DOCSLIB.ORG

Made in Hong Kong

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Made in Hong Kong FRUIT CHAN’S Made in Hong Kong Esther M. K. Cheung Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.org © 2009 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-962-209-977-7 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. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Pre-Press Ltd. in Hong Kong, China Table of Contents Series Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii 1 Introduction: History beyond the Death Trips 1 2 Authenticity and Independence: Fruit Chan and 21 Independent Filmmaking 3 There Are Many Ways to Be Realistic 39 4 The Art of Détournement 53 5 In Search of the Ghostly in Context 79 6 In Search of the Ghostly in Urban Spaces 101 7 Epilogue: Grassrooting Cinematic Practices 125 ● viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Appendix 1: Interview with Fruit Chan 129 Appendix 2: Funding Sources and Awards 145 Notes 151 Credits 167 Bibliography 171 ●1 Introduction: History beyond the Death Trips The imagination is always at the end of an era. — Frank Kermode1 A typical story of disaffected youth and the morbid trips they take, Made in Hong Kong (1997) narrates the tale of four youngsters coming from the lower sector of Hong Kong society. Moon (Zhongqiu/Chung-chau), Ping (Ping/Ping), Sylvester (Long/Lung), and Susan (Shan/San) are all subject to the cruel realities of life in a big city.2 Like many Hong Kong lower-class inhabitants, they reside in the public housing estates known for their dismal living conditions. Moon and Ping both grow up in families where irresponsible fathers have run away from home. Their mothers are neither courageous nor enduring. Sylvester, a mentally handicapped young man who is abandoned by his family and society, befriends Moon and Ping. The school girl Susan cannot bear the disillusionment which results from her failed romantic relationship ● 2 FRUIT CHAN’S MADE IN HONG KONG with her teacher who shirks the responsibility of admitting their relationship, and commits suicide by jumping off the roof of a Hong Kong high-rise building. After Sylvester has picked up Susan’s dead letters and has given them to Moon, the latter seems to be possessed and erotically aroused by Susan’s ghost night after night. Ever since then, their deadly destinies are tied together. Sylvester ends up being killed by gangsters, Ping dies of an incurable kidney disease, and Moon commits suicide at the end of the film. Now often hailed as a story about grassroots people by a “grassroots director,” Made in Hong Kong excited both local viewers and international spectators as Fruit Chan’s powerful independent debut in an eventful year.3 In the history of world cinema, the disaffected youth is a well-recognized trope to refer to symptoms of the problems of contemporary cities. An effective figure in the tradition of social realism, this character suffers from urban alienation, economic inequality, the feeling of loss, and disorientation when one is coming of age as well as the predicament of being abandoned in the adult world. Like other films in this tradition, Made in Hong Kong is an indictment of a society where youth express their urban angst and disillusionment. While the “cruel tragedies of youth” are fundamental to any big city, they always embody local specificities.4 The youngsters’ death trips allegorize the concluding chapter of British colonial history in Hong Kong. Chan once said that their deaths signified the need to turn over a new leaf when Hong Kong re-entered China’s political and cultural realities.5 It is this allegorical reference to the 1997 handover that places the film in the category of “New Hong Kong Cinema.”6 The 1997 handover, as Walter Benjamin would have called it, is a “moment of danger” when filmic images “[flash] up at the instant when it can be recognized.”7 The trope of the disaffected youth merges the general condition of urban alienation with specific symptoms of a society at a historical moment of drastic transition. Its coming-of-age theme at “a moment of danger” INTRODUCTION ●3 embodies the common impetus among many filmmakers of the New Hong Kong Cinema to narrate their stories of growing up. Chan’s passionate engagement with Hong Kong as a locality adds an indispensable dimension to this tale of disenchanted youth. When it emerged in 1997, Made