Aug 26, 2016
SFFILM
San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society has announced the lineup for the sixth annual Hong Kong Cinema festival, September 23–25 at the Embarcadero Center Cinema (One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level), presented in association with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, San Francisco. This annual festival of exciting new work from one of the world’s most important filmmaking hubs showcases Hong Kong’s range of cinematic storytelling with contributions from both internationally known filmmakers as well as up-and-coming talents.
“For Hong Kong Cinema’s sixth year, we’re thrilled to be welcoming Stanley Kwan to San Francisco to present two of his films, including the 25th anniversary of his masterful Center Stage,” said SF Film Society Programmer Rod Armstrong. “Alongside these retrospective screenings, this year’s exciting selection offers Johnnie To’s intense hospital-set thriller, an intimate epic about Chinese film extras and a family-oriented sports story about Hong Kong’s first youth league baseball team. We’re excited by the strength of this year’s lineup.”
Hong Kong Cinema continues Bay Area’s celebration of work from one of the world’s most exciting filmmaking hubs. This year, the Film Society is excited to present a tribute to award-winning director Stanley Kwan, who will appear in person to present two of his classics from the 1990s. His work is presented alongside extraordinary new films from Johnnie To, Fruit Chan and Derek Yee. The cinematic collaboration between Hong Kong and other locales continues to grow in films like I Am Somebody, which goes behind the scenes of the mainland’s motion-picture industry, and Hong Kong director Sylvia Chang’s Taiwan-set drama Murmur of the Hearts.
For complete program information visit sffs.org/Exhibition/Fall-Season.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23
6:15 pm – Opening Night: Center Stage
Stanley Kwan (Hong Kong, 1991, 148 min) Director in person
Center Stage tells the tragic story of silent film star Ruan Ling-yu, one of the most beloved performers in Chinese cinema, played by Maggie Cheung in a magisterial performance that garnered her the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for Best Actress. Effortlessly juggling multiple narrative layers including documentary-style interviews and archival footage, Kwan’s film offers an audacious take on the art of acting and reminds us of the power of great cinema performances.
9:45 pm – Insanity
David Lee (Hong Kong, 2014, 99 min)
The lives of a killer who hears voices and the doctor who treats him mingle compellingly in this clever psychological thriller starring two of the region’s hottest actors. Building to an unrelenting face-off between doctor and patient in an enclosed room, Insanity blends social commentary about mental illness into a twist-filled plot that will have viewers on the edge of their seats.
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24
12:30 pm – Weeds on Fire
Steve Chan Chi-fat (Hong Kong, 2016, 92 min) Director in person
Inspired by the rousing true story of Hong Kong’s first youth league baseball team, formed in 1984, Weeds on Fire has an independent spirit that successfully blends a touching depiction of the highs and lows of friendship with a buoyant underdog tale of scrappy kids who find glory and meaning in the ballpark.
3:00 pm – I Am Somebody
Derek Yee, China/Hong Kong, 2015, 135 min
Paying moving tribute to the millions of faceless people who make up the background of countless Chinese movies, director Derek Yee (The Great Magician, HKC 2012) tells a multi-strand story of several aspiring actors trying to make it in China’s ever-burgeoning film industry by seeking work as extras in Hengdian, home of the largest film studio in the world.
6:00 pm – Rouge
Stanley Kwan (Hong Kong, 1987, 93 min) Director in person
Sensual and atmospheric, Rouge tells the story of Fleur (Anita Mui) and Chen (Leslie Cheung), star-crossed lovers who meet in a brothel in 1930s Hong Kong and make a tragic pact when their relationship is refused recognition by Chen’s parents. The film is also a haunting ghost story, with Fleur returning from the grave 50 years later to find the lover who went back on his word all those years before.
8:30 pm – Kill Time
Fruit Chan (China/Hong Kong, 2016, 126 min)
An unsolved strangulation from 1995 has present-day ramifications for Xiaomai (internationally known model Angelababy) in Hong Kong director Chan’s mainland-set mystery-thriller. A purple scarf sets off a chain of memories for the young woman who tries to find out its mysterious provenance and how it could be related to the 20-year-old crime.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25
2:30 pm – Happiness
Andy Lo (Hong Kong/China, 2016, 113 min)
In this heartwarming drama, Yuk is a young short-order cook, surly and self-involved, who will find his life transformed through a new job and an unexpected friendship with an older woman he calls Aunt Fanny. Representing two generations of Hong Kong superstardom, Carlos Chan and Kara Hui have a funny, touching, and utterly credible rapport as the two leads.
5:30 pm – Murmur of the Hearts
Sylvia Chang (Taiwan/Hong Kong, 2015, 119 min)
With a dreamy interweaving of past and present, Sylvia Chang’s Taiwan-set drama tells the story of two siblings who were separated at a young age. The moving and powerful story behind this separation and its ramifications for the two protagonists speaks powerfully to the way women’s lives can be stifled and to how a child’s search and need for parental validation can carry into adulthood.
8:00 pm – Three
Johnnie To (Hong Kong/China, 2016, 88 min)
It’s a non-stop battle between an injured criminal mastermind and several police officers on the post-op ward of a large Hong Kong hospital in Johnnie To’s latest action-packed extravaganza starring the formidable Louis Koo. Featuring a tour-de-force slow-motion shoot out, Three hearkens back to some of To’s blood-and-bullets classics, while also displaying some of the visual tricks he learned on his last film, Office (HKC 2015).
Film tickets $13 for SFFS members, $15 general, $14 seniors, students and persons with disabilities; CineVoucher 10-Packs $120 for SFFS members, $140 general. Box office now open online at sffs.org.
To request screeners, press materials and interviews contact bproctor@sffs.org.
Hong Kong Cinema is sponsored by Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, San Francisco and special event sponsor MarketBar, and receives special support from Penelope Wong and Tim Kochis.