From the Queen to the Chief Executive: May 4–6 Hong Kong Films 2007 10 Years After the Handover 香港電影縱橫﹕ 展與談 1 I am absolutely thrilled to welcome you to our fi rst Hong Kong fi lm Schedule at a glance festival, From the Queen to the Chief Executive: Hong Kong Films Ten Years After the Handover. This important event fi rst and foremost celebrates the friday, may 4 2:30 pm–4:15 pm achievements of Hong Kong fi lm and its impact on a new and ever- Banana Bruises; Royal Ontario Museum changing global culture. From the Queen to the Chief Executive also provides Dumplings Theatre, 100 Queen’s Park a forum to contemplate developments on Hong Kong since its historic 4:15 pm–5:15 pm 6:15 pm–7:15 pm return to China in 1997. Film is a lens through which to understand the Horror Panel VIP Reception dynamics of a changing society and the world around it. Film provides 5:15 pm–6:30 pm Royal Ontario Museum – an important platform, a medium, for telling peoples’ stories. In this Dinner Break Glass Room on the respect, fi lm is both critical and celebratory, it challenges and re- 4th Floor 6:30 pm–8:35 pm affi rms. Its impact is political, social, economic, cultural and often Venues 7:00 pm Eastbound; Welcome leaves legacies of historical import. Doors Open Lost in Time to the First 7:30 pm–7:40 pm 8:35 pm–9:00 pm The Asian Institute is an inter-disciplinary home to scholars working iiX iiX iiX iiX Break Waddg Waddg Welcoming Remarks University on Asia, comprising leading scholars in the humanities and social VkZcjZgY YZdch]^gZea 7:40 pm–9:30 pm 9:00 pm–11:00 pm sciences. We “do” political, social, economic, cultural and historical. & iiX ' X]VgaZh Opening Film: Asthma Tech; of Toronto The panels that have been assembled for this fi lm festival, in my mind, hjhhZmVkZ ( Isabella (Toronto One Nite in Mongkok highlight precisely what it is that we do best: bringing our intellectual q a Hong Kong Premiere); & work to challenge, probe and ultimately praise this important cultural ]dh`^cVkZ sunday, may 6 10:00 pm–1:00 am WVnhi ndc\Z fjZZcÉheVg` heVY^cVVkZ ]jgdchi hi\Zdg\Zhi fjZZcÉheVg` Film Festival medium. Opening Night Party Innis Town Hall, We are delighted here at the Asian Institute for having played a modest iiX Munk Centre, 2 Sussex Avenue lZaaZhaZn South House, role in bringing the very best of Hong Kong fi lm to you. Our

X X 12:30 pm 1 Devonshire Place collaborative eff orts with Reel Asian and the Hong Kong Economic and Doors Open Trade Offi ce, along with all of the co-sponsors and partners, will no 1 Royal Ontario Museum saturday, may 5 1:00 pm–2:30 pm doubt prove to be longstanding. This is the ‘fi rst’ Hong Kong fi lm 100 Queen’s Park My Matsura; Innis Town Hall, festival, demonstrating our collective commitment to ensure that it is The Heavenly Kings Asian Institute 2 Innis Town Hall 2 Sussex Avenue not the last. We are thrilled that this fi lm festival has been included as 2:30 pm–3:30 pm at the University 2 Sussex Avenue 9:30 am part of Asian Heritage Month. Hong Kong Film of Toronto (at St George, south of Bloor) Doors Open Industry Panel Many thanks to the various partners who have been involved in the 10:00 am–11:25 am Munk Centre 3 Munk Centre 3:30 pm–4:00 pm organization of this Hong Kong fi lm festival. Your tireless energy and Jaime Lo, Small and Shy; for International Studies South House, 1 Devonshire Place Break cooperative spirit are refl ected in the festival and will resonate My Life as McDull 1 Devonshire Place, (between Hoskin and Bloor) 4:00 pm–5:50 pm throughout the university and community more generally. 11:25 am–11:35 am Room 227n ttc TTC Subway stations Closing Film: Short Break on Sincerely, From the Queen to the Toronto, Canada 11:35 am–12:35 pm Chief Executive Joseph Wong Animation and Comics m5s 3k7 Panel t 416 946 8996 Director, Asian Institute 12:35 pm–1:30 pm f 416 946 8838 Canada Research Chair, Political Science Lunch Break e [email protected] url 1:30 pm–2:30 pm www.utoronto.ca/ai Keynote Conversation

