A Man of Many Parts Musician, Actor, Director, Producer — Teddy Robin Remembers the Milestones of His Illustrious Showbiz Career Spanning More Than 50 Years

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A Man of Many Parts Musician, Actor, Director, Producer — Teddy Robin Remembers the Milestones of His Illustrious Showbiz Career Spanning More Than 50 Years CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Friday, July 5, 2019 | 9 Culture profi le A man of many parts Musician, actor, director, producer — Teddy Robin remembers the milestones of his illustrious showbiz career spanning more than 50 years. Mathew Scott listened in. eddy Robin carries with him an it,” says Robin. “I think it was because of want to see them. Some directors make air of enthusiasm that can lift Beatle-mania. I don’t think I handled the fi lms that are too arty. If people don’t see Teddy Robin earned fame as a rock your mood. fame very well. I was shocked.” your fi lms, what’s the use of them?” star but always knew his path would It has you smiling, before you lead him to films. ROY LIU / CHINA DAILY knowT it, almost as broadly as Robin him- A life in the movies Seeking out the best self does when asked fi rst-up if he’s ever Much of the attention, as always in the It’s a point that leads us directly to why thought about the reason behind his run music world, was focused on the lead sing- Robin has come to HKAC. He had a hand of success in the world of Asian entertain- er with the light, bright voice and the fi lm in around 50 fi lms across his career, from ment for more than 50 years. industry in Hong Kong was quick to notice early box-o ce hits such as his debut in “Fate!” is the initial, rapid-fi re response, how the fans fl ocked to Robin. 1970, on to the best supporting actor nod before Robin scrunches his face slightly Super producer Raymond Chow, then he received at the Hong Kong Film Awards and, after a moment of refl ection, expands still at the massive Shaw Brothers studio in 2010 for playing an ageing martial art- on this theory. but on the verge of breaking free and start- ist in Gallants, and then his personalized “One day I just picked up a guitar,” he ing Golden Harvest, o ered to make Robin dabble in horror with last year’s Lucid explains. “Then I found I could sing very an even bigger star. Dreams. well. Who knew? You don’t know these What Chow didn’t realize was that Rob- But back in 1981, the Robin touch as things until you try. When I moved into in had long been dreaming of making his producer was showcased in Ann Hui’s fi lm, I found I had the right instincts so way into the fi lm industry. The hint was acclaimed The Story of Woo Viet. The I guess the best thing is to follow where in his name. fi lm was chosen to screen at Cannes and fate takes you.” “Even when my music was a big hit I was recently part of the New Waves, New Few success stories can rival that of this was thinking about movies,” says Robin. Shores: Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 50 diminutive 74-year-old. We’re at Hong “Ever since I was a child I wanted to work Meets Hong Kong Cinema program at Kong Arts Centre to discuss his long career in the movies. I called myself Robin after HKAC. and Robin has arrived, after all these years, watching The Adventures of Robin Hood The plot revolves around a Vietnamese full of energy that he says is fueled by the (1938), so I guess it was going to happen.” refugee who washes up in Hong Kong and desire to create and the thrill of seeing his Born Kwan Wai-pang, Robin picked up the adversities he is faced with trying to ideas come to fruition. his English from the fi lms he watched. make a living. The fi lm helped establish Robin was in high school “But I don’t think I’m an actor,” says Hui’s reputation, and convinced people when he formed a band with Robin. “Raymond Chow wanted to sign that Chow Yun-fat was more than just a his two brothers and two me for four films, but I just wanted to TV star. friends. They named them- try one (1970’s The Price of Love). People “It was a long, long time ago,” says Rob- selves Teddy Robin and the already knew me because of my music, so in. “Usually I help out as creative producer Playboys. Soon they were I guess I was a good fi t. That fi lm made but on that fi lm I didn’t create that much. playing to packed houses in me famous in Southeast Asia. I had just It was all about the story. I had three hits Hong Kong and dominated graduated from high school then. By the before this fi lm, very good box o ce, and the local radio playlists. early seventies I went everywhere, and they talked about things