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From TV drama series to million-dollar movies, from amazing martial-arts films to heart-breaking love stories, from Hong Kong to Hollywood and then back to Hong Kong, renowned film director Tsui Hark has been making films in every major genre in the past 20 years. The Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will present the programme "The Celluloid Swordsman: Tsui Hark and His Cinema" from August 3 to 26. Ten of the director's films will be shown, complemented by an exhibition and a series of seminars.
A total of five seminars presided over by a panel of critics and filmmakers will be held. Topics ranging from special effects to the influence of comic books to Tsui Hark's unique way of preparing scripts will be discussed. Seminars will be conducted in Cantonese or Mandarin and the admission is free. Impressive film stills and posters as well as interviews, featuring Tsui and filmmakers who had worked with him throughout the years, will be shown at the HKFA Exhibition Hall.
Tsui is one of the most important figures in the history of Hong Kong Cinema.. Often referred by his colleagues as "Da Xia", the noble warrior of martial-arts classics, Tsui is forever pushing the limits of conventions and technological capabilities.
One of the highlights of the programme is the premiere of "Forging the Swords". Produced by Tsui but never shown in Hong Kong, the film was made in collaboration with the Beijing Film Studio but had been shelved for years since its completion. Based on a story by novelist Lu Xun and written by Zhang Yang who achieved international fame through the film "Shower", the film tells of a tyrant who commissions a master sword welder to forge the most impregnable sword. The sword welder is then killed by his own creation at its presentation to the tyrant. The film is in Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles.
Regarded as one of the most important TV works of the late 70s, mini-series "The Gold Dagger Romance (Episodes 1-6)" is an early work of Tsui Hark. The action scenes are spectacular and the mood is hypnotically romantic. Tsui's success of this work paved his way for his debut feature, "The Butterfly Murders".
"Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain" proves that Tsui is one of the cinema's most brilliant novel adapters. Combining homegrown special effects with the best available techniques of animation and optical effects of the time, he interpreted this traditional Chinese fantasy with totally new approach. Both his fellow-filmmakers and the audience were amazed by the bizarre yet superb filmic experience.
A double feature will screen the 1959 film "Feast of a Rich Family" and Tsui's 1991 remake "The Banquet". The production of the two films is a proof of the vibrant force and unity behind the Hong Kong cinema. The former was produced in 1959 to raise fund for premises of the South China Film Industry Workers Union. The latter was finished in four days in 1991 for the east China flood relief.
"All the Wrong Clues (for the Right Solution)" is a film with mass appeal. In a comic landscape of a timeless Hong Kong which bears more resemblance to a 30's Chicago, a bumbling private eye with his detective buddy get involved in a gangland war, with all the trappings of a film noir. The exquisite art direction, the ensemble cast, and its precise comic timing makes this a great hit.
"Shanghai Blues" is the first production of Tsui's own Film Workshop. A pre-communist Shanghai is used as a backdrop for this bittersweet comedy. In "Final Victory", Tsui is neither the director nor the producer. He stars as a Mongkok gangster. This is one of the great quirky movies of the 80s.
As Hong Kong's first computer animated feature, "A Chinese Ghost Story - The Tsui Hark Animation" is a blend of Japanese animation, Disney cartoons and Tsui's inimitable mix of crazed energy and romantic innocence. "Black Mask" is an action film while Tsui's recent work "Time and Tide" portrays Hong Kong as a chaotic city.
Most films in "The Celluloid Swordsman: Tsui Hark and His Cinema" are with Chinese and English subtitles except "Feast of a Rich Family" and "The Gold Dagger Romance (Episodes 1-6)". All films are in Cantonese unless specified. Tickets priced at $20 are now available at all URBTIX outlets. Half-price concession is available for senior citizens, people with disability and full-time student. Standing tickets are available before the start of sold-out screenings. For enquiries please call 2739 2139. Website: www.filmarchive.gov.hk
End/Friday, July 27, 2001
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