| THE FIRST HONG KONG FILM COURSE WAS
A GREAT SUCCESS! The first Hong Kong Film Course was
conducted by Stephen Teo at OPENChannel on Saturday 23 October, 1999.
Over the course of six hours, Stephen outlined the beginnings of Hong Kong cinema, the
major periods in the cinema's development, the interplay between Cantonese and Mandarin
cinema, the rise and development of martial arts films, the directors of the New Wave and
the Second Wave, and the cyclical crises which have beset the industry since its
inception.
To illustrate the differences in Hong Kong cinema over this time, Stephen
showed clips from the Yam-Pak opera film The Purple Hairpin
(1959), the legendary Kwan Tak-hing and a very young Shek Kin in
Wong Feo-Hung Attends The Joss Stick Festival At Heavenly Goddess Temple (1950s),
Bruce Lee's The Big Boss (1971), John
Woo's first film Young Dragons (1975), Michael Hui's
smash hit comedy The Private Eyes (1976), Tong Shu-shuen's
overlooked precursor to the New Wave films The Arch (1970), a television work by Patrick
Tam, Lau Kar-leong's amazingly choreographed Dirty Ho, and
Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express (1994). He also screend a
surprise short film which revealed an Australian/Hong Kong film-making connection!
Everyone I spoke to after the course enjoyed it immensely.
Each seemed to cite a different aspect of the course that they found to be of most value -
for some, it was learning about the development of martial arts cinema, for others it was
Stephen's analysis of the film-making techniques developed by Hong Kong directors. Me, I
enjoyed it all!
If you would be interested in attending a repeat
presentation of this course, or perhaps a new course looking at one aspect of Hong Kong
film in more detail, please contact OPENChannel and let them know that you are interested.
If the demand is there, another event may be scheduled.
ORIGINAL COURSE ADVERTISING:
TAKE A FASCINATING LOOK AT THE EXTRA DIMENSIONS OF HONG KONG CINEMA!
Cinema-goers in the West are well familiar with the explosive movies of Bruce Lee,
Jackie Chan and John Woo, and have come to treat "Hong Kong" as a synonym for
"action". However, these are not the only films made in Hong Kong during its 90
years of movie-making history.
This one-day course presented by Stephen Teo will provide an overview of the
development of the Hong Kong film industry, from its silent era origins to its present
decline. The key characteristics of Hong Kong cinema will be discussed (language use,
genre development, stylistic devices, etc.) as well as the historical and local factors
that brought about these features. Excerpts of films from each period will be screened. By
the end, participants should have gained a solid understanding of the cinema's background
and history.
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