Second Act

Recently, the silver screen has been home to images of Hong Kong that we haven’t seen in some time. In “Bodyguards and Assassins,” we saw the city as it was in 1905: streets lined with tong laus and colonial buildings. Young men pulled rickshaws past shops with wooden signs. Meanwhile, the setting for “Echoes of the Rainbow” is Wing Lee Street in Sheung Wan, where we get a glimpse of neighborhood life in the 60s, where families dined on the street in front of their homes. Present day Wan Chai, with its pedestrian overpasses, government buildings, streetcars and restaurants is the backdrop for “Crossing Hennessy.” There, we watch as two people wrestle with their problems while walking on the very streets that we walk on today. These films capture Hong Kong in an authentic way, from the viewpoint of Hong Kong people.
It seems that we are currently witnessing the comeback of Hong Kong film. After all, these screen images are not new to local audiences. Hong Kong cinema is known for its use of the city as a setting. Over the years, local filmmakers have produced a number of iconic images. In Wong Kar-wai’s “Chungking Express” the crowded Chungking Mansions and the Central-Mid-Levels escalator serve as a backdrop to the drama between Brigette Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Faye Wong and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. John Woo captured the magic of old teahouses, setting a pivotal scene of “Hard-Boiled” on location and having Chow Yun-fat slide down a teahouse banister firing two guns. These images tell the history of our city, recording the urban landscape and highlighting our cultural preoccupations of that particular moment in time. “A film is not just a moving image or a copy. The content of a film serves as a record. It has value as a reference for the future,” says Richie Lam, head of the Film Archive.
At its peak, in the 80s and early 90s, the Hong Kong film industry made over 300 movies a year. However, production declined and the box office dropped significantly following the financial crisis of 1998. In 2002, a local film called “Psychedelic Cop” set a record box office low, taking only $330 during its entire run. Piracy began taking a toll on the industry, further eating into box office receipts. Investment money began to dry up, and with it, opportunities. By 2003, the number of productions fell to 54, another record low. The dwindling number of shoots meant fewer jobs, and less room for newcomers. “The turnover of talent isn’t as strong as it was, which means the established talent are over employed and are growing older,” notes film critic and historian Stephen Teo.
Savvy producers began looking to the mainland for money, ushering in a new era of co-productions. According to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 70 Hong Kong films were produced in 2009, a production rate roughly 30 percent higher than the industry’s output in 2008. Many of these films were co-productions with the mainland, orchestrated with a mainland audience and market share in mind. “China is now proving to be a fast-growing market for Chinese-language movies,” said Jack So, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council, in a statement issued at the end of February. “At least six or seven of the top 10 box office hits are Hong Kong movies or co-productions, so this really has given a tremendous boost to the industry in Hong Kong.”
While the money from the mainland has increased the number of productions, there’s a trade off: relinquishing creative control. In the past, changes to storylines, themes, language and actors have been made with the mainland audience in mind. The most glaring example is the mainland version of “Infernal Affairs,” where an alternate ending was tacked on.
The recent success of Teddy Chen’s “Bodyguards and Assassins,” however, shows that co-productions with the mainland do not mean having to forgo artistic integrity. The film, a Cinema Popular production, is set in Hong Kong, 1905, and features a number of Hong Kong actors. It had a budget of roughly $178 million, and took nearly $388 million in box office receipts across Asia as of early last month. Cinema Popular was established in February 2009 by Bona International Film Group, Peter Chan Ho-sun and Huang Jianxin to capitalize on the growth of the mainland market. It seems that the company has found the right formula, and are not second-guessing what audiences want.
Of course, not all films have blockbuster budgets, or aspirations of making a huge profit at the box office. Smaller productions have avenues other than the mainland to consider for funding. For instance, films with a budget of no more than $12 million may be eligible for the Film Development Fund’s Film Production Financing Scheme if the production meets specific criteria, such as having a cast and crew that is 50 percent Hong Kong permanent residents. Since the inception of the scheme in October 2007, 14 applications out of 23 received about $38 million in funding. Many of the resulting productions are more personal and intimate in nature. Three of the films that received funding, “Echoes of the Rainbow,” “Break Up Club,” and “La Comédie Humaine,” are showing in the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). “Echoes of the Rainbow” won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and is currently also in wide release. All three films are in Cantonese and are set in Hong Kong, with storylines specific to our city.
Additionally, the HKIFF opens on March 21 with two local films, Clara Law’s “Like a Dream” and Ivy Ho’s “Crossing Hennessy.” In “Crossing Hennessy,” Ho’s affection for Hong Kong and the Cantonese language shines through in her shots and screenplay. As the film unfolds, so does a history of Wan Chai at that particular moment in time, with streets undergoing renovation by the Urban Renewal Authority. “When we showed ‘Crossing Hennessy’ in Beijing, people there were like ‘Wow, this is great. We don’t want to watch it in Putonghua,’” says Ho. “I mean, if you went to watch a Hollywood movie, you wouldn’t want to watch it dubbed in Cantonese.” Her previous film, “Claustrophobia,” which was also a character-driven study that featured very Hong Kong elements, was the recipient of funding from the Film Production Financing Scheme. “Some Hong Kong films are getting more personal because those films that are not blockbusters tend to be more firmly anchored in Hong Kong, and are smaller scale and more intimate,” notes Film Archive programmer Sam Ho.
In addition to feature films, a commissioned short film from a new series called “Quattro Hong Kong” accompanies each of the four “Short Film Competition” programs. The films are: “Red Earth” by Clara Law, “Fried Glutinous Rice” by Herman Yau, “We Might As Well Be Strangers” by Heiward Mak and “The Yellow Slipper” by Fruit Chan. “This new initiative should carry on next year as well,” notes Li Cheuk-to, artistic director of the HKIFF. “Together, the films work a little like ‘New York, I Love You’ or ‘Paris, Je T’Aime.’”
In order for a young filmmaker to be able to make films, he or she must have access to opportunities and mentors. “University is a good platform to share experience,” says director and editor Patrick Tam, who has been an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong since 2000. During that time, he directed the award-winning film “After This Our Exile.” He co-wrote the screenplay for that film with one of his former students from a course he taught in Malaysia. “We need to train young people in Hong Kong,” he says. “I hope that teaching helps contribute to the industry.” Young filmmakers who have studied abroad also want to return to work in the local industry. Leung Ming-kai, who has worked as a cinematographer on productions in Thailand, Japan, Greece, Canada, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has directed a short film in the Philippines, wants to practice his craft in Hong Kong. “I have always wanted to do projects in Hong Kong, more so for directing my own film than shooting for other people,” says Leung. “It is the place where I grew up and the place I have a lot of emotional ties with, and directing is always a little more personal I think.”
Above all, for audiences, film is more than an industry or simply a form of entertainment. Movies are part of our cultural identity. We hope that our local cinema can continue to reflect our lives in the present day, force us to examine our past, and also help usher us into the next decade. “Hong Kong society is undergoing many changes: socially, politically, financially, economically, even culturally,” says Tam. “It’s unstable, and there’s a lot of conflict. It’s chaotic. But how many of the current films based on Hong Kong deeply touch on and explore this situation? In addition to nostalgic films, we need films that are more analytical, more critical, looking at a cross section of our society...but this is very difficult to do.”

