May From the Queen to the Chief Executive: Hong Kong Films 10 Years After the Handover 香港電影縱橫: 展與談

Transcription

1 May From the Queen to the Chief Executive: Hong Kong Films 10 Years After the Handover 香港電影縱橫: 展與談 1

2 Schedule at a glance I am absolutely thrilled to welcome you to our first Hong Kong film festival, From the Queen to the Chief Executive: Hong Kong Films Ten Years After Venues 1 Royal Ontario Museum 100 Queen s Park 2 Innis Town Hall 2 Sussex Avenue (at St George, south of Bloor) 3 Munk Centre South House, 1 Devonshire Place (between Hoskin and Bloor) ttc TTC Subway stations friday, may 4 Royal Ontario Museum Theatre, 100 Queen s Park 6:15 pm 7:15 pm VIP Reception Royal Ontario Museum Glass Room on the 4th Floor 7:00 pm Doors Open 7:30 pm 7:40 pm Welcoming Remarks 7:40 pm 9:30 pm Opening Film: Isabella (Toronto Premiere); q & a 10:00 pm 1:00 am Opening Night Party Munk Centre, South House, 1 Devonshire Place saturday, may 5 Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue 9:30 am Doors Open 10:00 am 11:25 am Jaime Lo, Small and Shy; My Life as McDull 11:25 am 11:35 am Short Break 11:35 am 12:35 pm Animation and Comics Panel 12:35 pm 1:30 pm Lunch Break 2:30 pm 4:15 pm Banana Bruises; Dumplings 4:15 pm 5:15 pm Horror Panel 5:15 pm 6:30 pm Dinner Break 6:30 pm 8:35 pm Eastbound; Lost in Time 8:35 pm 9:00 pm Break 9:00 pm 11:00 pm Asthma Tech; One Nite in Mongkok sunday, may 6 Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue 12:30 pm Doors Open 1:00 pm 2:30 pm My Matsura; The Heavenly Kings 2:30 pm 3:30 pm Hong Kong Film Industry Panel 3:30 pm 4:00 pm Break 4:00 pm 5:50 pm Closing Film: From the Queen to the Chief Executive Welcome to the First University of Toronto Hong Kong Film Festival Asian Institute at the University of Toronto Munk Centre for International Studies 1 Devonshire Place, Room 227n Toronto, on Canada m5s 3k7 t f e asian.institute@utoronto.ca the Handover. This important event first and foremost celebrates the achievements of Hong Kong film and its impact on a new and everchanging global culture. From the Queen to the Chief Executive also provides a forum to contemplate developments on Hong Kong since its historic return to China in Film is a lens through which to understand the dynamics of a changing society and the world around it. Film provides an important platform, a medium, for telling peoples stories. In this respect, film is both critical and celebratory, it challenges and reaffirms. Its impact is political, social, economic, cultural and often leaves legacies of historical import. The Asian Institute is an inter-disciplinary home to scholars working on Asia, comprising leading scholars in the humanities and social sciences. We do political, social, economic, cultural and historical. The panels that have been assembled for this film festival, in my mind, highlight precisely what it is that we do best: bringing our intellectual work to challenge, probe and ultimately praise this important cultural medium. We are delighted here at the Asian Institute for having played a modest role in bringing the very best of Hong Kong film to you. Our collaborative efforts with Reel Asian and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, along with all of the co-sponsors and partners, will no doubt prove to be longstanding. This is the first Hong Kong film festival, demonstrating our collective commitment to ensure that it is not the last. We are thrilled that this film festival has been included as part of Asian Heritage Month. Many thanks to the various partners who have been involved in the organization of this Hong Kong film festival. Your tireless energy and cooperative spirit are reflected in the festival and will resonate throughout the university and community more generally. Sincerely, Joseph Wong Director, Asian Institute Canada Research Chair, Political Science 1:30 pm 2:30 pm Keynote Conversation url 3 hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

3 Sponsors Presenting Sponsor Richard Charles Lee Canada Hong Kong Library Festival Sponsors At The University Of Toronto Cinema Studies Institute Dr. David Chu Distinguished Leaders Program Faculty of Arts and Science Munk Centre for International Studies Corporate Sponsors CY Food Industries Inc. Holiday Inn Midtown Koo & Co Long Shong Group Tour East Holidays (Canada) Inc. Tickets Prices All individual tickets $7 except as follows: Festival pass $45 Opening night film screening and party $15 party only $10 3-Screening pass $17 My Life as McDull film Free for Kids when accompanied by adult Panel Discussions Free with ticket Tickets for ALL screenings including opening night can be purchased 30 minutes before start time at venue box office. Community Co-presenter Hong Kong Canada Business Association Festival Photographer Nicolett Jakab Printing Bowne Graphic Design donderdag Advance Ticketing In Person Tickets available at UofTtix Box Office (University of Toronto s Central Box Office) Open Mon Fri 11 am 5 pm in Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle, University of Toronto By Phone (416) On-line uofttix.ca 4 5 hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

