Film - "Made in Hong Kong" series, 2009

(adapted from the Freer Gallery's website)

Fourteenth Annual Made in Hong Kong Film Festival

A selection of films that highlight Hong Kong’s cinematic achievements.

This festival is cosponsored by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office.

Sparrow
Friday, July 10, 7 pm
Sunday, July 12, 2 pm
This breezy comedic caper from Johnnie To is about a gang of debonair pickpockets who come undone when a beautiful stranger enters their midst with a con of her own. Infused with a sense of nostalgia for old Hong Kong and studded with breathtaking set pieces in which the boys gather wallets and purses using nothing but sleight-of-hand and razorblades, Sparrow is infectious fun. 2008 / 87 min. / Cantonese with English subtitles

Ashes of Time Redux
Friday, July 17, 7 pm
Sunday, July 19, 2 pm
Fourteen years after it was originally made, Wong Kar-wai (Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love) recut this swordplay classic into a new, "definitive" version. A desert fantasia of misty pastels, it stars the late Leslie Cheung as a disenchanted swordsman for hire, but his clients are motivated by the same longings and desires as the contemporary lovers in Wong’s more well-known films. 2008 / 93 min. / Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles.

Mr. Cinema
Friday, July 24, 7 pm
Sunday, July 26, 2 pm
Made in honor of the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, Samson Chiu’s “moving tribute to the eternal adaptability of the territory’s folk” (Derek Elley of Variety) covers forty years of the island’s history as seen through the eyes of a left-wing film projectionist and his family. 2007 / 117 min. / Cantonese with English subtitles

All About Women
Friday, July 31, 7 pm
Sunday, August 2, 2 pm
Tsui Hark’s screwball confection tells the intertwined stories of three women: a clumsy nerd who invents a pheromone patch to attract men, a beauty who attracts plenty of men but no real friends, and a tomboyish rocker who takes out her romantic frustrations through boxing. Think of it as a Beijing Sex and the City. 2008 / 119 min. / Mandarin and Uighur with English subtitles

One Nite in Mongkok
Friday, August 7, 7 pm
Sunday, August 9, 2 pm
Derek Yee’s fast-paced thriller takes place in Hong Kong’s Mongkok district, a bustling urban jungle where everything, from fake designer watches to sex, is for sale. A hit man from the mainland looks to gun down a big-time gangster and, with the help of a prostitute he meets in a no-tell motel, find his missing fiancée. 2004 / 110 min. / Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles

Eye in the Sky
Friday, August 14, 7 pm
Sunday, August 16, 2 pm
Longtime Johnnie To collaborator Yau Na-hoi made his directorial debut with this taut thriller, and he has clearly learned much from his mentor. The plot pits a police surveillance unit headed by a world-weary cop against a ruthless gang boss and his crew. 2007 / 90 min. / Cantonese with English subtitles

My Mother is a Belly Dancer
Friday, August 21, 7 pm
Sunday, August 23, 2 pm
A group of working-class housewives finds liberation when a new instructor takes over their traditional dance class and teaches them belly dancing in this charming, surprisingly moving drama by Lee Kung-lok. 2006 / 104 min. / Cantonese with English subtitles

This page created August 2010 - Last modified August 25, 2010