3 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto Presenting Sponsor Tickets Richard Charles Lee Prices Canada Hong Kong Library All individual tickets $7 except as follows: Festival Sponsors At Festival pass $45 The University Of Toronto Opening night Cinema Studies Institute fi lm screening and party $15 Dr. David Chu Distinguished Leaders Program party only $10 Faculty of Arts and Science 3-Screening pass $17 Munk Centre for International Studies Sponsors My Life as McDull fi lm Free for Kids

Corporate Sponsors when accompanied by adult

CY Food Industries Inc. Panel Discussions Free with ticket

Holiday Inn Midtown Tickets for ALL screenings including Koo & Co opening night can be purchased Long Shong Group 30 minutes before start time at Tour East Holidays (Canada) Inc. venue box offi ce.

Community Co-presenter Advance Ticketing Hong Kong Canada Business Association In Person Tickets available at Festival Photographer UofTtix Box Offi ce

Nicolett Jakab (University of Toronto’s Central Box Offi ce) Printing Open Mon – Fri 11 am – 5 pm in Hart House, Bowne 7 Hart House Circle, University of Toronto Graphic Design By Phone (416) 978-8849 donderdag On-line uofttix.ca

4 5 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto Co-presenters The Asian Institute The Toronto Reel Hong Kong

The Asian Institute is home to about 100 scholarly Asian International Economic and affi liates, including 40 or so core faculty members, researching and teaching on Asia. Located in the Film Festival Trade Offi ce Munk Centre for International Studies at the The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is As the offi cial representative of the Hong Kong University of Toronto, the Asian Institute provides an the premier Asian fi lm festival in Canada. A unique Special Administrative Region in Canada, the main inter-disciplinary home to both faculty and students showcase of contemporary Asian cinema, it fuses responsibilities of the Hong Kong Economic and interested in Asia. Dedicated to one of the most North American cheek with Asian chic through its Trade Offi ce include facilitating trade negotiations dynamic regions in the world, the Asian Institute slate of international work from fi lmmakers with and handling trade related matters with the federal facilitates cutting-edge research, public forums, roots in East and Southeast Asia. The festival provides government, inter-government relations with conferences, and fi rst-rate teaching. Through the challenging and innovative fi lm ands media arts provincial and municipal governments in Canada; David Chu Program in Asia-Pacifi c Studies, the Asian programming to Toronto audiences, and serves an the promoting of Canadian investment in Hong Institute runs both an undergraduate and M.A. important role in bringing together Asian cinematic Kong; and liaising with the media and business program. Our colleagues collectively cover the entire art, multidisciplinary artists from around the world, community. It works closely with the Canadian Asia region, bridging work on South Asia, Southeast and the GTA community. The Toronto Reel Asian offi ces of public bodies such as the Hong Kong Trade Asia, Central and Inner Asia and Northeast Asia. A International Film Festival will take place from Development Council and Hong Kong Tourism Board recent recipient of a University Academic Initiative November 14 to 18, 2007. in promoting Hong Kong overseas. Fund grant, the Asian Institute looks to build deeper linkages among faculty and students, and between Now accepting fi lm and video submissions! Please The Offi ce provides a comprehensive range of the university and off -campus communities. visit www.reelasian.com to submit. information on Hong Kong through speaking engagements, business workshops, seminars, For more information, contact 416-703-9333. newsletters, web site and inquiry service, helps make arrangements for important visitors in both directions, and organizes various activities to promote Hong Kong, including cultural and educational exchanges. It also facilitates Canadian investors who wish to seek business opportunities in Hong Kong and through Hong Kong in China.