in Hong Kong was initially denied formal entry into the Hong Kong International Film Festival. With the help of distributors like Shu Kei and Daniel Yu Wai-kwok, it was later screened in Hong Kong and circulated in many international festivals. The film then went on to win numerous awards, including Locarno’s Special Jury Prize (Switzerland), Gijon’s Grand Prix (Spain), Nantes’s Grand Prix (France), and Best Film and Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It signals an important turn in the history of Hong Kong cinema and in Chan’s own career, as a landmark of “independent filmmaking.” There is no doubt that alternative and experimental filmmaking had existed in Hong Kong for a long time before the emergence of Made in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, Chan’s own forthright assertion of the film as an “independent” production inspired a number of similar endeavors in that direction.8 The revival in independent filmmaking in the late 1990s in Hong Kong was also in constant interaction with the so-called Sixth/Urban Generation of filmmakers in the People’s Republic of China. Some critics suggest that Chan shifted back to the mainstream with Hollywood Hong Kong (2001) and Dumplings (2004), but it is not an uncommon practice for filmmakers to have parallel developments in both mainstream and independent filmmaking. His short film named Xi’an Story (2006) was sponsored by a mainland Chinese media company with the aim of providing entertainment for mobile-phone users. It has never been available in Hong Kong commercial cinemas and was only circulated through the international festival circuit.9 Chan’s constant cross-over between the mainstream and the independent cinemas has sparked public discussions concerning the relation between cinema and its publics. Analyzing his explosive ● 4 FRUIT CHAN’S MADE IN HONG KONG independent debut of Made in Hong Kong, we can explore how cinema functions as a form of public criticism. Apart from being both art and industry, cinema is defined by specific relations of representation and reception in what Miriam Hansen calls the “social horizon of experience” grounded in “the context of living.”10 While the title of the film undoubtedly connotes a sense of place which is most local, the cultural issues it evokes are best understood within the context of globalization.11 The interest lies in the film’s double-coded meaning of the specific and the universal, and the ways in which it was received and circulated across geo-political boundaries. Observation of the global-local connection textually and contextually provides us with greater understanding of the deterritorialized structures of public life in our contemporary world. In such instances, we can witness the pressure of the grassroots and the insertion of personal meaning by social actors in the vast, fluid, and anonymous global space of flows. In this process of what Manuel Castells would call “the grassrooting [of] the space of flows,” Chan’s cinematic practices enrich our public culture by his constant efforts to bring about the contestation of public opinion.12 Made in Hong Kong and New Hong Kong Cinema The making of the film On various occasions, Chan claimed that the film was made to launch a revolution. He spoke with revolutionary rhetoric as a filmmaker who had worked in the film industry for more than ten years. Chan was born in Guangzhou, China in 1959, and moved to Hong Kong at the age of ten. Chan studied filmmaking at the Hong Kong Film Culture Centre set up by Tsui Hark, Ann Hui, Yim Ho, and others, and worked as an assistant director in the industry for many years. Before his independent debut, he had the opportunity INTRODUCTION ●5 to make two mainstream features. While Finale in Blood (produced in 1991 and released in 1993) turned out to be a box-office failure, Five Lonely Hearts (1991) has never been screened in Hong Kong. In the mid-1990s when the Hong Kong film industry sank into a slump, Chan was frustrated by his inability to get industrial sponsorship for his film. He then decided to go “independent” to make a film of immense significance at a historical moment of transition. Chan said that the film was intended to be revolutionary in both the context of Hong Kong history and its film history: I wanted to revolutionize my life. I had been working in the mainstream industry for a long time, but if I had continued conforming to its norms, I wouldn’t have shot Made in Hong Kong. Suddenly making an independent production is a revolution for each and every filmmaker in the mainstream. Moreover, the content of independent films usually subverts institutions and that’s revolutionary to me as well.13 The making of Made in Hong Kong does have a legendary story to tell. Throughout his years of toiling in the industry, he raised about half a million Hong Kong dollars and relied on a crew of only five people to accomplish his production.14 With Lam Wah-chuen and O Sing-pui as cinematographers, Chan directed and scripted the film.