Eight Local Films Premiere at HKIFF

Break Up Club
A sad and sweet teen romance. Directed by Barbara Wong. Starring Fiona Sit, Jaycee Chan, Patrick Tang, Hiro Hayama and Bonnie Xian. Apr 3, 9pm.

La Comédie Humaine
A professional hitman and a screenwriter become friends. Directed by Chan Hing-kai and Janet Chun. Starring Chapman To, Wong Cho-lam and Fiona Sit.

Crossing Hennessy
A witty and wickedly funny romantic comedy set in Wan Chai. Directed by Ivy Ho. Starring Jacky Cheung, Tang Wei, Danny Lee and Paw Hee-ching. Mar 21, 6:45pm; Mar 31, 9:30pm.

Ex
A tale of tangled relationships and alienation in modern Hong Kong. Starring Gillian Chung, William Chan, Michelle Wai, Derek Tsang and Chapman To. Apr 6, 9pm.

Fire of Conscience
Two cops join forces to investigate a murder…then things go so very wrong. Directed by Dante Lam. Starring Leon Lai, Richie Jen and Wang Baoqiang. Mar 23, 9:45pm.

Gallants
Actions and laughs abound in this homage to action films of yesteryear. Directed by Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng. Starring Leung Siu-lung, Chen Kwun-tai and Teddy Robin. Mar 26, 9:30pm.