6 7 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto The fi ve shorts selected for From the Queen to the Chief Executive: Hong Kong Films have been the life blood of Hong Hong’s intense urban culture. A Films 10 Years After the Handover are directed by Chinese-Canadians of Hong popular cinema of action, adventure and unabashed sentiment, Hong Kong descent, and deal with experiences of immigration and integra- Kong’s fi lmmaking represents a unique paradox. It is commercially tion. Little Chinese-Canadian Jaime Lo has to cope with a missing driven, and export-centered, yet the fi lmmakers are passionately father who is working in Hong Kong. Like Jaime Lo, McDull’s father is committed to Hong Kong’s stories and to catching the character of the also missing from his life, and he is also using his creativity to cope. city itself – its elegant and rough neighbourhoods, its hard-edged street glare and gritty alleys, the staccato rhythms and its intense urban The housewife in Eastbound sits alone in her well decorated house romance. expecting her husband’s long distance call daily at 3:00 sharp. The strongly challenged female protagonists in Eastbound and Lost in Time Hong Kong’s cinema experienced reversals before and after the crucial both have to make diffi cult choices to redefi ne the common perception political year of the 1997 handover to China. Video pirating, the Asian A note of womanhood. The Missing Chinese Men Syndrome so evident in the Introduction economic crisis, investor fl ight, Hollywood market aggression – all Chinese-Canadian immigrant community is fully refl ected in the Chi- contributed to reducing the number of fi lms produced in the peak From the nese-Canadian fi lmmakers’ works. From the years, as many as 200, to just sixty fi lms in 2005. These numbers, though, disguise a mixed story. Key elements of Hong Kong’s fi lm style Integration is the next challenge after immigration. The yearning to fi t Short Films Organizing – its balletic action, razor-sharp crime stories, and feminine glamour – in and be treated as equal may start early, as little Winston discovers in are redefi ning the look and pace of international cinema from Paris to Curator, Asthma Tech, or stretch into adulthood, as in Banana Bruises. It dates back Committee Hollywood. And Hong Kong fi lms may be fewer now, the best of them as early as the 1900s when the fi rst wave of Asians migrated to North Alice Shih are tauter, more thought out, more political alert, refl ecting the new America as documented in My Matsura. nimble production companies that are facing Hong Kong cinema’s The protagonists of One Nite in Mongkok and Asthma Tech are alienated challenging situation squarely. from their outside world. One, resorting to violence descends; the In our sample, the crime thriller One Nite in Mongkok, the melodramas other transcends with imagination, inspiration and acceptance. The Isabella and Lost In Time, the searing social drama From The Queen To The fi ctional Dumplings may be scary, but the biased racial mindset in Banana Chief Executive and intimate variations on horror cinema, represented by Bruises produces real-life horrors. My Matsura breaks new ground in the Dumplings, and the animation artistry of McDull – these fi lms represent a genre of experimental documentary, complementing Heavenly Kings, very high level of fi lmmaking. They indicate why hopeful rumours of a one of the fi rst mockumentaries in Hong Kong. Organizing Hong Kong fi lm renaissance circulate every year since 2000. Hong Kong Our fi lmmakers’ stories may be uniquely Canadian, but their senti- Committee fi lmmakers have a long habit of shaking off adversity and moving on. ment is universal. The movies in our program show that a scaled down Hong Kong cinema Elic Chan has not dulled its intense excitement or blunted its makers’ Enjoy the diversity in genre, and celebrate the artistic vision of our Elison Chu imaginations. Chinese-Canadian talents. Colin Geddes Ida Koh Cheers! Eileen Lam ALICE SHIH is a Toronto fi lm journalist and board member of the Reel Sarah Lang Asian Film International Festival. Her fi lm criticism can be heard on Ito Peng Fairchild Radio, the national Chinese radio broadcaster in Canada. She Alice Shih has contributed articles to CineAction and POV magazines. Bart Testa Doug Waters

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12 13 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto Isabella 伊莎貝拉 (2006) Hong Kong Film Director: Ho-Cheung Pang 彭浩翔 Screenwriters: Ho-Cheung Pang, Karen Pang, Derek Song and Jimmy Wan Cast: Chapman To, Festival OPENING Isabella Leong, J.J. Jia Derek Tsang, Meme Tan, Anthony Wong, Shawn Yue, Josie Ho, Jim Chim 杜汶澤, 梁洛施 90 minutes NIGHT PARTY In the summer of 1999, Macau is about to be returned by Portugal to China. A bachelor policeman, Shing (Chapman To) faces suspension After Isabella, continue the evening and celebration at for cigarette smuggling. He knows that he is the fall guy for the whole The Munk Centre – South House, 1 Devonshire Place set-up and fi nds himself gun-less, badge-less and at loose ends. So, (between Hoskin and Bloor Street West) Shing does what he has done all his life, he hits the bars. There he fi nds a young woman, Yan, (Isabella Leong) but she provides a very • fi nish the evening with some fun diff erent encounter than Shing expected. Yan is the daughter that • chat over cocktails & hors d’oeuvres he never knew he had. Her recently deceased mother was his teen love • chill to live jazz and after they split, after what was supposed to have been an abortion, • meet and mingle with fellow Hong Kong cinema lovers they never spoke and now Shing discovers an unknown past. Gruff as he may be toward her when she insists on moving into his place, Yan off ers him a future that he never imagined. This beautifully 10:00 pm Friday, May 4 shot (by Charlie Lam) and elliptically edited (Wenders Li) drama is $15 with opening night fi lm • $10 at door an intently emotional meditation on loss and recovery set in Macau, Hong Kong’s tropical entertainment adjunct about to set upon its own adventure into a fresh future. Evening generously sponsored by Koo & Co and Duffl et