4 Co-presenters The Asian Institute The Asian Institute is home to about 100 scholarly affiliates, including 40 or so core faculty members, researching and teaching on Asia. Located in the The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, the Asian Institute provides an inter-disciplinary home to both faculty and students interested in Asia. Dedicated to one of the most dynamic regions in the world, the Asian Institute facilitates cutting-edge research, public forums, conferences, and first-rate teaching. Through the David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies, the Asian Institute runs both an undergraduate and M.A. program. Our colleagues collectively cover the entire Asia region, bridging work on South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central and Inner Asia and Northeast Asia. A recent recipient of a University Academic Initiative Fund grant, the Asian Institute looks to build deeper linkages among faculty and students, and between the university and off-campus communities. The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is the premier Asian film festival in Canada. A unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema, it fuses North American cheek with Asian chic through its slate of international work from filmmakers with roots in East and Southeast Asia. The festival provides challenging and innovative film ands media arts programming to Toronto audiences, and serves an important role in bringing together Asian cinematic art, multidisciplinary artists from around the world, and the GTA community. The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival will take place from November 14 to 18, Now accepting film and video submissions! Please visit to submit. For more information, contact As the official representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Canada, the main responsibilities of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office include facilitating trade negotiations and handling trade related matters with the federal government, inter-government relations with provincial and municipal governments in Canada; the promoting of Canadian investment in Hong Kong; and liaising with the media and business community. It works closely with the Canadian offices of public bodies such as the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Hong Kong Tourism Board in promoting Hong Kong overseas. The Office provides a comprehensive range of information on Hong Kong through speaking engagements, business workshops, seminars, newsletters, web site and inquiry service, helps make arrangements for important visitors in both directions, and organizes various activities to promote Hong Kong, including cultural and educational exchanges. It also facilitates Canadian investors who wish to seek business opportunities in Hong Kong and through Hong Kong in China. 6 7 hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

5 The five shorts selected for From the Queen to the Chief Executive: Hong Kong Films have been the life blood of Hong Hong s intense urban culture. A Films 10 Years After the Handover are directed by Chinese-Canadians of Hong popular cinema of action, adventure and unabashed sentiment, Hong Kong descent, and deal with experiences of immigration and integra- Kong s filmmaking represents a unique paradox. It is commercially tion. Little Chinese-Canadian Jaime Lo has to cope with a missing driven, and export-centered, yet the filmmakers are passionately father who is working in Hong Kong. Like Jaime Lo, McDull s father is committed to Hong Kong s stories and to catching the character of the also missing from his life, and he is also using his creativity to cope. city itself its elegant and rough neighbourhoods, its hard-edged street The housewife in Eastbound sits alone in her well decorated house expecting her husband s long distance call daily at 3:00 sharp. The glare and gritty alleys, the staccato rhythms and its intense urban romance. A note From the Short Films Curator, Alice Shih strongly challenged female protagonists in Eastbound and Lost in Time both have to make difficult choices