at first revolves around Li Yueying, a young woman in the cold north-east of China. In a world where no one is waiting for an untrained, inexperienced woman, she knows that in order to fulfil her dreams she will have to resort to her own stubbornness and selfishness. Her father deserted her mother and the money saved by the family is destined for her younger brother's studies. When she stops working for a shop making artificial limbs in order to take a job as a chambermaid, she attracts the attention of a mysterious criminal, Mongol. Then in the editing, the documentary story of Jenny from Hong Kong starts to emerge. She thought she had her life perfectly worked out, but when her marriage breaks down, she also finds herself in financial problems and has to fight for the custody of her children.

Perfect Life

NR 2009
The Unbelievable

A documentary team takes on an expedition to an exotic country in Southeast Asia in search of paranormal phenomena. What they never expected is a horrifying journey with encounters of unexplained occurrences. Led by a notable parapsychologist, the encounters are so gruesome and hone chilling beyond what they can bear, ranging from paranormal phenomenon such as poltergeist, exorcism, haunted house to supernatural force like witchcraft, spells, voodoo, curse, tec. Based on Hong Kong Cable TV’s popular paranormal phenomena program of the same name, “The Unbelievable” is a documentary-style movie that throws the audiences to the twilight zone…and beyond! Rated Category III for its shocking scenes of horror, violence and nudity, the reality program-turned-movie features extreme content that makes the TV version look tame in comparison. I’m a fan of the HK TV program. If you like paranormal stuff, check this out!

The Unbelievable

6.3 2009
Dare Ya!

“Dare Ya!” explores what has made the members of Hong Kong’s most controversial band, LMF (LazyMuthaFuckaz), the new “voice of Hong Kong youth”. Their music may raise eyebrows with the older generation, but to their hardcore fan base, LMF’s point of view is their “voice” and their music is the heartbeat–and their hopes, dreams, nightmares, concerns, problems, and solutions for their future. As the title of this raw, different, relevant, and timely film suggests, “Dare Ya!” is a challenge to Hong Kong to take a good look at itself, warts and all, because only by facing up to our flaws can we become the “World City” that we aspire to. “Dare Ya!” is not just a documentary about the exploits and growth of ten ordinary young men from the Estates who just happen to be members of a rap band, but a wake-up call for Hong Kong.

Dare Ya!

5.0 2002
Breaking the Willow

In Breaking the Willow, tells the story of two Chinese women, of different dynasty & society, their personal link to a bejeweled Phoenix Tierra. Cui, a woman of humble background, who divorce her husband to marry again for comfort, who dreams her husband will gain title and bring the official Phoenix Tierra to honor her. One day her dream come true but is too late. Hsiao Yu, a beautiful songstress from a royal decent of the past dynasty, meets the First Scholar and falls in love. The day after their wedding, the husband is called for the frontier. The fallen Princess wears her Phoenix Tierra to bid him fare well poetry.

Breaking the Willow

NR 2003
Globe Trekker: Hong Kong and Taiwan

Hong Kong and Taiwan are 2 islands inextricably linked by their huge neighbour. Modern metropolises full of eastern traditions, they're forging forward in the 21st century as China's little dragons. Traveller Megan McCormick begins her journey in Hong Kong, looking out at the incredible skyline from Victoria Peak. She then takes in the contrasts of the city before taking the ferry visit Tap Mum Chau and Lantau Island. After a flight to Taiwan she explores the capital Taipei, ending her trip with a visit to its most remote outpost - Orchid Island.

Globe Trekker: Hong Kong and Taiwan

7.0 2005
Lai Man-wai: Father of Hong Kong Cinema

In the life of Mr. Lai Man-wai, he had seen the most turbulent times of recent Chinese history. From the fall of the Qing Dynasty to the founding of the Republic, from the Sino-Japanese War to the founding of the People’s Republic. With a patriotic spirit, he joined the revolution and used the theatre to promote the revolutionary course. For a ‘stronger China’, and ‘education for all’, he chose film as his life long goal and career. Lai was more than the father of Hong Kong cinema was; he was also one of the pioneers of the Chinese cinema. He made Hong Kong’s first short fiction film ‘Zhuangzi Tests His Wife’. He opened the first Chinese owned cinema, the New World Cinema, in Hong Kong…. In the several decades, Lai had devoted his life and fortune in writing this glorious inaugural chapter in early Chinese film history. The technical enhancement, the introduction of foreign techniques and equipment were all part of his contribution to the Chinese cinema.

Lai Man-wai: Father of Hong Kong Cinema

NR 2002
The Life and Times of Wu Zhong Xian

Student rebels, labor organizers, Trotskyites, anarchists, sojourners in Paris, and human rights activists are the cast of real-life characters featured in THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WU ZHONG XIAN. Based on a stage play, this DV feature traces the poignant trajectory of a rebel whose dream of world revolution first landed him in battles against British colonialism in the 70s, and later on his deathbed in the mid-90s, in agonies over the uncertain fate of a revitalized China. Revealing a little-known chapter of rebellion and idealism, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WU ZHONG XIAN is a timely, resonant docu-drama for today's Hong Kong, China, and our ideologically-disillusioned era.

