***********************************************************
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Brussels (HKETO, Brussels) took its retrospective of classic Hong Kong martial arts films to Tricase in the Salento peninsula of Southern Italy yesterday (September 4, Tricase time), before the films' next stop in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city.
Curated by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, a partner of HKETO, Brussels, the films have already been screened in Amsterdam, Brussels, Florence, Istanbul, Izmir, Sofia and Udine, where they were well received by a new generation of cinema fans discovering them for the first time, and by older cinema-goers who enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing them again.
Three of the martial arts films, Bruce Lee's "The Way of the Dragon", Corey Yuen's "Righting Wrongs" and Ching Siu-tung's "Duel to the Death", were shown at indoor and outdoor screenings at the Palazzo Gallone in Tricase yesterday as a prelude to the Salento International Film Festival.
Speaking before the screening of "The Way of the Dragon" in the town's main square, the Deputy Representative of HKETO, Brussels, Miss Alice Choi, noted that Salento and Hong Kong already enjoy strong links, since the Hong Kong Salento International Film Festival has been held annually in Hong Kong for the past four years, most recently in May.
Introducing the Bruce Lee film, Miss Choi recommended the major exhibition on the life and work of the martial arts icon that is being held at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum until 2018.
She also seized the opportunity of her visit to Salento to brief the Mayor and other representatives of the local and regional authorities and businessmen on how Italian businesses can leverage on Hong Kong's "super-connector" role to expand or grow their business in Mainland China and Asia.
After being screened in Salento, the three films, plus Tsui Hark's "Once Upon a Time in China II", Jackie Chan's "The Young Master" and Sammo Hung's "Spooky Encounters", will next be screened on September 10 to 13 at the Olympion theatre in Thessaloniki, where there will also be a round-table discussion on Hong Kong cinema.
The special Hong Kong martial arts film programme will then go to Dublin, Ireland, where it will be shown as a special weekend side programme of the Dublin International Film Festival on September 25 to 28.
Ends/Saturday, September 5, 2015
Issued at HKT 08:29
NNNN