to redefine the common perception of womanhood. The Missing Chinese Men Syndrome so evident in the Chinese-Canadian immigrant community is fully reflected in the Chinese-Canadian filmmakers works. Integration is the next challenge after immigration. The yearning to fit in and be treated as equal may start early, as little Winston discovers in Asthma Tech, or stretch into adulthood, as in Banana Bruises. It dates back as early as the 1900s when the first wave of Asians migrated to North America as documented in My Matsura. Introduction From the Organizing Committee Hong Kong s cinema experienced reversals before and after the crucial political year of the 1997 handover to China. Video pirating, the Asian economic crisis, investor flight, Hollywood market aggression all contributed to reducing the number of films produced in the peak years, as many as 200, to just sixty films in These numbers, though, disguise a mixed story. Key elements of Hong Kong s film style its balletic action, razor-sharp crime stories, and feminine glamour are redefining the look and pace of international cinema from Paris to Hollywood. And Hong Kong films may be fewer now, the best of them are tauter, more thought out, more political alert, reflecting the new nimble production companies that are facing Hong Kong cinema s The protagonists of One Nite in Mongkok and Asthma Tech are alienated challenging situation squarely. from their outside world. One, resorting to violence descends; the other transcends with imagination, inspiration and acceptance. The fictional Dumplings may be scary, but the biased racial mindset in Banana Bruises produces real-life horrors. My Matsura breaks new ground in the genre of experimental documentary, complementing Heavenly Kings, one of the first mockumentaries in Hong Kong. Our filmmakers stories may be uniquely Canadian, but their sentiment is universal. Enjoy the diversity in genre, and celebrate the artistic vision of our Chinese-Canadian talents. Organizing Committee Elic Chan Elison Chu Colin Geddes In our sample, the crime thriller One Nite in Mongkok, the melodramas Isabella and Lost In Time, the searing social drama From The Queen To The Chief Executive and intimate variations on horror cinema, represented by Dumplings, and the animation artistry of McDull these films represent a very high level of filmmaking. They indicate why hopeful rumours of a Hong Kong film renaissance circulate every year since Hong Kong filmmakers have a long habit of shaking off adversity and moving on. The movies in our program show that a scaled down Hong Kong cinema has not dulled its intense excitement or blunted its makers imaginations. Cheers! ALICE SHIH is a Toronto film journalist and board member of the Reel Asian Film International Festival. Her film criticism can be heard on Fairchild Radio, the national Chinese radio broadcaster in Canada. She has contributed articles to CineAction and POV magazines. Ida Koh Eileen Lam Sarah Lang Ito Peng Alice Shih Bart Testa Doug Waters 8 9 hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

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8 Isabella 伊莎貝拉 (2006) Director: Ho-Cheung Pang 彭浩翔 Screenwriters: Ho-Cheung Pang, Karen Pang, Derek Song and Jimmy Wan Cast: Chapman To, Isabella Leong, J.J. Jia Derek Tsang, Meme Tan, Anthony Wong, Shawn Yue, Josie Ho, Jim Chim 杜汶澤, 梁洛施 90 minutes In the summer of 1999, Macau is about to be returned by Portugal to China. A bachelor policeman, Shing (Chapman To) faces suspension for cigarette smuggling. He knows that he is the fall guy for the whole set-up and finds himself gun-less, badge-less and at loose ends. So, Shing does what he has done all his life, he hits the bars. There he finds a young woman, Yan, (Isabella Leong) but she provides a very different encounter than Shing expected. Yan is the daughter that he never knew he had. Her recently deceased mother was his teen love and after they split, after what was supposed to have been an abortion, they never spoke and now Shing discovers an unknown past. Gruff as he may be toward her when she insists on moving into his place, Yan offers him a future that he never imagined. This beautifully shot (by Charlie Lam) and elliptically edited (Wenders Li) drama is an intently emotional meditation on loss and recovery set in Macau, Hong Kong s tropical entertainment adjunct about to set upon its own adventure into a fresh future. Hong Kong Film Festival OPENING NIGHT PARTY After Isabella, continue the evening and celebration at The Munk Centre South House, 1 Devonshire Place (between Hoskin and Bloor Street West) finish the evening with some fun chat over cocktails & hors d oeuvres chill to live jazz meet and mingle with fellow Hong Kong cinema lovers 10:00 pm Friday, May 4 $15 with opening night film $10 at door Evening generously sponsored by Koo & Co and Dufflet Ho-Cheung Pang is a novelist, screenwriter and director. He has written over a dozen novels, including the bestseller, Full Time Killer. In addition to Isabella, Ho-Cheung Pang s extensive writing and directing credits include A.V. (2005), Beyond Our Ken (2003), Men Suddenly in Black (2003) and You Shoot, I Shoot (2001). friday, may 4 royal ontario museum theatre 100 queen s park 7:40 pm 9:10 pm 14

