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In the digital era, most people look for a handy digital camera with multiple functions. Old cameras may look like bulky antiques in comparison, but they have unique features and strengths. "Remembrance of the Avant-garde: Archival Camera Collection Exhibition", organised by the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and being held from now until November 2, is showcasing more than 60 pieces of camera equipment. A veteran cinematographer and experimental film artists of the 1970s will also share with audiences their valuable experience on the joy of filming.
Two seminars are being organised by the HKFA. The first one, entitled "Joy and Sorrow of the Great Cinematographer: Arthur Wong", will be held at 11am on Saturday (August 30) at the Cinema of the HKFA with noted cinematographer Arthur Wong as the speaker. Wong is an awardee of Best Cinematography in the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards and has been a film cinematographer since the 1970s. He has shot more than 100 films and has worked with numerous famous Hong Kong directors including John Woo, Ann Hui and Peter Chan. Wong will share with audiences some of his most memorable experiences in film, cinematography and his collaborations with film directors.
Another seminar, entitled "Good Old Days with the Experimental Film Buffs", will be held at 11am on September 6 with two pioneering filmmakers from the 1970s and '80s as speakers, namely director Alex Cheung and Chan Tin-shing. Passionate in photography, Cheung made numerous independent shorts in the early 1970s. He then joined the film and TV industry and was awarded Best Director in the Golden Horse Awards for "Man on the Brink" in 1982. Chan was not only an independent filmmaker in the 1970s but a keen collector of moving cameras, projectors and editing machines. They will talk with audiences about the good old days of their independent filmmaking era. This seminar will be specially held in the Exhibition Hall of the HKFA to enable interaction between the speakers and the audience when introducing the exhibits and sharing experiences. Film lovers and photographers are welcome to attend the two seminars, which will be conducted in Cantonese.
"Remembrance of the Avant-garde: Archival Camera Collection Exhibition", which is being held now at the HKFA's Exhibition Hall, showcases cameras of various formats, brands and models produced from the 1920s to the 1980s including 8mm, 16mm and professional 35mm cameras, with each type having unique features.
The exhibits also display cameras that were produced in the 1940s or earlier such as a 16mm film camera that appeared in the 1920s; the first 35mm film camera by DeVry, the "lunch box"; and a camera used by the US Army during World War II. The exhibition also focuses on the various designs and functions of different cameras and the development of filming equipment.
The interesting archival exhibits and seminars will not only take visitors down memory lane but also offer young audiences of the digital era a nostalgic glimpse of film technology from the olden days.
Admission is free for both the exhibition and seminars.
For enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or browse the website of the HKFA at www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/en/3-4-9.php.
Ends/Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:48
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