HONG KONG FILM PANORAMA

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Brussels is delighted to present the 2009-10 edition of the Hong Kong Film Panorama, which will run at the Cinematek in Brussels until 15 December inclusive.

An annual event initiated by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels (HKETO) to show Hong Kong films in different European cities, this year’s Panorama includes recent productions by Johnnie To (Sparrow), Derek Kwok (The Moss), Law Wing-cheong (Tactical Unit – Comrades in Arms), Heiward Mak (High Noon), Lawrence Lau (City without Baseball), Angie Chen (This Darling Life) and Herman Yau (True Women for Sale).

There will also be another opportunity to see some of the films of Hong Kong's iconic director, Tsui Hark.

It is 25 years since Tsui Hark founded his Film Workshop. In the 1980s and 1990s, Tsui Hark was so active as a director, writer, producer and talent spotter that his name became almost synonymous with Hong Kong films.

He made films in every known genre and launched new talent both behind and in front of the camera (John Woo, Chow Yun-fat, Jet Li, Ching Siu-tung and Brigitte Lin).  He either invented or breathed new life into the genres typical of Hong Kong films in the 1980s and 1990s (‘heroic bloodshed’, spook romance, kung fu epic, futuristic fantasy, Shanghai musical). Tsui sees himself as a guardian of ancient Chinese culture rather than just a filmmaker.

Opening reception

Speaking at the opening reception before a screening of The Legend of Zu, Miss Mary Chow, Special Representative for Hong Kong Economic and Trade Affairs to the European Communities, said that Hong Kong’s film industry has remained vigorous over the last decade, building a reputation for innovation, creativity and diversity.

“Everyone knows that competition in the international film industry is extremely keen.  The Hong Kong Government is highly conscious of this and has implemented a series of measures to help the continual development of our film industry. For instance, we are investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure, facilitating technological development, maintaining a good local business environment and a robust intellectual property system, helping to expand markets as well as nurturing new talents by providing financial support for small to medium-budget films.  The local film industry also enjoys the benefits of free speech and expression, guaranteed to Hong Kong under the Basic Law, our constitutional document.”

Miss Chow said that Hong Kong had now embarked on a particularly ambitious project to convert a 40-hectare harbourfront site in West Kowloon into a cultural district to further develop artistic and cultural life in the city. This new cultural district would provide a platform to show the world the best in Chinese culture and to bring the best cultural and arts programmes and exhibitions from all over the world to Hong Kong.

The Brussels film festival is taking place within the framework of Europalia. Brussels is the third stop in the roving 2009-2010 Hong Kong Film Panorama after Antwerp in May and Lisbon, Portugal, for the first time at the end of October. After Brussels, the Panorama will continue its European tour, stopping in Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Madrid, Florence and Malta.

Apart from the film festival, other Hong Kong programmes in Europalia include four concerts in Belgium and Luxembourg by an ensemble from the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and a performance in Antwerp by Zuni Icosahedron: Hua-Yen Sutra -  Mind as a skilful painter.  An exhibition, Tea through the Ages – an Art of Living, presenting 61 precious pieces from the K.S. Lo collection at the Flagstaff Museum of Tea Ware, is also taking place at the Museum of Mariemont until 17 February.

Programme of Hong Kong Film Panorama in Brussels
7 – 15 December 2009

CINEMATEK (near BOZAR)
rue Baron Hortastraat 9
B - 1000 Brussels
Tel.: + 32 2 551 19 19
All films will be screened in the “Ledoux” venue of the CINEMATEK cinema.

Programme

Monday 7 December

17:00   
Shanghai Blues
HK 1984 - 98’ - In Cantonese with English subtitles
Starring Kenny Bee, Sally Yeh, Sylvia Chang
A musician and a singer meet under a bridge in Shanghai, where they are sheltering from a Japanese air raid.  In the dark they agree to meet again under the same bridge when the war is over.  Ten years later, the woman, now a singer in a nightclub, takes a country girl under her wing. The girl falls in love with the musician upstairs, who, unknown to the singer, appears to be the young man she met under the bridge all those years ago.
Shanghai Blues, Tsui’s first production for his Film Workshop company, is a retro musical completely in the spirit of the Shanghai and Hollywood comedies of the thirties and forties. Tsui mixes slapstick and sentiment, naive romance and sophisticated technique, as well as Hollywood ever could.