9 Jaime Lo, Small and Shy (2006) By: Lillian Chan 陳勵瑩 8 minutes Jaime Lo is a small and shy Chinese- Canadian girl. She misses her father, who works in Hong Kong in order to support their family. When patience runs out, Jaime must cope with his absence with her creativity. Funny how a little brain works to sustain hope maybe it s something all grownups should learn. > Animation and Comics Panel to follow (see page 22) saturday, may 5 innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue 10:00 am 11:25 am My Life As McDull 麥兜故事 (2001) Director: Toe Yuen 袁建滔 Screenwriter: Brian Tse Producer: Brian Tse Music: Steve Ho Editor: Teo Yuen Cast: Lee Chun-wai (child McDull), Jan Lamb (adult McDull), Sandra Ng, Antony Wong, The Pancakes 李晉緯, 林海峰, 吳君如 75 minutes Surprise winner of the FIPRESCI prize at the 26th Hong Kong International Film Festival (2002), the animated feature My Life As McDull is a post-1997 adaptation of a series of comic books conceived by Alice Mak and Brian Tse in the early 90s. In voiceover, the grown McDull, a piglet in a world populated by both cute animals and humans, takes us through a series of set pieces involving his birth, education, and training as would-be Olympian with excursions to his mother s TV cooking show and the Maldives. Musical accompaniment is provided by a series of adorably jovial nonsense songs set to ruminatively elegiac classical piano pieces by Schubert and Schumann. McDull is funny and affectionately satirical. Its surface cuteness sweetens an acidic core. The film comically identifies the pressures and contradictions of growing up in Hong Kong. The film is intensely local in its play with Cantonese slang and cultural in-jokes. The hand-drawn animation is weaved with computerized graphical re-creations of Hong Kong sites (including Tai Kok Tsui, Cheung Chau Island, The Peak). The theme of McDull reaches beyond the constraints of locality, however, and is pleasing to international audiences of all ages. Toe Yuen attended the Department of Communications at Baptist College, obtaining a major in Film. He is a comic book editor, scriptwriter, special effects and computer animator and a toy and figure designer. Other directing credits include the animation shorts, Explanations (1995) and Foulball (1996). My Life as McDull is Toe Yuen s first animated feature film. Banana Bruises 香蕉戀 (2006) By: Joyce Wong 王加琦 12 minutes Chole, a Chinese-Canadian girl, has had her eye on her shy and quiet Caucasian classmate, Matthew, since they were kids. Now that they are consenting adults, would he consider a special intimate encounter? Banana Bruises is a satire on inter-racial intimacy with a horrific twist in the very last line of the story. > Horror Panel to follow (see page 22) saturday, may 5 innis town hall, Dumplings 餃子 (2004) Director: Fruit Chan 陳果 Screenwriter: Lilian Lee Producer: Peter Chan Ho-Sun Cast: Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah, Bai Ling, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Miki Yeung Oi-Gan 楊千嬅, 白靈, 梁家輝 91 minutes Dumplings is the ninety-minute expansion of director Fruit Chan s fortyminute segment of producer Peter Chan s omnibus Three Extremes. Ching (Miriam Yeung), a fading middle-aged woman, once a Hong Kong TV star, settles herself at the apartment of Mei (Bai Ling), a very strange and voluble woman who boasts to Ching about her expensive dumplings. Ching is not, however, merely sitting down to a very exclusive lunch. Semitransparent on the outside and alarmingly pinkish within, it is not the dumplings taste that Ching is after, but Mei s promises that they will transform a middle-aged woman into a goddess bursting with sexually-appealing youth. Fruit Chan applies a deliberate style to Lilian (Farewell My Concubine) Lee s script but wastes little time revealing Mei s mystery meat. The film takes an attitude of cruel indifference closer to Luis Buñuel s surrealism than horror movie shock tactics. The juxtaposition of the beautiful and disgusting is refracted in Christopher Doyle s cinematography and growing