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Wendy Gan Hong Kong University Press the University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong
    Wendy Gan Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.org © 2005 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-962-209-743-8 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. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Pre-Press Limited in Hong Kong, China Contents Series Preface vii Acknowledgments xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Contexts: Independent Filmmaking and Hong Kong 11 Cinema 3 Contexts: Social Realism in Hong Kong Cinema 25 4 The Representation of the Mainland Chinese Woman 43 in Durian Durian 5 Durian Adrift: The Contiguities of Identity in Durian 59 Durian ● vi CONTENTS 6 The Prostitute Trilogy So Far 81 7 Conclusion 91 Notes 97 Filmography 103 Bibliography 107 ●1 Introduction Durian Durian is not the film one immediately thinks of when the name of Hong Kong film director Fruit Chan is brought up. The stunning success, both locally and internationally, of his low-budget debut as an independent director, Made in Hong Kong, has ensured that Chan’s reputation will always be tied to that film. Yet Durian Durian has much to offer the lover of Hong Kong cinema and the admirer of Fruit Chan’s work. A post-1997 film set both in Hong Kong and mainland China, with mainland Chinese protagonists, the film is a fine example of a Hong Kong tradition of socially sensitive realist films focused on the low-caste outsider, and is the result of a maturing director’s attempt to articulate the new, often still contradictory, realities of ‘one country, two systems’ in action.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2015 Annual Report 2015
    C h i na Air c ra f t L ea si n g G r o u p Ho l d i n gs Li mite d FULL VALUE-CHAIN AIRCRAFT SOLUTION PROVIDER www.calc.com.hk ANNUAL REPORT 2015 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 REPORT ANNUAL (Incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with limited liability) Stock code : 01848 ck.ng 04832_E01_IFC+Content_4C Time/date: 08-04-2016_06:18:53 China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited CALC AT A GLANCE 65 107 172 Aircraft fleet Aircraft on order with Aircraft in 2022 (as at 22 Mar 2016) Airbus (as at 22 Mar 2016) 3.5yrs 10yrs Over 20% Average fleet age Average remaining Market share of Airbus (as at 31 Dec 2015) lease term A320 series aircraft deliveries in China market in 2015 A constituent stock of the HK$23.9b 1st MSCI Listed aircraft lessor China Small Cap Total assets in Asia (as at 31 Dec 2015) Index A constituent stock of the Hang Seng Over 110 Global Composite Index Staff with 9 offices and the Hang Seng worldwide Composite Index 2 ck.ng 04832_E01_IFC+Content_4C Time/date: 08-04-2016_06:18:53 Annual Report 2015 CONTENTS 13 Company Profile 14 Financial Highlights and Five-Year Financial Summary 16 Major Achievements 18 Chairman Statement 21 Management Discussion and Analysis 29 Environmental, Social and Governance Report 49 Corporate Governance Report 59 Report of the Directors 74 Profile of the Directors and Senior Management 81 Independent Auditor's Report 83 Consolidated Balance Sheet 84 Consolidated Statement of Income 85 Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 86 Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity 88 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 89 Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements 163 Corporate Information 1 ck.ng 04832_E02_All Divider+company profile_4C Time/date: 08-04-2016_06:18:53 China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited LEADING THE WAY CALC is a pioneer and a market leader in China’s aircraft leasing industry.