that went a bit They were the biggest people knew me.” deeper, other than just fi ghting or what- band the city had at a time He was looking to play non-acting ever. This fi lm had a little bit of action, a when the music world was roles in the film industry. Although he great story with a lot of drama. being overturned by a band has continued to act sporadically, Robin “People forget that at that time Chow of floppy-haired lads from is better known as director, composer and Yun-fat was thought of as box-o ce poi- Liverpool. producer. The last of these suits him the son. He was really popular on TV but his “The whole world wanted best, he feels. movies didn’t make money — except this. Chow Yun-fat got his breakthrough their own kind of this mania and we were “It’s the best job I can do in the film Later of course he became a big star. But film role in the Ann Hui-directed The lucky, we were chosen as The Beatles of business, better than being a director or (in Woo Viet) he had something good to Story of Woo Viet , produced by Teddy Hong Kong,” says Robin. acting,” says Robin. “I’ve good eyes. I can work with. The script is great and Ann is Robin. Teddy Robin and the Playboys produced judge the script, which is very important, a great director.” a string of local hits, including a cover and I am good with judging stars. Andy Currently Robin is helping a few young of “Pretty Blue Eyes”, fi rst made famous Lau was in Once Upon a Rainbow (1982), fi lmmakers to get their fi rst productions by American Steve Lawrence in the late which I produced. It was his fi rst fi lm. I made. 1950s. They also dabbled, quite superbly, knew he would be big. “They come to me,” he says. “But I in psychedelia (“Magic Colours”), as they “When I fi nally got into the fi lm indus- have to reject a lot (of them). I have good followed the trends charted by The Beatles. try I wanted to make fi lms with something instincts. If I can help youngsters I feel “I never thought our band would make to say, but you have to make sure people good about that.” Our pick of city events from July 5 to 14 Neon in a new light Hong Kong’s colorful neon signs are a long-loved feature of the city. Through the lens of photographer Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze, some of these have been transformed into poetry in neon. It’s as if an extra layer of meaning has been added to Chinese characters — an art form that combines visual imagery with language. The photographer’s wife helped him translate the signs to deepen his knowledge of the city and its Cantonese culture. City Poetry by Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze Organized by Blue Lotus Gallery Dates: Until July 14 Venue: Blue Lotus Gallery, 28 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan Body of work https://bluelotus-gallery.com/new-events/2019/6/6/ An exhibition of drawings, paintings and solo-exhibition-city-poetry-by-romain-jacquet-lagrze Into the woods notebooks of Lee Wen aims to shed light on how the recently deceased performance art- When super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in September, the city’s ist used drawing as the foundation of his art. trees suffered serious damage, with many beautiful species lost. The upside, Dated between 1978 and 2014, the exhibits perhaps, was a renewed awareness of the need to protect the environment provide a documentation of Lee’s idea of the body in performance as a political entity and the importance of trees for biodiversity. Asia Society’s new exhibition and the dynamic it shares with the natural was inspired by the loss of plant life due to natural disaster. and social worlds. Videos of Lee’s perfor- The interactive, cross-disciplinary summer show explores the importance mances are also on show. of trees in Hong Kong’s environment, culture and history. The program IF YOU GO includes an art exhibition, music performances, workshops and nature Hidden Forests Form Colour Action: Sketchbooks and tours, all aimed at building awareness of forestry and biodiversity. The two- Hosted by Asia Society Hong Kong Notebooks of Lee Wen Dates: July 6 to Sept 8 Organized by Asia Art Archive month show opens with a family-oriented Environmental Fun Day on July Venue: Asia Society Hong Kong Dates: Until Sept 13 6. Various activities such as story-telling, scavenger hunt, origami workshop Center, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty Venue: AAA Library, Asia Art Archive, and wood-carving demonstration will be followed by a chamber music https://asiasociety.org 11/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, performance of Ode to Trees.