radiance of Miriam Yeung s skin. Dumplings is almost otherworldly in its beauty but beneath that surface lies ultimate disgust and horror. This film is an extreme examination of women s obsession with youth and beauty in a gender-biased society. Fruit Chan was born in China, but raised, since the age of ten, and educated in Hong Kong, Fruit Chan is a graduate of the Hong Kong Film Centre. Fruit Chan s directing credits include the highly acclaimed series of three films on the handover to China, Made in Hong Kong, The Longest Summer, and Little Cheung. In 2000, he made Durian Durian, which was awarded the best script award at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Best Film from the Hong Kong film critics. 2 sussex avenue 16 2:30 pm 4:15 pm 17 hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

10 Eastbound 東邊西邊 (2004) By: Rita Tse 謝祝校 15.5 minutes Lost in Time 忘不了 (2003) Director: Derek Yee Tung See 爾冬陞 Screenplay: James Yuen, Jessica Fong Producers: Tiffany Chen, Henry Fong Cast: Cecilia Cheung, Lau Ching-wan, Daichi Harashima, Louis Koo, Chin Pei 張柏芝, 劉青雲 Asthma Tech (2006) By: Jonathan Ng 吳家昕 7 minutes Trying to fit in has always been a challenge for immigrants, One Nite in Mongkok 旺角黑夜 (2004) Director and Screenwriter: Derek Yee 爾冬陞 Second Unit (Action) Director: Luk Kim-Ming Producers: Alvin Lam and Henry Fong Cast: Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung, Alex Fong, Kar Lok Chin, Ken Wong, Lam Suet, Eddie Pang 吳彥祖, 張柏芝, 方中信 Women without knowledge are graced by virtue ( 女子無才便是德 ) ancient Chinese Proverb. Is this still true in the 2000s? The parallel juxtaposition of a modern-day unfulfilled housewife alongside the Chinese silent movie superstar, Ruan Ling-yu, seems to show they have a lot in common. Eastbound is a well composed film exploring the position of women in modern-day society. 109 minutes Cecilia Cheung won the Hong Kong Film Award for best actress for her role as Siu Wai in director Derek Yee s Lost in Time. The story begins with Siu s Wai s fiancé s death in a mini-bus accident. Despite her family s disapproval, Siu Wai s takes on responsibility of his five-year-old son Lok Lok (Daichi Harashima). Her fiancé was a driver and Siu decides to have his bus repaired (it s where they met) and to resume his route. Her struggle is not easy in this a romantic melodrama, which never leaves much room for whimsy. Her only ally is Dai Fai (Lau Ching-Wan), her lover s friend and colleague. Their journey of struggle and despair earn them new insights about love, hope and their innermost desires. This is not your traditional boy meets girl romantic narrative, but an honest especially when you are a visible minority. Little Winston s challenges were even greater, since his chronic Asthma holds him back from fitting in with his peers. He delves into his own creative mind and Asthma Tech, comic superhero, comes to his rescue. 110 minutes Derek Yee won the 2004 Hong Kong Film Awards for best direction and screenplay with this crime thriller set in the densely populated and notorious Hong Kong neighborhood Mongkok. Police struggle to prevent a gangland murder planned after a tense standoff between rival crime lords Tim and Carl, over the death of Tim s son in a car accident caused by one of Carl s flunkies. A sleazy murder broker arranges for a hit man to murder Carl. But this is not your traditional hit man; upon his arrival, the contract killer reveals himself to be a bespeckled neophyte mainlander Lai Fu (Daniel Wu) who does not know his way around. He hooks up with a prostitute (Cecilia Cheung) after saving her from a violent customer only to discover that they are examination of human relationships in modern society. Critics have from the same mainland village. With her help, Lai tries to contact his agreed that Lost in Time is the best romantic drama to appear in Hong broker to locate the target. Meanwhile, Officer Milo (Alex Fong) races Kong in years. to prevent the bloodbath he knows will result from the hit. One Nite in Mongkok is at once a highly wrought genre movie and a carefully woven Derek Yee began acting after graduating from high school, and has tour of the neighborhood s streets and alleys. Critics have recognized appeared in over forty movies. Lee s directorial debut occurred in 1986 the film as an ambitious and thematically complex commercial movie, with The Lunatics. Directing credits include C est la vie, mon chéri, Viva offering much more than its crime story premise seemingly suggests. Erotica, The Truth About Jane and Sam, Full Throttle and Drink-Drank-Drunk. Derek Yee began acting after graduating from high school, and has appeared in over forty movies. Lee s directorial debut occurred in 1986 with The Lunatics. Directing credits include C est la vie, mon chéri, Viva Erotica, The Truth About Jane and Sam, Full Throttle and Drink-Drank-Drunk. saturday, may 5 innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue 6:30 pm 8:35 pm saturday, may 5 innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue 18 9:00 pm 11:00 pm 19 hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

