Psst, It's Coming to a Cinema Near You
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10 HK | CULTURE Friday, April 13, 2018 CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Films The divas come home Louisa Wei’s new documentary, Havana Divas, is about two octogenarian Cantonese opera performers from Cuba who came all the way to China looking for their roots. Neil Li caught up with the director. Wong (in red) and Amaran perform at the Guangdong Academy of Cantonese Opera in 2011. Caridad Amaran (left) and Georgina Wong in Cantonese opera costumes during their trip to China in 2014. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY It took director Louisa Wei six years and a trip to Cuba to make Havana Divas. Amaran playing female warrior Mu Guiying, 1947. Wong (left) and Amaran give an impromptu performance at Foshan Ancestral Temple, 2014. A 15-year-old Amaran in Havana. n the mid-1800s, more than of their shared themes being the two of them connected so well over ran’s stepfather in Kaiping and fi lming, I asked Caridad and Geor- mediately, the language barrier 100,000 Chinese people crossing of cultures and borders. Cantonese opera, spending a lot of Wong’s father in Enping. gina what their biggest wish was presented the biggest challenge were living in Cuba. They One of Havana Divas’ most mem- time together. Their relationship Wei felt it was integral to in- and they both answered it was to in the editing process. Although established Chinatown dis- orable sequences shows Amaran was better than some between bio- clude the women’s return to their come back to China every year. Amaran was able to speak a bit of Itricts such as Havana’s Barrio adeptly applying makeup and put- logical fathers and daughters. My fathers’ homeland in her fi lm. “I They had lots of fun as people Chinese, she and Wong primarily Chino where their culture, food ting on her costume to transform producer and I were very touched think (their search) was more of a took them to shows and treated spoke in Spanish which required and music took root. A number into a Cantonese opera performer. by this,” Wei says. nostalgia for their fathers instead them with food that they missed. Wei, who only knew a little Span- of Chinese opera troupes also In an instant, the Spanish-speak- Amaran and Wong joined the of their fathers’ ancestors. It was I think these things brought back ish, to spend hours listening to performed, such as the Kwok- ing elderly Cuban woman switch- Kwok-kwong Opera Troupe in like making a connection to their their memories of their fathers,” the interviews while referring to kwong Opera Troupe, comprising es to singing fl uently in Chinese. 1939 and toured all over Cuba fathers. As you grow older, you be- Wei says. a translated script alongside. several Cuban or Chinese-Cuban It’s a captivating scene that exem- throughout their teens. Amaran gin to relate to your parents and The e ort seems to have paid performers like Caridad Amaran plifi es the women’s dual identity. had the opportunity to perform grandparents,” she explains. Threaded narratives o . “From the initial screenings, and Georgina Wong. Hong Kong with famous Cantonese opera art- Wei went to Havana for two Havana Divas can easily be di- the audience seems to come away fi lmmaker Louisa Wei has traced Cultural bonding ists like Siu Yin-fei, Mo Dan-so and weeks in early 2015 to fi lm inter- vided into three parts: the wom- with di erent messages and I’m Amaran and Wong’s story and Chinese people have been living So Chow-lai when they performed views with Amaran, Wong and en’s journey, the Cantonese opera happy with that,” Wei says. “Some their lifelong love of Cantonese in Cuba since the 1850s when they in Havana. Eventually Wong gave their families. The women showed scene during the 1930s and 1940s people were impressed with the opera in her latest documentary, were fi rst brought there on eight- up performing to study in col- Wei and her crew around the Chi- and Cuba’s history. The fi lm might women’s e orts to preserve Can- Havana Divas. year indentured laborer contracts lege and later became a diplomat. natown district. Cuba now has seem a bit disconnected at times tonese opera. Others were in- to work on the sugar cane fi elds. Amaran’s Cantonese opera career only about 400 Chinese-Cubans, as the relation between the three spired by their search for their an- Dual identities Today about 1 percent of the Cu- came to a halt after the Cuban many of them elderly people living tracks are not immediately obvi- cestors and wondered