Recommended publications
  • 1 “Ann Hui's Allegorical Cinema” Jessica Siu-Yin Yeung to Cite This
    This is the version of the chapter accepted for publication in Cultural Conflict in Hong Kong: Angles on a Coherent Imaginary published by Palgrave Macmillan https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-7766-1_6 Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/34754 “Ann Hui’s Allegorical Cinema” Jessica Siu-yin Yeung To cite this article: By Jessica Siu-yin Yeung (2018) “Ann Hui’s Allegorical Cinema”, Cultural Conflict in Hong Kong: Angles on a Coherent Imaginary, ed. Jason S. Polley, Vinton Poon, and Lian-Hee Wee, 87-104, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Allegorical cinema as a rhetorical approach in Hong Kong new cinema studies1 becomes more urgent and apt when, in 2004, the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) begins financing mainland Chinese-Hong Kong co-produced films.2 Ackbar Abbas’s discussion on “allegories of 1997” (1997, 24 and 16–62) stimulates studies on Happy Together (1997) (Tambling 2003), the Infernal Affairs trilogy (2002–2003) (Marchetti 2007), Fu Bo (2003), and Isabella (2006) (Lee 2009). While the “allegories of 1997” are well- discussed, post-handover allegories remain underexamined. In this essay, I focus on allegorical strategies in Ann Hui’s post-CEPA oeuvre and interpret them as an auteurish shift from examinations of local Hong Kong issues (2008–2011) to a more allegorical mode of narration. This, however, does not mean Hui’s pre-CEPA films are not allegorical or that Hui is the only Hong Kong filmmaker making allegorical films after CEPA. Critics have interpreted Hui’s films as allegorical critiques of local geopolitics since the beginning of her career, around the time of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 (Stokes and Hoover 1999, 181 and 347 note 25), when 1997 came and went (Yau 2007, 133), and when the Umbrella Movement took place in 2014 (Ho 2017).
    [Show full text]
  • Bart Testa on Boat People Filmography 1 the Higher Learning
    Bart Testa on Boat People Filmography The Higher Learning staff curate digital resource packages to complement and offer further context to the topics and themes discussed during the various Higher Learning events held at TIFF Bell Lightbox. These filmographies, bibliographies, and additional resources include works directly related to guest speakers’ work and careers, and provide additional inspirations and topics to consider; these materials are meant to serve as a jumping-off point for further research. Please refer to the event video to see how topics and themes relate to the Higher Learning event. Films mentioned or discussed during the event A Simple Life (Tao jie). Dir. Ann Hui, 2012, Hong Kong. 118 mins. Production Co.: Bona International Film Group/Focus Films/Sil-Metropole Organization. Boy from Vietnam. Dir. Ann Hui, 1978, Hong Kong. Runtime unknown. Production Co.: unknown. Boat People (Tau ban no hoi). Dir. Ann Hui, 1982, Hong Kong. 109 mins. Production Co.: Bluebird Movie Enterprises Ltd. Song of the Exile (Ke tu qiu hen). Dir. Ann Hui, 1990, Hong Kong, 100 mins. Production Co.: Cos Group. The Story of Woo Viet (Woo Yuet dik goo si). Dir. Ann Hui, 1981, Hong Kong. 90 mins. Production Co.: Pearl City Films. The Secret (Fung gip). Dir. Ann Hui, 1979, Hong Kong. 85 mins. Production Co.: Unique. The Spooky Bunch (Zhuang dao zheng). Dir. Ann Hui, 1980, Hong Kong. 97 mins. Production Co.: Hi- Pitch Productions. The Way We Are (Tin shui wai dik yat yu ye). Dir. Ann Hui, 2008, Hong Kong. 90 mins. Production Co.: Class Limited / Mega-Vision Pictures.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Diaspora in Film
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2015 Unhappy Together: Chinese Diaspora In Film Jo Hsin Wang Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/636 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] UNHAPPY TOGETHER: CHINESE DIASPORA IN FILM by JO HSIN WANG A master's thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York. 2015 ii Copyright Page © 2015 JO HSIN WANG All rights reserved iii Approval Page This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. __Robert Singer_____________________________ __________________________ __________________________________________ Date Thesis Advisor __Matthew Gold_____________________________ ___________________________ __________________________________________ Date Executive Officer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv Abstract Abstract UNHAPPY TOGETHER by Jo Hsin Wang Adviser: Professor Robert Singer The lives of people who move from one culture to another are similar in the range of experiences they encounter and different in how they interact with their particular circumstances. Cinematic representations of diaspora, accurately enough, also show general similarities and specific differences. In light of the concept of "accented cinema," we can compare and contrast film descriptions of Chinese immigrants in New York City.