21:00   
The Legend of Zu
HK/CH 2001 -104’  - in Cantonese with English subtitles
Starring Ekin Cheng, Cecilia Cheung, Sammo Hung
The Legend of Zu is an update for the digital age of Tsui Hark’s own 1983 film 'Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain' and is based on the 64-part epic of the same name.  Legend is a must-see for every gamer and hardcore fan of kung fu, sci-fi and fantasy films.
Legend takes place in the mythical Zu mountains inhabited by an immortal race, the Omei.  The powerful Omei are threatened by an evil power, Insomnia, which wants to rule over the mountains, and Amnesia, a witch who wants to prove herself.  The leader of the Omei, White Eyebrows, will lead the fight against Insomnia together with the warriors King Heaven and Red.

Tuesday 8 December

17:00   
The Moss
(Derek Kwok - HK 2008)
95’  - in Cantonese with English subtitles
Starring Shaw Yue, Bonnie Xian, Louis Fan, Shi Xueji, Eric Tsang
Jan is a corrupt policeman patrolling in the Sham Sui Po district, Hong Kong’s ‘Sin City’. He does deals with the local gangs and offers protection to prostitutes in exchange for their favours. Jan’s daily routine is disturbed when the son of Godmother Chong appears to be missing. The boy was last seen in the area of the city controlled by rival gang leader Tong. Chong asks Jan to find her son and confront Tong.
The Moss is a hyperactive hybrid of action movie and film noir, a typical urban thriller by the maker of The Pye Dog , shown in last year's HK Film Panorama.

21:15   
Once Upon A Time in China -  I
Starring Jet Li, Biao Yuen, Rosamund Kwan, Jacky Cheung, Steve Tartalia
HK 1991 - 112’  -  Cantonese with English
Tsui Hark’s trilogy about the legendary Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung (1847-1924), a herbalist and Confucianist, skilled in the arts of war, who fought poverty and injustice. Together the three parts of the trilogy form what is probably the ultimate kung fu epic.
Part I  - End of the 19th century. All over China, the growing influence of the West is being felt.  Foreign ways disrupt the traditional order.  Firearms constitute a threat to the ancien arts of combat.  A new commander, in collusion with the colonisers, forces Wong Fei-hung to disband his martial arts school, seeing it as a threat to his power. When Wong’s girlfriend is kidnapped to be sold as a prostitute, Wong is forced to make a move.

Wednesday 9 December

17:15   
High Noon (Lie ri dang kong)
(Heiward Mak - HK 2008)
106’  - English subtitles
Starring Lam Yiu-Sing, Anjo Leung Hiu-Fung, Sham Ka-Kei, Jeremy Liu
Lam Yiu-sing is a boy who has just arrived at secondary school. He and his friends do what all teenagers do: fighting, singing karaoke, getting detention.  But their games take a dangerous turn when erotic cellphone videos, suicide, drug use and gang violence intervene.
24-year-old Heiward Mak makes her debut with this portrait of teenagers growing up in Hong Kong (her film is part of the 'Winds of September' project, a trilogy about teenagers in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong).  Mak is a talent to be watched.  Her deliberately hypersaturated, expressionist style fits the raging adolescent emotions of her characters.

21:00   
Once Upon A Time in China -  II
HK 1992 - 112’ - Cantonese with English subtitles
Starring David Chiang, Rosamund Kwan, Jet Li
Tsui Hark’s trilogy about the legendary Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung (1847-1924), a herbalist and Confucianist, skilled in the arts of war, who fought poverty and injustice. Together the three parts of the trilogy form what is probably the ultimate kung fu epic.
Part II -  In this version of one of China’s most popular legends, Wong Fei-hung is a frustrated hero. He is torn between two factions: that of San Yat-sen, who is fighting the corrupt imperial leadership, and that of the clan of the White Lotus, a mystic Buddhist cult which preaches a hatred of foreigners. Episode two of the China saga is even better than the first. The climax fight between kung fu superstars Jet Li and Donnie Yen is considered the best in the genre.