about their Wei fi rst learned about the Can- ban population has Chinese lin- Revolution. She eventually mar- in the Barrio Chino. ous. Wei reveals this gradually, own family members they have tonese opera-singing Cuban wom- eage. ried and started a family. It wasn’t The fi lm dutifully takes the au- through a varied mix of music, lost contacts with. Some even said en from her producer Law Kar on While Wong was born to a Cu- until Wong moved back to Havana dience through the women’s jour- interviews and historical material. it’s about chasing your childhood the sets of her previous fi lm about ban mother and Chinese father, after retirement that the two stage ney from the beginning of their Cantonese opera fans will be in- dreams. I actually enjoy this part the Chinese fi lmmaker Esther neither of Amaran’s birth parents sisters began performing again in singing career to the present time, terested to learn more about the a lot, listening to people and hear- Eng, Golden Gate Girls. That was were Chinese. After her father’s an e ort to revive the art at home. showing Cantonese opera’s impact international reach of the genre ing all these di erent ideas.” around 2011. And then they found early death, her mother remar- on their lives and communities. in the 1930s and 1940s, while any out that Amaran and Wong, both ried Julian Fong and it was from The way back home During one of their trips to China, documentary on Cuban life is sure already in their 80s, were in fact her Chinese stepfather that Ama- After their initial meeting in the divas visited Foshan, the birth- to touch on its complex history. in Hong Kong at the time, on their ran inherited a love of Cantonese 2011, Wei met up with Amaran place of Cantonese opera, where Wei spent a long time fact-check- IF YOU GO way to visit their ancestral homes opera. and Wong again in 2014 when they they took part in an impromptu ing and took care to not bombard Havana Divas on the Chinese mainland. Wei “Law Kar and I were also at- returned to China for the second performance as well as a profes- the audience with too much infor- Directed by Louisa Wei made a quick decision to send a tracted to the story by the father- time to continue their search for sional photoshoot in full costume mation, not an easy task to accom- Date: April 15 cameraperson up with the singing and-daughter relationships, es- their ancestral homes. With the and makeup. The fi lm captured plish in a 90 minute-long fi lm. Venue: Broadway Cinematheque how thrilled Amaran and Wong While Wei enjoyed talking to Public Square Garden, Yau Ma Tei duo to get some footage. pecially the one between Caridad help of friends like Wei’s producer Date: April 21 Wei calls Golden Gate Girls and and her foster father. Although he Law, the women were able to fi nd were with these experiences. Amaran and Wong, who she says Venue: MOViE MOViE Cinema, Havana Divas “sister works”, one wasn’t her biological father, the and visit the hometowns of Ama- “When we were wrapping up took her in as a friend almost im- Cityplaza ,Taikoo Shing Film Review Psst, it’s coming to a cinema near you... By ELIZABETH KERR his second stop-motion anima- city’s corrupt, cat-loving mayor son fi lm, the visuals are the best fi nding a kinder temperament. collapses, but it’s also a nice addi- tion, Isle of Dogs. has banished all dogs — strays, part of the fi lm — because there’s Really? Fortunately, the 1,000 in- tion to the recent wave of thrillers “Gimmicky” can mean one of In A Quiet Place, Evelyn (Emily pets, service dogs — to Trash Is- not much else going on here. A tricately constructed puppets and that have pivoted on the betrayal two things. It can be literal — Blunt) and Lee (Krasinski) try to land. His orphaned nephew At- few nods to the need for an antag- voice work by Scarlet Johansson, of our most basic powers: our something so high-concept its keep their family together — and ari (Koyu Rankin) heads to the onistic press and a skeptical view Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, senses. The tension in Lights Out, utter contrivance is clearly en- alive — in a world overrun by forbidden zone in search of his of government fl oat above the Edward Norton, Yoko Ono, Tilda Don’t Breathe and Hush is rooted gineered to attract attention. It some kind of monster that hunts beloved Spots. While on the gar- ether, but the story is about a boy Swinton, Liev Schreiber, and Ken in an inability to see, hear, or can also mean something creative by sound. Parents, son Marcus bage heap, mangy Chief (Bryan and his dog.