    [Show full text]
  • Hong Kong 20 Ans / 20 Films Rétrospective 20 Septembre - 11 Octobre
    HONG KONG 20 ANS / 20 FILMS RÉTROSPECTIVE 20 SEPTEMBRE - 11 OCTOBRE À L’OCCASION DU 20e ANNIVERSAIRE DE LA RÉTROCESSION DE HONG KONG À LA CHINE CO-PRÉSENTÉ AVEC CREATE HONG KONG 36Infernal affairs CREATIVE VISIONS : HONG KONG CINEMA, 1997 – 2017 20 ANS DE CINÉMA À HONG KONG Avec la Cinémathèque, nous avons conçu une programmation destinée à célé- brer deux décennies de cinéma hongkongais. La période a connu un rétablis- sement économique et la consécration de plusieurs cinéastes dont la carrière est née durant les années 1990, sans compter la naissance d’une nouvelle génération d’auteurs. PERSISTANCE DE LA NOUVELLE VAGUE Notre sélection rend hommage à la créativité persistante des cinéastes de Hong Kong et au mariage improbable de deux tendances complémentaires : l’ambitieuse Nouvelle Vague artistique et le film d’action des années 1980. Bien qu’elle soit exclue de notre sélection, il est utile d’insister sur le fait que la production chinoise 20 ANS / FILMS KONG, HONG de cinéastes et de vedettes originaires de Hong Kong, tels que Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Stephen Chow et Tsui Hark, continue à caracoler en tête du box-office chinois. Les deux films Journey to the West avec Stephen Chow (le deuxième réalisé par Tsui Hark) et La Sirène (avec Stephen Chow également) ont connu un immense succès en République Populaire. Ils n’auraient pas été possibles sans l’œuvre antérieure de leurs auteurs, sans la souplesse formelle qui caractérise le cinéma de Hong Kong. L’histoire et l’avenir de l’industrie hongkongaise se lit clairement dans la carrière d’un pionnier de la Nouvelle Vague, Tsui Hark, qui a rodé son savoir-faire en matière d’effets spéciaux d’arts martiaux dans ses premières productions télévisuelles et cinématographiques à Hong Kong durant les années 70 et 80.
    [Show full text]
  • Johnnie to Kei-Fung's
    JOHNNIE TO KEI-FUNG’S PTU Michael Ingham Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.org © 2009 Michael Ingham ISBN 978-962-209-919-7 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. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Pre-Press Ltd. in Hong Kong, China Contents Series Preface vii Acknowledgements xi 1 Introducing the Film; Introducing Johnnie — 1 ‘One of Our Own’ 2 ‘Into the Perilous Night’ — Police and Gangsters 35 in the Hong Kong Mean Streets 3 ‘Expect the Unexpected’ — PTU’s Narrative and Aesthetics 65 4 The Coda: What’s the Story? — Morning Glory! 107 Notes 127 Appendix 131 Credits 143 Bibliography 147 ●1 Introducing the Film; Introducing Johnnie — ‘One of Our Own’ ‘It is not enough to think about Hong Kong cinema simply in terms of a tight commercial space occasionally opened up by individual talent, on the model of auteurs in Hollywood. The situation is both more interesting and more complicated.’ — Ackbar Abbas, Hong Kong Culture and the Politics of Disappearance ‘Yet many of Hong Kong’s most accomplished fi lms were made in the years after the 1993 downturn. Directors had become more sophisticated, and perhaps fi nancial desperation freed them to experiment … The golden age is over; like most local cinemas, Hong Kong’s will probably consist of a small annual output and a handful of fi lms of artistic interest.