    [Show full text]
  • A Different Brilliance—The D & B Story
    1. Yes, Madam (1985): Michelle Yeoh 2. Love Unto Wastes (1986): (left) Elaine Jin; (right) Tony Leung Chiu-wai 3. An Autumn’s Tale (1987): (left) Chow Yun-fat; (right) Cherie Chung 4. Where’s Officer Tuba? (1986): Sammo Hung 5. Hong Kong 1941 (1984): (from left) Alex Man, Cecilia Yip, Chow Yun-fat 6. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World (1987): (front row from left) Loletta Lee, Elsie Chan, Pauline Kwan, Lydia Sum, Bill Tung; (back row) John Chiang 7. The Return of Pom Pom (1984): (left) John Sham; (right) Richard Ng 8. Heart to Hearts (1988): (from left) Dodo Cheng, George Lam, Vivian Chow Pic. 1-8 © 2010 Fortune Star Media Limited All Rights Reserved Contents 4 Foreword Kwok Ching-ling, Wong Ha-pak 〈Chapter I〉 Production • Cinema Circuits 10 D & B’s Development: From Production Company to Theatrical Distribution Po Fung Circuit 19 Retrospective on the Big Three: Dickson Poon and the Rise-and-Fall Story of the Wong Ha-pak D & B Cinema Circuit 29 An Unconventional Filmmaker—John Sham Eric Tsang Siu-wang 36 My Days at D & B Shu Kei In-Depth Portraits 46 John Sham Diversification Strategies of a Resolute Producer 54 Stephen Shin Targeting the Middle-Class Audience Demographic 61 Linda Kuk An Administrative Producer Who Embodies Both Strength and Gentleness 67 Norman Chan A Production Controller Who Changes the Game 73 Terence Chang Bringing Hong Kong Films to the International Stage 78 Otto Leong Cinema Circuit Management: Flexibility Is the Way to Go 〈Chapter II〉 Creative Minds 86 D & B: The Creative Trajectory of a Trailblazer Thomas Shin 92 From
    [Show full text]
  • Japanese Women, Hong Kong Films, and Transcultural Fandom
    SOME OF US ARE LOOKING AT THE STARS: JAPANESE WOMEN, HONG KONG FILMS, AND TRANSCULTURAL FANDOM Lori Hitchcock Morimoto Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Communication and Culture Indiana University April 2011 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Doctoral Committee _______________________________________ Prof. Barbara Klinger, Ph.D. _______________________________________ Prof. Gregory Waller, Ph.D. _______________________________________ Prof. Michael Curtin, Ph.D. _______________________________________ Prof. Michiko Suzuki, Ph.D. Date of Oral Examination: April 6, 2011 ii © 2011 Lori Hitchcock Morimoto ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii For Michael, who has had a long “year, two at the most.” iv Acknowledgements Writing is a solitary pursuit, but I have found that it takes a village to make a dissertation. I am indebted to my advisor, Barbara Klinger, for her insightful critique, infinite patience, and unflagging enthusiasm for this project. Gratitude goes to Michael Curtin, who saw promise in my early work and has continued to mentor me through several iterations of his own academic career. Gregory Waller’s interest in my research has been gratifying and encouraging, and I am most appreciative of Michiko Suzuki’s interest, guidance, and insights. Richard Bauman and Sumie Jones were enthusiastic readers of early work leading to this dissertation, and I am grateful for their comments and critique along the way. I would also like to thank Joan Hawkins for her enduring support during her tenure as Director of Graduate Studies in CMCL and beyond, as well as for the insights of her dissertation support group.
    [Show full text]
  • Ann Hui's Boat People
    ANN HUI'S BOAT PEOPLE Boat People (Chinese: 投奔怒海 Tau ban no hoi; literally "Into the Raging Sea") is an award-winning Hong Kong film directed by Ann Hui, first shown in theaters in 1982. The film stars George Lam, Andy Lau, Cora Miao, and Season Ma. At the second Hong Kong Film Awards, Boat People won awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best New Performer, Best Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. It was also screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.[2][3] In 2005, at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards, Boat People was ranked 8th in the list of 103 best Chinese-language films in the past 100 years.[4] Boat People was the last film in Hui's "Vietnam trilogy". It recounts the plight of the Vietnamese people after the communist takeover following the Fall of Saigon ending the Vietnam War. Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_People_(film) ANN HUI'S BOAT PEOPLE – CANNES 1983 ATTACK IN HONG KONG by Harlan Kennedy "I don't know what Political Truth is," Hong Kong director Ann Hui said brusquely, in answer to a question, as we sat on the sun-flecked terrace of the Carlton Hotel in Cannes. "All I know is that I stand by the statements I make in Boat People, the things I say and present in it. I have been under a lot of attack in Hong Kong, as well as here, for the movie and its politics. I've been bandied about by one party and another as anti-Communist – which I firmly state that I am not.
