The Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will present "Adaptations of Literature from Shanghai - An Extended Run", a programme jointly curated with the Shanghai Film Museum and Shanghai Film Archive. Four films adapted from literature and produced by the Shanghai Film Studio will be screened at the HKFA Cinema on November 15 and 16 for audiences to appreciate interpretations of literary classics in Shanghai films from different perspectives.
 
     "Ashima" (1964) (4K restored version) is China's first major musical filmed in colour and is presented in a widescreen format with stereo sound. The programme will screen the latest 4K version of the restoration that was jointly carried out in 2025 by the Shanghai Film Technology Plant, a subsidiary of the Shanghai Film Group, and the L'Immagine Ritrovata film restoration laboratory in Italy. With extensive research and fieldwork, the film was adapted from a long narrative poem of the same title by the Sani people, part of the Yi ethnic group in Yunnan, into a tragic love story of resistance against oppression, featuring dazzling sequences of ethnic song and dance that were filmed in Yunnan with meticulous music, art and costumes directions.
 
     "The Herdsman" (1982) (4K restored version), directed by veteran director Xie Jin, is an adaptation of "Soul and Flesh", by renowned author Zhang Xianliang. Through its expressive film language and cinematography, the film delicately portrays the emotional journey of an intellectual sent to the northwestern grasslands, revealing a heartfelt and selfless love for family and country.
 
     "Forever Young" (1983) (2K restored version) is based on an early novel by contemporary writer Wang Meng. Set in the early 1950s, it focuses on the school life of a group of graduating female students in a Beijing high school. Director Huang Shuqin offers a sensitive female perspective in her depiction of the joys and sorrows of young women growing up amidst the transition between the old and the new.
 
     "Conservatory Garden Very Deeply" (Part One & Part Two) (1989), directed by Shi Shujun, is an adaptation of popular writer Chiung Yao's eponymous novel. Interweaving the past and present, the narrative of the film explores how young people break free from the constraints of traditional moral codes to pursue individuality and romantic freedom.
 
     All screenings will be accompanied by post-screening talks hosted by Dr Timmy Chen, Dr Lo Wai-luk, Eric Tsang and Joyce Yang.
 
     Tickets priced at $60 will be available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk) from October 17 (Friday). For telephone bookings, please call 3166 1288. A 20 per cent discount is available for every purchase of regular-priced tickets of two or more screenings of this programme. For programme enquiries, please visit the website of the HKFA at (www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2025/sh/pe-event-2025-sh.html) or call 2739 2139.

 

Ends/Monday, October 13, 2025
Issued at HKT 17:45

NNNN