    [Show full text]
  • Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies
    Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies On the Rooftop: A Study of Marginalized Youth Films in Hong Kong Cinema Xuelin ZHOU University of Auckland Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies. Vol. 8, No. 2 ⓒ 2008 Academy of East Asia Studies. pp.163-177 You may use content in the SJEAS back issues only for your personal, non-commercial use. Contents of each article do not represent opinions of SJEAS. Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies. Vol.8, No.2. � 2008 Academy of East Asian Studies. pp.163-177 On the Rooftop: A Study of Marginalized Youth Films in Hong Kong Cinema1 Xuelin ZHOU University of Auckland ABSTRACT Researchers of contemporary Hong Kong cinema have tended to concentrate on the monumental, metropolitan and/or historical works of such esteemed directors as Wong Kar-Wai, John Woo and Tsui Hark. This paper focuses instead on a number of low-budget films that circulated below the radar of Chinese as well as Western film scholars but were important to local young viewers, i.e. a cluster of films that feature deviant and marginalized youth as protagonists. They are very interesting as evidence of perceived social problems in contemporary Hong Kong. The paper aims to outline some main features of these marginalized youth films produced since the mid-1990s. Keywords: Hong Kong, cinema, youth culture, youth film, marginalized youth On the Rooftop A scene set on the rooftop of a skyscraper in central Hong Kong appears in New Police Story(2004), or Xin jingcha gushi, by the Hong Kong director Benny Chan, an action drama that features an aged local police officer struggling to fight a group of trouble-making, tech-savvy teenagers.2 The young people are using the rooftop for an “X-party,” an occasion for showing off their skills of skateboarding and cycling, by doing daredevil stunts along the edge of the building.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief Highlight of Stations Along the Alignment
    A brief highlight of stations along the alignment Diamond Hill Station and Depot New Diamond Station and depot facility located at previous Tai Hom Village Existing MTR Kwun Tong Line Approx. location of Kai Tak Station Hung Hom To Kwa Wan Kowloon City Approximate run of Shatin-Central Link Location of the Kai Tak Station of SCL Advance works for Kai Tak Development nearby the Kai Tak Station of SCL The urban environment of the nearby district Toward Ho Man Tin Station Kwun Tong Line Extension as a sub-network to the Shatin Central Link serving the Whampoa District The urban environment of the nearby district Satellite map showing the original layout of the site Homantin Station, which is an interchanging station for the SCL and KTE lines The land reserved for the Ho Man Tin Station (previous Valley Road Estate) before site formation Site formation for the Ho Man Tin Station Advance work for the Whampoa Station in early 2012 Phasing arrangement to convert Hung Hom Station into an interchanging station The International Mail Centre – to be relocated to Kowloon Bay due to part of the building foundations will be infringed by the SCL harbour crossing tunnel Future seawall of WC Reclamation zone Storing of explosive for drill-and-blast tunnel works The Tuen Mun Western Bypass and Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link To meet future traffic demand for the Northwest New Territories and Lantau, a plan to develop the Tuen Mun Western Bypass (9 km) and the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link (4 km in immersed-tube) at a cost of over $20 billion is proposed.
    [Show full text]
  • Wong Tai Sin Temple Is One of the !"#$%&'(')*!"#+ Famous Religious Places in Hong Kong !"#$%&'()
    !"#$%&'()* !"#$%&'() ========================== ! "#$%&' !"#$%&'()*+,-./ ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"#$%&'()*+,-.. " " " " " " " " # # # # # # !"#$%&'()*+,-. $ $ $ $ $ $ !"#$%&'(')*!"#+ % % % % % % ! & & & & & !"#$%&'() !"#$%&'()&* " ' & ' ' ' ' ! Wong Tai Sin Temple is one of the ' ( ( ( ( " ( ( ) ) ) famous religious places in Hong Kong # ) ) * * * $ ! * * + ) + + % " + + , * , , !"#$%&'()*+,-./ # , , - + - - !"#$%&"'() !*+ !"#$%&'()*+,-./ !"#$%&'()#*$%+, !"#$%&'()*+,-. !"#$%&'()*+,-./ VV !"# The old Wong= Tai Sin!"#$% Temple, 1930s Section 2 Wong Tai Sin Chapter 2 stablished in 1921, Sik Sik Yuen brought to this community a Eunique name: Wong Tai Sin. The worship of the god Wong Tai Sin has attracted a lot of disciples. Mr. Peter Lo from Sik Sik Yuen says that in the early days elderly people did not know the exact location. So they just told the bus drivers to stop at “Wong Tai Sin”. Soon “Wong Tai Sin” became the alternative name for this little village. Mr. Lo Suk Ching from the New Territories Association of Societies lived in Wong Tai Sin during his youth. He remembers that at that time, Wong Tai Sin was no different from Sai Kung. They were both country areas. The land from Wong Tai Sin to Kai Tak Airport was all farmland and there was neither electricity supply nor proper forms of transportation. Later, after the road to San Po Kong was finished, the traffic network was started, to link the area with the other regions of Kowloon. !"#$%&'( Industrial area in Wong Tai Sin, 1951 NMM !"#$%&'()* !"#$%&'()* !"#$^ !" !"#$%&'()*+,-./ !"#$%&'()*+,-.& !"#$%&'()*+,-./ !"#$%&'()$*+,)- !"#$%&'()*+,-./ !"#$%&'()* NMN !"#$%&' Tze Wan Shan, 1951 he postwar Wong Tai Sin was soon developed into a Section 2 T community of industries and public housing. The Star Industrial Co. Ltd., which manufactured the famous “Red A” brand plastic products, was the most famous plastic producer in the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Stephen Leung, who grew up with this Chapter 2 company, tells of the lives of the workers in the 1950s.