11 My Matsura 我的松郎 (2006) By: Lesley Chan 陳樂施 6.5 minutes Pioneer photographer Frank Matsura came to Concully, Washington from Japan in He worked as a kitchen helper during the day and developed his negatives at the kitchen sink at night. His story is captured onto negatives and retouched in this lyrical experimental documentary. > Hong Kong Industry Panel to follow (see page 22) sunday, may 6 innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue 1:00 pm 2:30 pm The Heavenly Kings 四大天王 (2006) Director: Daniel Wu 吳彥祖 Producer: Daniel Wu, Andrew Lin Hoi, Terence Yin, Conroy Chan Chi-Chung Cast: Daniel Wu, Andrew Lin Hoi, Terence Yin, Conroy Chan Chi-Chung 吳彥祖, 連凱, 尹子維, 陳子聰 83 minutes The Heavenly Kings is part fact, part fiction, part animated, and all of it is very funny. The focus of this mocumentary is the Hong Kong boy band Alive, which debuted in The B-list actors who make up the group, Daniel Wu, Terence Yin, Andrew Lin, and Conroy Chan, cannot sing, dance, or play instruments. They have yet to release an album. This film is the story of their attempt to rise into Cantopop stardom. Shoton-digital-video, the film asks how a talent-deprived group of amateurs makes it in the Hong Kong music market. The answer: manipulation of the mass media and use of technology. By auto-tuning their off-key voices to falsely claim that they were victims of piracy, the singer wannabes rise to popularity through non-conventional means. The Heavenly Kings follows Alive in their journey towards stardom, and shows actual events including the initial press conference, their product endorsements and public performances as well as developing fictional storylines about the members tumultuous relationships. The film is a social commentary on media, culture, and Hong Kong s dysfunctional music industry. The actors social experiment is interspersed with many talking head interviews with top artists in the industry like Jacky Cheung, Paul Wong of Beyond, Nicholas Tse, Miriam Yeung, Candy Lo, Karen Mok, and others. Wu s honest and original attempt may seem childish at times, but there is enough sympathy here to keep The Heavenly Kings from turning sour. Daniel Wu was born and raised in the U.S. and obtained a degree in architecture in San Francisco. He subsequently began modeling in Hong Kong, then acting, producing, writing and directing. Acting credits include Young and Dangerous, The Prequel, Headlines, Cop on a Mission, and Love Undercover. The Heavenly Kings is his directorial debut. From the Queen to the Chief Executive 等候董建華發落 (2001) Director: Herman Yau 邱禮濤 Screenwriter: Elsa Chan Producers: Charles Heung, Nam Yin Cast: David Li Sheung-man, Ai-Jing, Stephan Tang Shu-wing, Sam Wong Cham-sum, Alison Wong Ting-ping, Cara Chu Chi-yee 李尚文, 艾敬, 鄧樹榮 110 minutes Director Herman Yau s social drama is situated in the context of the 1997 transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China. Based on Elsa Chan s book reporting real events, the film begins six months before the handover. The film examines the treatment of Hong Kong prisoners detained at the Chief Executive s discretion, the incarceration for juvenile offenders without fixed-length terms. These terms of detention last longer than those given to adults convicted for similar crimes. The story serves as a reflection of Hong Kongers political uncertainty prior to the transition. A college student, Cheung Yue-ling (Ai-jing), visits a prison to meet an inmate with whom she has been exchanging letters. The prisoner, Cheung Yau-ming (David Lee), had written an essay which bested hers in an Open University writing competition. Yue-ling asks the young man when he will be released; he has no answer. As a juvenile offender in a 1985 criminal case, Cheung has been detained indefinitely. Along with other juvenile offenders, he is seeking determined sentencing before the British colonial government is replaced. Yue-ling (a fictional character) takes up the cause before the public, helping to assemble the prisoners families, holding protests and sit-ins to gain a last minute legislative review. Opinion is divided. The prisoners family members fear public exposure, people on the street are indifferent, a