Ho-Cheung Pang is a novelist, screenwriter and director. He has written over a dozen novels, including the bestseller, Full Time Killer. In addition to Isabella, Ho-Cheung Pang’s extensive writing and directing credits include A.V. (2005), Beyond Our Ken (2003), Men Suddenly in Black (2003) and You Shoot, I Shoot (2001).

friday, may 4 royal ontario museum theatre 100 queen’s park 14 7:40 pm – 9:10 pm

Jaime Lo, My Life As McDull Banana Dumplings Small and 麥兜故事 (2001) Bruises 餃子 (2004) Shy (2006) Director: Toe Yuen 袁建滔 Screenwriter: Brian Tse 香蕉戀 Director: Fruit Chan 陳果 Screenwriter: Lilian Lee Producer Music Editor (2006) Producer Cast By: Lillian Chan 陳勵瑩 : Brian Tse : Steve Ho : Teo Yuen : Peter Chan Ho-Sun : Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah, Bai Ling, By: Joyce Wong 王加琦 8 minutes Cast: Lee Chun-wai (child McDull), Jan Lamb (adult McDull), Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Miki Yeung Oi-Gan 楊千嬅, 白靈, 梁家輝 12 minutes Sandra Ng, Antony Wong, The Pancakes 李晉緯, 林海峰, 吳君如 91 minutes Jaime Lo is a small and shy Chinese- 75 minutes Chole, a Chinese-Canadian girl, Canadian girl. She misses her Dumplings is the ninety-minute expansion of director Fruit Chan’s forty- has had her eye on her shy and father, who works in Hong Kong in Surprise winner of the FIPRESCI prize at the 26th Hong Kong minute segment of producer Peter Chan’s omnibus Three… Extremes. quiet Caucasian classmate, order to support their family. International Film Festival (2002), the animated feature My Life As Matthew, since they were kids. Ching (Miriam Yeung), a fading middle-aged woman, once a Hong When patience runs out, Jaime McDull is a post-1997 adaptation of a series of comic books conceived by Now that they are consenting Kong TV star, settles herself at the apartment of Mei (Bai Ling), a very must cope with his absence with Alice Mak and Brian Tse in the early 90s. In voiceover, the grown adults, would he consider a ‘special’ strange and voluble woman who boasts to Ching about her expensive her creativity. Funny how a little McDull, a piglet in a world populated by both cute animals and intimate encounter? Banana Bruises dumplings. Ching is not, however, merely sitting down to a very brain works to sustain hope – humans, takes us through a series of set pieces involving his birth, is a satire on inter-racial intimacy exclusive lunch. Semitransparent on the outside and alarmingly maybe it’s something all grownups education, and training as would-be Olympian – with excursions to his with a horrifi c twist in the very last pinkish within, it is not the dumplings’ taste that Ching is after, but should learn. mother’s TV cooking show and the Maldives. Musical accompaniment line of the story. Mei’s promises that they will transform a middle-aged woman into a is provided by a series of adorably jovial nonsense songs set to goddess bursting with sexually-appealing youth. Fruit Chan applies a ruminatively elegiac classical piano pieces by Schubert and Schumann. deliberate style to Lilian (Farewell My Concubine) Lee’s script but wastes McDull is funny and aff ectionately satirical. Its surface cuteness little time revealing Mei’s mystery meat. The fi lm takes an attitude of sweetens an acidic core. The fi lm comically identifi es the pressures and cruel indiff erence closer to Luis Buñuel’s surrealism than horror movie contradictions of growing up in Hong Kong. The fi lm is intensely local shock tactics. The juxtaposition of the beautiful and disgusting is in its play with Cantonese slang and cultural in-jokes. The hand-drawn refracted in Christopher Doyle’s cinematography and growing radiance animation is weaved with computerized graphical re-creations of Hong of Miriam Yeung’s skin. Dumplings is almost otherworldly in its beauty Kong sites (including Tai Kok Tsui, Cheung Chau Island, The Peak). The but beneath that surface lies ultimate disgust and horror. This fi lm is theme of McDull reaches beyond the constraints of locality, however, an extreme examination of women’s obsession with youth and beauty Animation and Comics Panel and is pleasing to international audiences of all ages. Horror Panel > > in a gender-biased society. to follow to follow Toe Yuen attended the Department of Communications at Baptist (see page 22) (see page 22) Fruit Chan was born in China, but raised, since the age of ten, and College, obtaining a major in Film. He is a comic book editor, script- educated in Hong Kong, Fruit Chan is a graduate of the Hong Kong Film writer, special effects and computer animator and a toy and fi gure Centre. Fruit Chan’s directing credits include the highly acclaimed series designer. Other directing credits include