    [Show full text]
  • 16 Augustus 2012
    Nederlandse release: 16 augustus 2012 桃姐 A SIMPLE LIFE Winnaar van de Zilveren Leeuw (Beste Actrice) op het Filmfestival van Venetië 2011 A SIMPLE LIFE is an incredible moving story of unsung heroism and love! The New York Times **** 桃姐 A SIMPLE LIFE In A SIMPLE LIFE vertelt Ann Hui, de leading lady van de Aziatische cinema, het diep ontroerende verhaal van een vrijgezelle jonge filmproducent (gespeeld door de Hongkongse superster Andy Lau) en zijn oudere huishoudster Zhong Chun-Tao(een fenomenale rol van Deanie Ip), die al generaties lang voor zijn familie werkt. Wanneer zij ziek wordt, besluit hij de rollen om te draaien en de zorg voor haar op zich te nemen. Voor het eerst in zijn leven voelt hij de kracht van onvoorwaardelijke liefde. Regisseur Ann Hui maakte een schitterende film over universele thema’s. A SIMPLE LIFE is een instant cult-klassieker die op grote filmfestivals wereldwijd in de prijzen valt. De film was een van de publieksfavorieten van het afgelopen IFFR. A SIMPLE LIFE/ 117 minuten/ 35 mm/ Hong Kong, 2011/ Kantonees gesproken CAST & CREW Andy Lau Roger Deanie Ip Ah Tao Regie Ann Hui Scenario Susan Chan Roger Lee Productie Chan Pui Wah Ann Hui Camera Yu Lik Wai Montage Kong Chi Leung Muziek Law Wing Fai A SIMPLE LIFE wordt in Nederland gedistribueerd door ABC Cinemien. Beeldmateriaal kan gedownload worden vanaf www.cinemien.nl/pers of vanaf www.filmdepot.nl Voor meer informatie: ABC - Cinemien, Gideon Querido van Frank, [email protected] ANN HUI Regisseur Ann Hui (China, 1947) verhuisde op jonge leeftijd naar Hong Kong.
    [Show full text]
  • A Reception Analysis of Chinese Women's Viewing Experiences of Ann Hui's the Golden Era
    Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE December 2015 Dancing With Gender: A Reception Analysis of Chinese Women's Viewing Experiences of Ann Hui's The Golden Era Li Chen Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Chen, Li, "Dancing With Gender: A Reception Analysis of Chinese Women's Viewing Experiences of Ann Hui's The Golden Era" (2015). Dissertations - ALL. 363. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/363 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The issue that this study addressed was the unprivileged status of women audience members and women directors in the male dominated Chinese film industry. To investigate this problem, the purpose of this study was to explore how Chinese women audience members produce different meanings in terms of gender identity and gender relations through viewing The Golden Era (2014), directed by a female filmmaker Ann Hui. To deeply understand the viewing experiences of Chinese women audience members, this qualitative research project was designed as a reception analysis. To gather data, interviews with 18 Chinese women with viewing experiences of this film were collected from December 2014 to January 2015. The transcribed interviews were translated and analyzed. Under the framework of feminist cultural studies, the portrayal of gender roles and gender relations in this film incited various reactions and reading practices of Chinese audience members throughout these data.
    [Show full text]
  • CHOW Yun-Fat 周潤發(B. 1955.5.18)
    CHOW Yun-fat 周潤發(b. 1955.5.18) Actor A native of Guangdong, Chow grew up on Lamma Island, Hong Kong. In 1973, he joined Television Broadcasts Limited’s (TVB) performing artist training programme, and became a contract actor upon graduation. The first television series that he starred in was The Itinerant Boy (1976). In 1979, he played in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a drama with an extremely high rating. In 1980, he played a gangster figure of 1930s Shanghai in The Bund with such a commanding aura that his reputation rose even higher. He proceeded to act in such well-known television series as The Brothers (1980) and The Fate (1981), with which his status as the most popular male star was confirmed. As he pursued his career on television, Chow became a contract actor with Goldig Films (H.K.) Ltd. in 1976, for which he acted in Massage Girls (1976), The Hunter, the Butterfly and the Crocodile (1976), Hot Blood (1977), Pursuit (1980) and more. He was once carried the title ‘box office poison’. In 1981, he acted in Ann Hui’s The Story of Woo Viet (1981), and his capacity as a film actor began to get recognised. Subsequently, he made other impressive performances as in The Last Affair (1983), Love in a Fallen City (1984), Hong Kong 1941 (1984), Women (1985) and Dream Lovers (1986). In 1986, Chow played Mark, a gangster in A Better Tomorrow (1986) directed by John Woo. The romantic hero figure, suave and carefree, has gone deep into the heart of the viewers.