prison official suggests the detainees deserve no reprieve, politicians see little voter enthusiasm for a gang of prisoners who committed violent crimes. The story is harsh and engaging, and its treatment realistic and without resorting to melodrama. Herman Yau graduated from film studies at Hong Kong Baptist College in Since then, he has worked as a writer, director, cinematographer and producer in Hong Kong. He has been involved in over 70 movies and his lead directorship includes The Untold Story, The Untold Story III, War of the Under World, Walk In, Ebola Syndrome, Master Q 2001, From the Queen to the Chief Executive and the thriller series of Troublesome Night. sunday, may 6 innis town hall, 2 sussex avenue hong kong film festival 2007 university 4:00 pm of 5:50 toronto pm

12 Panels 1:30 pm 2:30 pm Keynote Conversation Poshek Fu Golden Network Asia Ltd. Unit 2205, Futura Plaza Friday, May 4 Royal Ontario Museum Theatre, 100 Queen s Park (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Leung Ping-Kwan (Lingnan University, Hong Kong) How Ming St, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong t: f: Golden Scene Co., Ltd. 15B Astoria Bldg., 34 Ashley Rd., TST, Hong Kong Moderator: t: f: :30 pm 7:40 pm Welcoming Remarks Joseph Wong (Asian Institute) Bassanio So (Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Canada)) mc: Linda Tse (Fairchild TV Film News Reporter) Joseph Wong (Asian Institute) 4:15 pm 5:15 pm Horror Panel Panelists: Suzie Young (York University) Bart Testa (University of Toronto) Print Distributors Maple Pictures 2 Bloor Street West Suite 1001 Toronto, Ontario, m4w 2e2 Canada t: f: Media Asia Entertainment Group 24/F Causeway Bay Plaza II Lockhart Rd., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong t: f: :10 pm 9:30 pm Q & A mc: Linda Tse (Fairchild TV Film News Reporter) Moderator: Jason Anderson (Film Critic) Long Shong Group # Shell Road, Richmond, bc, v6c 3z6 Canada t: f: Sunday, May 6 Saturday, May 5 Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue 2:30 pm 3:30 pm Hong Kong 11:35 am 12:35 pm Animation and Comics Panel Film Industry Panel Panelists: Panelists: Wendy Wong (York University) Peter Rist (Concordia University) Chris Landreth (Academy Award Winning Animator) Raymond Chow (Journalist and Media Specialist) Moderator: Moderator: Elic Chan (University of Toronto) Colin Geddes (Ultra 8 Pictures) hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

13 Participants CHRIS LANDRETH is an Academy Award Winning Animator. His 2004 film Ryan won the Oscar for Best SUZIE YOUNG is a film professor and director of the Graduate Program in Film at York University. Origi- RAYMOND CHOW is the founding member and former editor of Film Bi-Weekly in Hong Kong (the in order of appearance Animated Short Film. Landreth received his MS degree in Theatrical and Applied Mechanics in 1986 nally from Hong Kong, she specializes in Asian cinema, the horror genre and feminism and popular preeminent film magazine helped to launch and promote the careers of Hong Kong New Wave film direc- JOSEPH WONG has been director of the Asian Insti- at the University of Illinois and worked in fluid culture. Her essay on David Cronenberg, Trauma and tors). Mr. Chow is a veteran film critic and freelance tute at the Munk Centre (University of Toronto) since mechanics research before stepping into the world Nation Made Flesh appears in the recent anthology journalist working for Chinese media in Toronto He is Associate Professor of Political Science and holds a Canada Research Chair. Professor Wong is the author of Healthy Democracies: Welfare Politics in Taiwan and South Korea (2004). He is the author of numerous articles in political science and Asian study journals and is currently editing a volume on comparative democratic transformations and writing a book on biotechnology development strategies in Asia. of computer animation. He tested computer graphics software products including programs at Toronto s Alias (Formerly Alias/Wavefront). This led him to his own productions, The End, The Listener and Bingo (1997), which was nominated for an Academy Award. ELIC CHAN is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology. He received his Hon. B.Sc. in Biology Shocking Representation (2005). BART TESTA teaches Cinema Studies at University of Toronto and is the author of two books, Spirit in the Landscape (1989) and Back and Forth: Early Cinema and the Avant-Garde (1993) and co-edited Pier Paolo Pasolini (1995) and Bruce Mau s Life Style (2000). His essays have appeared in journals and anthologies, including a recent essay on David Cronenberg s M.Butterfly in COLIN