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For many people the memories of the exciting time watching great films, such as "Gone with the Wind" and "The Sound of Music", at a grand cinema like the Queen's Theatre are still fresh, although the theatre has now gone.
The Hong Kong Film Archive is pleased to have acquired as a donation from the Queen's Theatre a precious US-made 35mm carbon arc-lamp projector which had been used for many years until the theatre's last screening day. This historical item is now on display at the "In Memory of Queen's Theatre" exhibition to be held at the lobby of the Film Archive. Admission is free.
The archival projector weighs 1,500 pounds and is considered one of the most well-preserved and intact pieces of movie equipment of its kind in Hong Kong. The Film Archive has installed it and displayed it with other valuable video and photographs.
The Queen's Theatre, located at the site of the former Hong Kong Theatre, had its grand opening in May, 1924. During the Japanese Occupation, the theatre was renamed "Meiji Theatre" until September, 1945. It then served Hong Kong's film buffs until 1958, when the theatre was again closed for rebuilding.
In 1961, the Queen's took on a new facade with a reduced number of seats, but it remained a high class cinema for first-run movies until a further downsize occurred in 1995. The Queen's last screening day was September 30, 2007, with Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" being the last film shown. And so ended 82 years of cinema history.
The Hong Kong Film Archive is located at 50 Lei King Road, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong, opening daily from 10am to 8pm or 15 minutes after the end of the last screening. It closes on Thursdays (except public holidays).
For enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or browse the website: www.filmarchive.gov.hk.
Ends/Friday, March 21, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:00
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