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There are different inspirations, motivations and processes behind each creative work in film. The Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA)'s new "Movie Talk" series organised and hosted by veteran film critic Law Kar will invite filmmakers to select films they like or films they have made for screening, accompanied by two hours of intimate discussion of the guests' experiences. The first filmmaker guest is director Ivy Ho, who is known for her screenplays and being good at writing prose, as well as being insightful in film appreciation and interpretation. She has selected three films and will share with audiences her creative work and her views on human relationships and film form.
The movie talk with Ivy Ho will be held at 4.30pm on April 14 at the HKFA's cinema. She will share her insights on film appreciation, the delicate twists in film plots, her sensitivity towards human relationships and film form and her love of Chinese culture. The films she has selected to be shown are "July Rhapsody" (2002), which she wrote the script for, and "Léon Morin, Priest" (1961) at 2pm and 4.30pm respectively on April 13, and her directorial work "Claustrophobia" (2009) at 2pm on April 14.
In each instalment of the "Movie Talk" series, Law Kar will invite filmmakers to select three films either made by themselves or their filmmaking counterparts for screening. Audiences in the discussion sessions will join the host and the guests in watching clips of the selected films and gain a better understanding of the featured guests' experiences and art during the sharing of the inspirations and processes behind each filmmaker's creative work.
The French film "Léon Morin, Priest" was director Jean-Pierre Melville's first blockbuster. In the film, a young widow mourns her country and her husband. She is bereft of hope and ready to challenge the presence of God when out of the mist comes a dissolute priest. With no expensive sets and featuring heart-wrenching farewell scenes, the film is one of Ho's favourites. "His axe has accidentally landed on my heart which makes me watch the film over and over again," Ho wrote on the film, calling it "the most touching forbidden love affair I've ever seen."
With "July Rhapsody", Ho won her second Hong Kong Film Award for Best Screenplay after "Comrades, Almost a Love Story" (1996). Director Ann Hui attempts to portray the state of mind of a man approaching middle age. The light, self-soothing tragicomedy gives place to a dense, delicate and subtle psychological realism which is hard to forget. In contrast with a young girl's palpitating heart is a middle-aged teacher's melancholy which exudes Ho's remembrance of youth and her admiration of Chinese culture.
"Claustrophobia" was the first film Ho both directed and wrote. The film was the winner of the 15th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards for Best Screenplay. Without a typical romance setting, the story is about an office romance but is fragmented with incomprehensible doubts in each of the episodes, offering a chance for the audience to participate and think over the situation. The film will be followed by a bonus screening of a TV episode entitled "Pa", from the drama series "Profile", scripted by Ho for Radio Television Hong Kong in 1984. No subtitles will be provided for the bonus screening.
"Léon Morin, Priest" is in French with English subtitles. "July Rhapsody" and "Claustrophobia" are in Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles.
Tickets priced at $40 are available at URBTIX outlets. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Credit card bookings can be made at 2111 5999 or on the Internet at www.urbtix.hk.
Detailed programme information can be obtained in the "ProFolio 67" leaflet, which is distributed at all performance venues of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. For enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or 2734 2900 or browse the website at www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/CulturalService/filmprog/english/2013mt1/2013mt1_index.html .
Ends/Monday, April 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:25
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