GEDDES is a Toronto freelance film archivist, programmer, journalist and consultant for film, television, and DVD. He programs the Midnight Madness selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and organized the long-running Kung Fu Fridays film series and has served as an advisor to many film festivals, including the Reel Asian International Film Festival. Geddes also runs an independent distribu- BASSANIO SO CHEK-LEUNG is Director of the and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Toronto. Visions of the East (2006). tion company, Ultra 8 Pictures, which has released A Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. Mr. So has worked in various Government branches and departments, notably as Principal Assistant Secretary in the Constitutional Affairs Bureau for five years where he was responsible for constitutional development in Hong Kong. Before his government service, Mr. So worked in the private sector. His research areas are race and ethnicity, Chinese Canadians, immigration, religion, culture and media. His current work examines the portrayal of Chinese identities in Hong Kong Films before and after POSHEK FU is Professor of History and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- JASON ANDERSON is a film critic for Eye Weekly in Toronto and writes about music and movies for The Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Cinema Scope and the CBC s arts online magazine. He won a Western Magazine Award in 2006 for his music columns for Swerve magazine in Calgary. He published his first novel, Showbiz, in 2005 and plays in a loud band called the Two Tale of Two Sisters, Bubba Ho-Tep, The Revolution Will not Be Televised, and David Lynch s Inland Empire in Canadian theatres. LINDA TSE is a Film News Reporter with paign. He has authored and edited five books includ- Koreas. Fairchild TV. WENDY SUIYI WONG chairs the Department of Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, at York University. She is the author of Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua (2002) and four books for Chinese readers as well as ing Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinema (2003) and The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity (2000). He edits the book series Politics and Popular Cultures in Asia Pacific published by the University of Illinois Press. PETER RIST is Professor of Film Studies in the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Corncordia University in Montreal. He has published South American Cinema: a Critical Filmography (1996) and Guide to Cinema(s) of Canada (2001) as well as many journal articles. numerous scholarly and trade articles. She has LEUNG PING-KWAN is a poet, film and literary taught in the US and Hong Kong and been visiting critic and a pioneering bibliographer on Hong Kong scholar at Harvard University and the Lubalin Curato- literature and films. His publications include the rial Fellow at Cooper Union (in 2000). She is a recipi- poetry collections City at the End of Time (1997) and Trav- ent of the Asian Cultural Council Grant. eling with Bitter Melon (2002). His film writing includes Urban Cinema and the Cultural Identity of Hong Kong in Poshek Fu s The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity (2000). He is department chair and professor of Comparative Literature at Lignan University in Hong Kong. Leung is also a long-time collaborator with visual artists. His collaborative work includes Foodscape (1997) hong kong film festival 2007 university of toronto

14 The University Of Toronto Cinema Studies Institute Dr. David Chu Distinguished Leaders Program Faculty of Arts and Science Munk Centre for International Studies Thank you Richard Charles Lee Canada Hong Kong Library Bowne CY Food Industries Inc. Long Shong Group is proud to supply prints to the DUFFLET PASTRIES proudly supports the Hong Kong Film Festival at the University of Toronto donderdag Holiday Inn Midtown Koo & Co University of Toronto s first Hong Kong Film Festival retail@dufflet.com 787 QUEEN STREET WEST (416) MON SAT: 10 AM 7 PM, S U N : 12 PM 6 PM Long Shong Group Tour East Holidays (Canada) Inc YONGE STREET (416) TUES SAT: 10 AM 7 PM, SUN: 12 PM 5 PM Nina Boric Michael Bozak Edward Chan Francis Ho Nicolett Jakab Sam Lang Kay Li Nicolett Jakab Adam Linthwaite Eyan Logan Jay Qin Judy Seto festival photographer Stephen Sui Aram Siu Wai Collier (416) We were unable to include everyone who has helped and contributed to the film festival when this went to press. A special thank you to those of you whose names were regretfully omitted. 26

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