    [Show full text]
  • Extraterritoriality Locating Hong Kong Cinema and Media
    VICTOR FAN EXTRATERRITORIALITY LOCATING HONG KONG CINEMA AND MEDIA Extraterritoriality To Sabina Extraterritoriality Locating Hong Kong Cinema and Media Victor Fan Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: edinburghuniversitypress.com © Victor Fan, 2019 Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun – Holyrood Road, 12 (2f) Jackson’s Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ Typeset in Monotype Ehrhardt by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and printed and bound in Great Britain A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 4042 4 (hardback) ISBN 978 1 4744 4044 8 (webready PDF) ISBN 978 1 4744 4045 5 (epub) The right of Victor Fan to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498). Parts of the following articles and book chapters have been revised and incorporated in this book, with their publishers’ permission: ‘Cultural extraterritoriality: Intra-regional politics in contemporary Hong Kong Cinema,’ East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 1, no. 3 (September 2015), pp. 389–402. ‘Poetics of parapraxis and reeducation: The Hong Kong Cantonese cinema in the 1950s’, in The Poetics of Chinese Cinema, (eds) Gary Bettison and James Udden (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 167–83. ‘Extraterritorial cinema: Shanghai jazz and post-war Hong Kong Mandarin musicals’, The Soundtrack 6, nos.
    [Show full text]
  • The Non-Fictitious Destiny of Youth in Hong Kong
    Conflict, Justice, Decolonization: Critical Studies of Inter-Asian Societies (2020) 2709-5479 The Non-Fictitious Destiny of Youth in Hong Kong Qi LI Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies National Chiao Tung University The film Ordinary Heroes (1999) by Hong Kong director Ann Hui tells the story of a ​ group of social activists in the 1980s in Hong Kong. The director combines fictitious narratives with non-fictitious characters and historical contexts, making the film an allegory of the Hong Kong society. Focusing on the Left Melancholia among young activists, the director’s intention is to describe the affective motivation of revolution. The relationship between social movements (or revolutions) and the youth is not necessarily a relationship of calling and being called. The relationship might be a result of contingency. By comparing Ordinary Heroes with the non-fiction novel The ​ ​ Death of Lo Kei (2018) by Hong Kong writer Wong Bik Wan, I attempt to point out the commonality of themes and skills between the two works, to discuss the representation of emotions in different historical moments. Keywords: Hong Kong, Youth, Emotion, History, Revolution “Don’t let others know you enjoy Teresa Teng’s songs, otherwise they will know you come from mainland China. No one will buy her CDs here, including her fans.” In Peter Chan Ho-Sun’s film Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996), two mainlanders are selling their favorite Teresa Teng records in the Chinese New Year market. Their business fails at the end because they ignored the fact that mainlanders in Hong Kong were afraid to be identified and discriminated against as mainlanders.
    [Show full text]
  • Song of the Exile
    Ann Hui’s Song of the Exile Audrey Yue hong Kong University Press 14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong © Audrey Yue 2010 ISBN 978-988-8028-75-7 All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Secure on-line Ordering http://www.hkupress.org Printed and bound by Liang Yu Printing Factory Ltd., Hong Kong, China Hong Kong University Press is honoured that Xu Bing, whose art explores the complex themes of language across cultures, has written the Press’s name in his Square Word Calligraphy. This signals our commitment to cross-cultural thinking and the distinctive nature of our English-language books published in China. “At fi rst glance, Square Word Calligraphy appears to be nothing more unusual than Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new way of rendering English words in the format of a square so they resemble Chinese characters. Chinese viewers expect to be able to read Square Word Calligraphy but cannot. Western viewers, however are surprised to fi nd they can read it. Delight erupts when meaning is unexpectedly revealed.” — Britta Erickson, The Art of Xu Bing Contents Series Preface vii Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 1 The Diasporas of Hong Kong 7 2 Re-turn to Hong Kong: Authorship, Memory, Intimate 49 Biography 3 Teaching Song of the Exile in the Diaspora: Minor 89 Cinema, Transcultural Literacy and Border Pedagogy Notes 125 Awards and Nominations 129 ●vi Contents Ann Hui’s Filmography 131 Bibliography 133 Introduction Song of the Exile was released in Hong Kong from 27 April 1990 to 16 May 1990, and grossed over HK$3,071,212 (MPIA 1990).
    [Show full text]