    [Show full text]
  • Warriors As the Feminised Other
    Warriors as the Feminised Other The study of male heroes in Chinese action cinema from 2000 to 2009 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese Studies at the University of Canterbury by Yunxiang Chen University of Canterbury 2011 i Abstract ―Flowery boys‖ (花样少年) – when this phrase is applied to attractive young men it is now often considered as a compliment. This research sets out to study the feminisation phenomena in the representation of warriors in Chinese language films from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China made in the first decade of the new millennium (2000-2009), as these three regions are now often packaged together as a pan-unity of the Chinese cultural realm. The foci of this study are on the investigations of the warriors as the feminised Other from two aspects: their bodies as spectacles and the manifestation of feminine characteristics in the male warriors. This study aims to detect what lies underneath the beautiful masquerade of the warriors as the Other through comprehensive analyses of the representations of feminised warriors and comparison with their female counterparts. It aims to test the hypothesis that gender identities are inventory categories transformed by and with changing historical context. Simultaneously, it is a project to study how Chinese traditional values and postmodern metrosexual culture interacted to formulate Chinese contemporary masculinity. It is also a project to search for a cultural nationalism presented in these films with the examination of gender politics hidden in these feminisation phenomena. With Laura Mulvey‘s theory of the gaze as a starting point, this research reconsiders the power relationship between the viewing subject and the spectacle to study the possibility of multiple gaze as well as the power of spectacle.
    [Show full text]
  • Award-Winning Hong Kong Film Gallants to Premiere at Hong Kong
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Award-winning Hong Kong film Gallants to premiere at Hong Kong Film Festival 2011 in Singapore One-week festival to feature a total of 10 titles including four new and four iconic 1990s Hong Kong films of action and romance comedy genres Singapore, 30 June 2011 – Movie-goers can look forward to a retro spin at the upcoming Hong Kong Film Festival 2011 (HKFF 2011) to be held from 14 to 20 July 2011 at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. A winner of multiple awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2011, Gallants, will premiere at HKFF 2011. The action comedy film will take the audience down the memory lane of classic kung fu movies. Other new Hong Kong films to premiere at the festival include action drama Rebellion, youthful romance Breakup Club and Give Love. They are joined by retrospective titles - Swordsman II, Once Upon A Time in China II, A Chinese Odyssey: Pandora’s Box and All’s Well, Ends Well. Adding variety to the lineup is Quattro Hong Kong I and II, comprising a total of eight short films by renowned Hong Kong and Asian filmmakers commissioned by Brand Hong Kong and produced by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. The retrospective titles were selected in a voting exercise that took place via Facebook and SMS in May. Public were asked to select from a list of iconic 1990s Hong Kong films that they would like to catch on the big screen again. The list was nominated by three invited panelists, namely Randy Ang, local filmmaker; Wayne Lim, film reviewer for UW magazine; and Kenneth Kong, film reviewer for Radio 100.3.