the animation shorts, of three fi lms on the handover to China, Made in Hong Kong, The Longest Explanations (1995) and Foulball (1996). My Life as McDull is Toe Yuen’s fi rst Summer, and Little Cheung. In 2000, he made Durian Durian, which was animated feature fi lm. awarded the best script award at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Best saturday, may 5 saturday, may 5 Film from the Hong Kong fi lm critics. innis town hall, innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue 2 sussex avenue 10:00 am – 11:25 am 16 2:30 pm – 4:15 pm 17 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto Eastbound Lost in Time Asthma Tech One Nite in Mongkok 東邊西邊 忘不了 (2003) (2006) 旺角黑 夜 (2004) By: Jonathan Ng 吳家昕 Director: Derek Yee Tung See 爾冬陞 Screenplay: James Yuen, Director and Screenwriter: Derek Yee 爾冬陞 (2004) 7 minutes Jessica Fong Producers: Tiffany Chen, Henry Fong Second Unit (Action) Director: Luk Kim-Ming Producers: Alvin Lam By 謝祝校 : Rita Tse Cast: Cecilia Cheung, Lau Ching-wan, Daichi Harashima, Trying to fi t in has always been a and Henry Fong Cast: Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung, Alex Fong, Kar Lok Chin, 15.5 minutes Louis Koo, Chin Pei 張柏芝, 劉青雲 challenge for immigrants, Ken Wong, Lam Suet, Eddie Pang 吳彥祖, 張柏芝, 方中信 109 minutes 110 minutes “Women without knowledge are especially when you are a visible 女子無才便是德 minority. Little Winston’s graced by virtue ( )” – Cecilia Cheung won the Hong Kong Film Award for best actress for her Derek Yee won the 2004 Hong Kong Film Awards for best direction and challenges were even greater, since ancient Chinese Proverb. Is this role as Siu Wai in director Derek Yee’s Lost in Time. The story begins with screenplay with this crime thriller set in the densely populated and his chronic Asthma holds him back still true in the 2000s? The parallel Siu’s Wai’s fi ancé’s death in a mini-bus accident. Despite her family’s notorious Hong Kong neighborhood Mongkok. Police struggle to from fi tting in with his peers. He juxtaposition of a modern-day disapproval, Siu Wai’s takes on responsibility of his fi ve-year-old son prevent a gangland murder planned after a tense standoff between delves into his own creative mind unfulfi lled housewife alongside Lok Lok (Daichi Harashima). Her fi ancé was a driver and Siu decides to rival crime lords Tim and Carl, over the death of Tim’s son in a car and Asthma Tech, comic superhero, the Chinese silent movie superstar, have his bus repaired (it’s where they met) and to resume his route. Her accident caused by one of Carl’s fl unkies. A sleazy murder broker comes to his rescue. Ruan Ling-yu, seems to show they struggle is not easy in this a romantic melodrama, which never leaves arranges for a hit man to murder Carl. But this is not your traditional have a lot in common. Eastbound is much room for whimsy. Her only ally is Dai Fai (Lau Ching-Wan), her hit man; upon his arrival, the contract killer reveals himself to be a a well composed fi lm exploring the lover’s friend and colleague. Their journey of struggle and despair earn bespeckled neophyte mainlander Lai Fu (Daniel Wu) who does not position of women in modern-day them new insights about love, hope and their innermost desires. This know his way around. He hooks up with a prostitute (Cecilia Cheung) society. is not your traditional boy meets girl romantic narrative, but an honest after saving her from a violent customer only to discover that they are examination of human relationships in modern society. Critics have from the same mainland village. With her help, Lai tries to contact his agreed that Lost in Time is the best romantic drama to appear in Hong broker to locate the target. Meanwhile, Offi cer Milo (Alex Fong) races Kong in years. to prevent the bloodbath he knows will result from the hit. One Nite in Mongkok is at once a highly wrought genre movie and a carefully woven Derek Yee began acting after graduating from high school, and has tour of the neighborhood’s streets and alleys. Critics have recognized appeared in over forty movies. Lee’s directorial debut occurred in 1986 the fi lm as an ambitious and thematically complex commercial movie, with The Lunatics. Directing credits include C’est la vie, mon chéri, Viva off ering much more than its crime story premise seemingly suggests. Erotica, The Truth About Jane and Sam, Full Throttle and Drink-Drank-Drunk. Derek Yee began acting after graduating from high school, and has appeared in over forty movies. Lee’s directorial debut occurred in 1986 with The Lunatics. Directing credits include C’est la vie, mon chéri, Viva Erotica, The Truth About Jane and Sam, Full Throttle and Drink-Drank-Drunk.