Thursday 10 December

17:30   
This Darling Life
(Angie Chen - HK 2008)
With Angie Chen, Michael Chen, Paul Wong, Sally Andersen
A lovingly-made documentary about the often bizarre ties between dogs and their masters. 
Angie Chen (who together with Tsui Hark, Ann Hui and others belongs to Hong Kong’s New Wave, but no longer makes feature films)  interviewed a series of dog lovers, including herself, her brother Michael, Paul Wong (composer and lead guitarist of Beyond), Sally Andersen (founder of HK Dog Rescue, who single-handedly looks after 100 animals), a homeless man and his inseparable canine companion. Some of these people have long since turned their back on family members and the only love they still experience is for their four-legged friends. Angie Chen reveals a great deal more about the often extreme and eccentric forms that love for animals can take.

Friday 11 December

17:00
True Women for Sale
(Herman Yau - HK 2008)
90’ - in Cantonese with English subtitles
Starring Prudence Liew, Anthony Wong, Race Wong, Sammy Leung
This ‘sequel’ to Herman Yau’s prostitution drama 'Whispers and Moans, shown as part of last year's Hong Kong Film Panorama,  is a heartfelt and sensitive portrait of two women struggling to survive in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po district. True Women is franker and more explicit than Whispers and Moans, but shows once again how the downtrodden manage to scape an existence in Hong Kong.

21:15   
Once Upon A Time in China - III
HK 1993  - 105’ - Cantonese with English subtitles
Tsui Hark’s trilogy about the legendary Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung (1847-1924), a herbalist and Confucianist, skilled in the arts of war, who fought poverty and injustice. Together the three parts of the trilogy form what is probably the ultimate kung fu epic.
Starring Rosamund Kwan, Lau Shun, Jet Li, Xiong Xin Xin
Part III - China around the year 1900, during the Qing dynasty. The Empress decides to organise an exhibition tournament with the aim of pitching the various nationalities that have settled in China against one another in combat.  But her plan fails. It is the various Chinese factions that engage in a struggle.
Wong Fei-hung travels to Beijing to visit his father.  The latter is sparring with his rival, Chiu Tin Bai, who is determined to win first prize at the tournament.
By far the most ambitious and epic part of the triology. The spectacular combat scenes surpass anything else in the genre. What Sergio Leone did for the Wild West, Tsui Hark did for 19th century China with this triology.

Saturday, 12 December

17:00   
Tactical Unit: Comrades In Arms
Wing-cheong Law -  HK 90’  - in Cantonese with English subtitles
Starring Simon Yam, Maggie Siu, Suet Lam, Samuel Pang, Chi-yin Wong, Vincent Sze
Rival sergeants Wah and Maggie have one more mission to accomplish before their teams are disbanded. A gang of armed robbers holed up in the hills above Hong Kong must be flushed out. The members of the team hate each other and their morale is severely tested: the terrain is rough and dangers lurk around every corner. 
Johnnie To’s characters from PTU are back in this sequel produced by him. Tactical Unit is a variation on the tried and tested genre formula of the disfunctional group, whose members have to put aside their differences to operate as a close-knit

21:00    The Sparrow (Man Jeuk)
Johnnie To - CH/CH/HK 2008
87’ - in Cantonese with English
Starring Simon Yam, Kelly Lin, Lam Ka-tung
Kei, nicknamed Sparrow, is an experienced and carefree pickpocket.  One day he and his gang are approached by a breathtakingly beautiful girl.  Each member of the gang falls for her in turn, but she has a mysterious past and soon reveals what she really wants from them. 
Johnnie To seduces and titillates the viewer in turn with his captivating mix of film noir, musical and melodrama (his favourite Hollywood genres), Cary Grant and Stanley Donen, nouvelle vague and French musical. In the final scene, Kei is challenged by a gangster in an absurd but brilliantly choreographed pickpocketing scene with umbrellas in the rain (a nod to Jacques Demy’s elegant Les Parapluies de Cherbourg).

Sunday 13 December

21:15   
Seven Swords
Tsui Hark - HK 2005
Adapted from the novel Seven Swords of Heaven by renowned Wuxia writer Liang Yusheng.  A hommage to Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

Tuesday 15 December

17:00   
A Chinese Ghost Story
Hong Kong, 1987. Directed by Ching Siu-tung, produced by Tsui Hark.
Romantic comedy horror film starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu

The films in this programme were selected with the help of the Hong Kong International Film Society, a charitable, non-profit organization dedicated to the discovery and promotion of creativity in the art and culture of film and the organiser of the annual Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Website of Cinematek with more info