    [Show full text]
  • Written & Directed by and Starring Stephen Chow
    CJ7 Written & Directed by and Starring Stephen Chow East Coast Publicity West Coast Publicity Distributor IHOP Public Relations Block Korenbrot PR Sony Pictures Classics Jeff Hill Melody Korenbrot Carmelo Pirrone Jessica Uzzan Judy Chang Leila Guenancia 853 7th Ave, 3C 110 S. Fairfax Ave, #310 550 Madison Ave New York, NY 10019 Los Angeles, CA 90036 New York, NY 10022 212-265-4373 tel 323-634-7001 tel 212-833-8833 tel 212-247-2948 fax 323-634-7030 fax 212-833-8844 fax 1 Short Synopsis: From Stephen Chow, the director and star of Kung Fu Hustle, comes CJ7, a new comedy featuring Chow’s trademark slapstick antics. Ti (Stephen Chow) is a poor father who works all day, everyday at a construction site to make sure his son Dicky Chow (Xu Jian) can attend an elite private school. Despite his father’s good intentions to give his son the opportunities he never had, Dicky, with his dirty and tattered clothes and none of the “cool” toys stands out from his schoolmates like a sore thumb. Ti can’t afford to buy Dicky any expensive toys and goes to the best place he knows to get new stuff for Dicky – the junk yard! While out “shopping” for a new toy for his son, Ti finds a mysterious orb and brings it home for Dicky to play with. To his surprise and disbelief, the orb reveals itself to Dicky as a bizarre “pet” with extraordinary powers. Armed with his “CJ7” Dicky seizes this chance to overcome his poor background and shabby clothes and impress his fellow schoolmates for the first time in his life.
    [Show full text]
  • Representation of Females As Victims in Hong Kong Crime Films (2003-2015)
    REPRESENTATION OF FEMALES AS VICTIMS IN HONG KONG CRIME FILMS (2003-2015) Perspectives from One Nite in Mongkok, Protégé and The Stool Pigeon TINGTING HU (胡婷婷) MA. Media, Loughborough University, UK, 2011 BA. Arts, Shanghai Theatre Academy, China, 2010 This thesis is submitted for the degree of Master of Research Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies Faculty of Arts Macquarie University, Sydney December 25, 2015 MRES Thesis 2015 Tingting HU (ID: 43765858) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ iii CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP/ORIGINALITY .................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 FEMINISM AND HONG KONG CRIME FILMS ................................. 7 Feminism and Film Studies .................................................................................................. 7 The Western Context ......................................................................................................... 7 The Chinese Context ....................................................................................................... 11 Crime Films and Violence Against Women ....................................................................... 15 Crime Films ...................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • New Tales of the Gobi Desert the Hong Kong Young Writers Awards Online Anthology - Non-Fiction, Poetry and Cover Art Sponsors
    New Tales of the Gobi Desert The Hong Kong Young Writers Awards Online Anthology - Non-Fiction, Poetry and Cover Art Sponsors Supported by Organiser Official Charity New Tales of the Gobi Desert Non-Fiction Group 1 The Gobi Desert AD & FD of Pok Oi Hospital Mrs Cheng Yam On School, Hung Tsz To, Non-Fiction: Group 1 am losing, losing, losing......in the Gobi Desert. How do I walk across it? It’s an unboundary region, all you could see are and dunes, sand......Will I lose my life in Gobi Desert? Let’s know more about the Gobi Desert. The Gobi Desert is the fifth largest desert in the world and occupies an area of 1,300,000 Ik², and it is a large desert region in Asia. The Gobi is most notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire and as the location of several important cities along the Silk Road. The Gobi is a cold desert with frost and occasionally snow occurring on its dunes. The climate of the Gobi is one of great extremes, these can occur not only seasonally but within 24 hours. The temperature in Gobi is extremely, ranging from -40º(-46º) in winter to +50º(122º) in summer. The Gobi Desert is the source of many important fossil finds including the first dinosaur eggs. Despite the harsh conditions, these deserts and the surrounding regions sustain over 45 different species of animals and birds. But the Gobi Desert is expanding at an alarming rate, in a process known as desertification. The expansion of the Gobi is attributed mostly to human activities, notably deforestation, overgrazing, and depletion of water resources.
    [Show full text]