The Life and Times of Wu Zhong Xian

NR 2003
Lingchi: Echoes of a Historical Photograph

Inspired by a photograph taken by a French soldier in the early 1900s of a ‘lingchi’ execution, Chen created a high-impact film that reconstructed this brutal form of punishment for criminals who had committed heinous crimes in feudal China. Lingchi – Echoes of a Historical Photograph opens with the gruesome execution of a condemned man in extreme slow motion. The crowd of witnesses eagerly await to collect blood and pieces of skin. Chen interweaves the event with images of the ruins of the Summer Palace after the second Opium War (1860), and also with remnants of abandoned factories and suffering workers. While the recurrent appearance of the haunting black wounds on the condemned man’s chest connects history with the present, it is also a provocative yet cruel metaphor for the cultural and political hegemony from imperialism to the current global context. Chen’s film opens a dialogue with viewers on the ruthless and barbaric events that happen in contemporary society.

Lingchi: Echoes of a Historical Photograph

NR 2002
All's Right With The World

The film explores the hidden face of poverty in one of the world's most affluent and capitalistic cities. Directed by CHEUNG King Wai (KJ: Music and Life), the film follows five Hong Kong families of different backgrounds that receive government subsidies. How do the poor get by in a glossy city that flaunts conspicuous consumption and hides poverty in cavernous public housing estates? All's Right With The World shares the different stories of these low-income families, their daily living conditions, and their ways of celebrating Chinese New Year.

All's Right With The World

NR 2007
Tisese: A Documentary on Three Mosuo Women

Mosuo, located in South-West China, is the only Matrilineal society in China. The first record of Mosuo culture dates back more than two thousand years. Today, this tribe still retains their unique culture, in which people live with their mothers' families and never marry. Concepts such as 'father', 'husband' and 'wife' have no meaning in Mosuo culture. Men and women may sleep together at night, but during the day they return to their own families. Mosuo culture is one in which men and women live harmoniously, and where there is no difference in status between the genders. Director Chou Wah Shan is a former associate professor at Hong Kong University, whose area of interest is gender and sexuality. He spent more than a year with the Mosuo people, and the result is an intimate portrait of this fascinating tribe.

Tisese: A Documentary on Three Mosuo Women

NR 2001
One-Way Street on a Turntable

This essay film is about Hong Kong as a place, or rather as a series of places, each with their own series of histories. Mak is after public and private histories, and the ways they commingle, intertwine and sometimes even obliterate each other. Her materials are multiple: she takes what she calls “appropriated archival footage and propaganda films from the 60s and 70s done by the British Hong Kong Government," and cuts, loops, zooms, slows and manipulates them to make striking distortions. To these “official” materials, made strange through video manipulation, Mak adds black-and-white Super 8 video of her own, digitally altered to sometimes look battered and archival, highly worked into a beautifully ghostly, grainy, evanescently visible texture. Images are juxtaposed promiscuously in double and quadruple frames, often paired images of intangibly related material, elegantly matched to be thought provoking as well as to offer visual delight.

One-Way Street on a Turntable

NR 2006
Moving

Ngau Tau Kok Estate is one of the oldest and largest public housing projects in Hong Kong. Most of the residents are either elderly and live alone, or working class families. Since 2001, after the government announced its plan to redevelop the area, residents have been gradually relocated to new housing estates. Following two social workers who work with the residents as they deal with the relocation, the film offers is a glimpse of the lives of old people. It is a group portrait of our parents and grandparents.

Moving

NR 2003
Raging Land 1: A Record of Choi Yuen Village

This is a film about Choi Yuen Village, documenting villagers’ lives in the summer and autumn of 2009. Suddenly, weekly meetings, guided tours, protests, and ambiguous government consultations entered their routines. They had to recount their personal histories and the meaning of life. The common belief that protests were only about money began to loosen. The word "agriculture" reemerged for Hongkongers. The timeline depicted in the film leads up to the peak of the anti-high-speed rail protests around the Legislative Council. In the end, the railway was decided to build. In spring and summer 2010, villagers searched for land and negotiated with the government to rebuild their homes and lifestyle, valuing community, and coexistence with nature. What sustains their deep connection to land and life?

Raging Land 1: A Record of Choi Yuen Village

NR 2009
Rice Distribution

The Ghost Festival takes place during the seventh lunar month. The gates of hell are opened to free the hungry ghosts who wander the world seeking food. During this month, Chinese pay tribute to their ancestors and offer food to the deceased to appease them and ward off bad luck. In Hong Kong, besides staging ceremonies to honor the dead, many Taoist organizations also give away rice to the elderly and the poor. The rice distribution depicted in this film was one of the largest events, and attracted over eight thousand people. The event was scheduled to last from nine in the morning to six in the evening. In order to ensure a place in the line, most of the participants arrived before dawn.

Rice Distribution

6.5 2003