saturday, may 5 saturday, may 5 innis town hall, innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue 2 sussex avenue 6:30 pm – 8:35 pm 18 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm 19 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto The prisoners’ family members fear My Matsura The Heavenly Kings From the Queen to the public exposure, people on the street Chief Executive are indiff erent, a prison offi cial 我的松郎 四大天王 (2006) suggests the detainees deserve no Director: Daniel Wu 吳彥祖 Producer: Daniel Wu, Andrew Lin Hoi, 等候董建華發落 (2001) reprieve, politicians see little voter (2006) Terence Yin, Conroy Chan Chi-Chung Cast: Daniel Wu, Andrew Lin Hoi, enthusiasm for a gang of prisoners Director: Herman Yau 邱禮濤 Screenwriter: Elsa Chan who committed violent crimes. By: Lesley Chan 陳樂施 Terence Yin, Conroy Chan Chi-Chung 吳彥祖, 連凱, 尹子維, 陳子聰 Producers Cast 83 minutes : Charles Heung, Nam Yin : David Li Sheung-man, 6.5 minutes The story is harsh and engaging, Ai-Jing, Stephan Tang Shu-wing, Sam Wong Cham-sum, and its treatment realistic and Pioneer photographer Frank The Heavenly Kings is part fact, part fi ction, part animated, and all of it is Alison Wong Ting-ping, Cara Chu Chi-yee 李尚文, 艾敬, 鄧樹榮 without resorting to melodrama. Matsura came to Concully, very funny. The focus of this ‘mocumentary’ is the Hong Kong boy band 110 minutes Washington from Japan in 1903. He Alive, which debuted in 2005. The B-list actors who make up the group, Director Herman Yau’s social drama is situated in the context of the Herman Yau graduated from fi lm worked as a kitchen helper during Daniel Wu, Terence Yin, Andrew Lin, and Conroy Chan, cannot sing, 1997 transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China. Based on Elsa Chan’s studies at Hong Kong Baptist the day and developed his negatives dance, or play instruments. They have yet to release an album. This book reporting real events, the fi lm begins six months before the College in 1984. Since then, he has at the kitchen sink at night. His fi lm is the story of their attempt to rise into Cantopop stardom. Shot- handover. The fi lm examines the treatment of Hong Kong prisoners worked as a writer, director, story is captured onto negatives on-digital-video, the fi lm asks how a talent-deprived group of amateurs detained at ‘the Chief Executive’s discretion,’ the incarceration for cinematographer and producer in and retouched in this lyrical makes it in the Hong Kong music market. The answer: manipulation juvenile off enders without fi xed-length terms. These terms of Hong Kong. He has been involved experimental documentary. of the mass media and use of technology. By auto-tuning their off -key detention last longer than those given to adults convicted for similar 70 voices to falsely claim that they were victims of piracy, the singer wan- in over movies and his lead crimes. The story serves as a refl ection of Hong Kongers’ political nabes rise to popularity through non-conventional means. directorship includes The Untold uncertainty prior to the transition. Story, The Untold Story III, War of the The Heavenly Kings follows Alive in their journey towards stardom, and Under World, Walk In, Ebola Syndrome, A college student, Cheung Yue-ling (Ai-jing), visits a prison to meet an shows actual events including the initial press conference, their product Master Q 2001, From the Queen to the inmate with whom she has been exchanging letters. The prisoner, endorsements and public performances as well as developing fi ctional sto- Chief Executive and the thriller series Cheung Yau-ming (David Lee), had written an essay which bested hers rylines about the members’ tumultuous relationships. The fi lm is a social of Troublesome Night. commentary on media, culture, and Hong Kong’s dysfunctional music in an Open University writing competition. Yue-ling asks the young industry. The actors’ social experiment is interspersed with many talking man when he will be released; he has no answer. head interviews with top artists in the industry like Jacky Cheung, Paul As a juvenile off ender in a 1985 criminal case, Cheung has been Hong Kong Industry Panel Wong of Beyond, Nicholas Tse, Miriam Yeung, Candy Lo, Karen Mok, and > detained indefi nitely. Along with other juvenile off enders, he is to follow others. Wu’s honest and original attempt may seem childish at times, but seeking determined sentencing before the British colonial government (see page 22) there is enough sympathy here to keep The Heavenly Kings from turning sour. is replaced. Yue-ling (a fi ctional character) takes up the cause before the public, helping to assemble the prisoners’ families, holding Daniel Wu was born and raised in the U.S. and obtained a degree in protests and sit-ins to gain a last minute legislative review. Opinion architecture in San Francisco. He subsequently began modeling in Hong is divided. Kong, then acting, producing, writing and directing. Acting credits include Young and Dangerous, The Prequel, Headlines, Cop on a Mission, and sunday, may 6 sunday, may 6 Love Undercover. The Heavenly Kings is his directorial debut. innis town hall, innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue 2 sussex avenue 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm 20 21 hong kong film festival 2007 – university4:00 pm – of 5:50 toronto pm Panels 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Keynote Conversation Golden Network Asia Ltd. Poshek Fu Unit 2205, Futura Plaza (University of Illinois 111-113 How Ming St, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong at Urbana-Champaign) t: 852-27511886 f: 852-27504862 Friday, May 4 Leung Ping-Kwan Golden Scene Co., Ltd. Royal Ontario Museum Theatre, (Lingnan University, 100 Queen’s Park Hong Kong) 15B Astoria Bldg., 34 Ashley Rd., TST, Hong Kong Moderator: t: 852-22659999 f: 852-23020938 7:30 pm – 7:40 pm Welcoming Remarks Joseph Wong Maple Pictures Joseph Wong (Asian Institute) (Asian Institute) Print 2 Bloor Street West Suite 1001 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm Toronto, Ontario, m4w 2e2 Canada Bassanio So Horror Panel Distributors t: 416-944-0104 f: 416-944-9626 (Hong Kong Economic Panelists: and Trade Offi ce (Canada)) Suzie Young Media Asia Entertainment Group mc: Linda Tse (York University) 24 (Fairchild TV Film News /F Causeway Bay Plaza II Reporter) Bart Testa 463-483 Lockhart Rd., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (University of Toronto) t: 852-23144288 f: 852-23144248

9:10 pm – 9:30 pm Q & A Moderator: Long Shong Group mc: Linda Tse Jason Anderson #155-4871 bc v6c 3z6 (Fairchild TV Film News (Film Critic) Shell Road, Richmond, , Canada Reporter) t: 604-231-1668 f: 604-231-1669

Sunday, May 6 Saturday, May 5 Innis Town Hall, Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue 2 Sussex Avenue 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Hong Kong 11:35 am – 12:35 pm Animation and Comics Panel Film Industry Panel

Panelists: Panelists:

Wendy Wong Peter Rist (York University) (Concordia University)

Chris Landreth Raymond Chow (Academy Award (Journalist and Winning Animator) Media Specialist)

Moderator: Moderator:

Elic Chan Colin Geddes (University of Toronto) (Ultra 8 Pictures)

22 23 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto CHRIS LANDRETH is an Academy Award Winning SUZIE YOUNG is a fi lm professor and director of the RAYMOND CHOW is the founding member and Participants Animator. His 2004 fi lm Ryan won the Oscar for Best Graduate Program in Film at York University. Origi- former editor of Film Bi-Weekly in Hong Kong (the Animated Short Film. Landreth received his MS nally from Hong Kong, she specializes in Asian cin- preeminent fi lm magazine helped to launch and pro- in order of appearance degree in Theatrical and Applied Mechanics in 1986 ema, the horror genre and feminism and popular mote the careers of Hong Kong New Wave fi lm direc- JOSEPH WONG has been director of the Asian Insti- at the University of Illinois and worked in fl uid culture. Her essay on David Cronenberg, Trauma and tors). Mr. Chow is a veteran fi lm critic and freelance tute at the Munk Centre (University of Toronto) since mechanics research before stepping into the world Nation Made Flesh appears in the recent anthology journalist working for Chinese media in Toronto. 2005. He is Associate Professor of Political Science and of computer animation. He tested computer graphics Shocking Representation (2005). COLIN GEDDES is a Toronto freelance fi lm archivist, holds a Canada Research Chair. Professor Wong is the software products including programs at Toronto’s BART TESTA teaches Cinema Studies at University programmer, journalist and consultant for fi lm, tele- author of Healthy Democracies: Welfare Politics in Taiwan Alias (Formerly Alias/Wavefront). This led him to his of Toronto and is the author of two books, Spirit in the vision, and DVD. He programs the Midnight Mad- and South Korea (2004). He is the author of numerous own productions, The End, The Listener and Bingo (1997), Landscape (1989) and Back and Forth: Early Cinema and the ness selection at the Toronto International Film Festi- articles in political science and Asian study journals which was nominated Avant-Garde (1993) and co-edited Pier Paolo Pasolini (1995) val and organized the long-running Kung Fu Fridays and is currently editing a volume on comparative for an Academy Award. and Bruce Mau’s Life Style (2000). His essays have fi lm series and has served as an advisor to many fi lm democratic transformations and writing a book on ELIC CHAN is a doctoral student in the Department appeared in journals and anthologies, including a festivals, including the Reel Asian International Film biotechnology development strategies in Asia. of Sociology. He received his Hon. B.Sc. in Biology recent essay on David Cronenberg’s M.Butterfly in Festival. Geddes also runs an independent distribu- BASSANIO SO CHEK-LEUNG is Director of the and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Toronto. Visions of the East (2006). tion company, Ultra 8 Pictures, which has released A Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offi ce. Mr. So has His research areas are race and ethnicity, Chinese Tale of Two Sisters, Bubba Ho-Tep, The Revolution Will not Be JASON ANDERSON is a fi lm critic for Eye Weekly in worked in various Government branches and depart- Canadians, immigration, religion, culture and Televised, and David Lynch’s Inland Empire in Canadian Toronto and writes about music and movies for The ments, notably as Principal Assistant Secretary in the media. His current work examines the portrayal of theatres. Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Cinema Scope and the CBC’s Constitutional Aff airs Bureau for fi ve years where he Chinese identities in Hong Kong Films before and arts online magazine. He won a Western Magazine was responsible for constitutional development in after 1997. Award in 2006 for his music columns for Swerve maga- Hong Kong. Before his government service, Mr. So POSHEK FU is Professor of History and Cinema zine in Calgary. He published his fi rst novel, Showbiz, worked in the private sector. Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- in 2005 and plays in a loud band called the Two LINDA TSE is a Film News Reporter with paign. He has authored and edited fi ve books includ- Koreas. Fairchild TV. ing Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese PETER RIST is Professor of Film Studies in the Mel Cinema (2003) and The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, WENDY SUIYI WONG chairs the Department of Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Corncordia Univer- Identity (2000). He edits the book series Politics and Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, at York University. She sity in Montreal. He has published South American Cin- Popular Cultures in Asia Pacifi c published by the Uni- is the author of Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua ema: a Critical Filmography (1996) and Guide to Cinema(s) of versity of Illinois Press. (2002) and four books for Chinese readers as well as Canada (2001) as well as many journal articles. numerous scholarly and trade articles. She has LEUNG PING-KWAN is a poet, fi lm and literary taught in the US and Hong Kong and been visiting critic and a pioneering bibliographer on Hong Kong scholar at Harvard University and the Lubalin Curato- literature and fi lms. His publications include the rial Fellow at Cooper Union (in 2000). She is a recipi- poetry collections City at the End of Time (1997) and Trav- ent of the Asian Cultural Council Grant. eling with Bitter Melon (2002). His fi lm writing includes Urban Cinema and the Cultural Identity of Hong Kong in Poshek Fu’s The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Iden- tity (2000). He is department chair and professor of Comparative Literature at Lignan University in Hong Kong. Leung is also a long-time collaborator with visual artists. His collaborative work includes Food- scape (1997).

24 25 hong kong film festival 2007 – university of toronto The University Of Toronto

Cinema Studies Institute

Dr. David Chu Distinguished Leaders Program

Faculty of Arts and Science

Munk Centre for International Studies

Richard Charles Lee Canada Hong Kong Library DUFFLET PASTRIES proudly supports Thank you Bowne Long Shong Group the Hong Kong Film Festival at the University of Toronto CY Food Industries Inc. is proud to supply prints to the donderdag University of Toronto’s fi rst Hong www.dufflet.com retail dufflet.com Holiday Inn Midtown @ Kong Film Festival 787 QUEEN STREET WEST (416) 504- 2870 Koo & Co MON– SAT: 10 AM –7 PM, SUN: 12 PM – 6 PM

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Adam Linthwaite Eyan Logan festival Jay Qin photographer Judy Seto www.nicolettjakab.com Stephen Sui (416) 720-2187 Aram Siu Wai Collier

We were unable to include everyone who has helped and contributed to the fi lm festival when this went to press. A special thank you to those of you whose names were regretfully omitted.

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