Film Archive and Film and Media Art Programmes
Hong Kong Film Archive
The Film Archive acquires, preserves, catalogues and documents Hong Kong films and related materials. It also organises retrospective screenings, thematic exhibitions, symposiums and seminars on films, which in 2017-18 attracted approximately 179 100 visitors. Its facilities include a cinema, an exhibition hall, a resource centre and four temperature-controlled collection stores.
During the year, four thematic exhibitions were organised: The Stars, the Silver Screen and the Period Wardrobe; The Stars, the Silver Screen and the Qipao; More Than a Piece of Paper: Rediscovering Hong Kong Movie Posters; and Their Glory Days.The Film Archive also organised film screenings, talks and seminars throughout the year. On top of regular series like Archival Gems and Morning Matinee, the Film Archive curated thematic programmes that included:
- Revisiting the New Wave;
- A Century of Operatic Treasures in Film – A Tribute to Tong Tik-sang on His 100th Birth Anniversary;
- Beauty in Myriad Shades: A Tribute to Betty Loh Ti on Her 80th Birth Anniversary;
- From Small Town to The Big Screen: A Retrospective on Wei Wei;
- Movie Talk: Philip Chan;
- CNY Fever: It’s a Material World;
- programmes in support of UNESCO’s World Day for Audiovisual Heritage; and
- programmes in support of Cantonese Opera Day.
With a view to reaching audiences in the New Territories, the Film Archive presented a mini-showcase of the flagship programme 100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies in the Auditorium of North District Town Hall, selecting 10 titles of different genres to attract different audiences and age groups. The Film Archive also organised an outreach film education programme and visited seven secondary schools to introduce its film preservation and restoration work to over 1 600 students. To date, the Film Archive has acquired 13 830 film titles and 1.23 million film-related materials, mainly through donations. Acquisitions in 2017-18 included pre-print materials such as picture negatives, soundtracks, subtitles, inter-picture negatives, inter-positives, film prints, footage, magnetic tapes and trailers. Major donations included 16mm, 17.5mm and 35mm pre-print materials from 104 titles dating from 1970 to 2007, along with 573 film-related items (such as stills, betacam SP tapes, posters and handbills) from Star Alliance Movies (HK) Co., Ltd., and 35mm pre-print materials from two titles and around 500 film-related items (such as digital betacam tapes, betacam SP tapes, D2 tapes and U-matic tapes) from First Distributors (HK) Limited. The Film Archive also continued to duplicate film scripts and censor documents relating to Hong Kong films of the 1950s from the New York State Archives.
In 2017-18, the Film Archive published a Chinese book titled Movie Talk Series 2: Ivy Ho Unsaid, and released an electronic publication titled Oral History Series 7: When the Wind Was Blowing Wild: Hong Kong Cinema of the 1970s. Ivy Ho Unsaid chronicles the ups and downs of the creative life of award-winning writer-director Ivy Ho, featuring her screenplays July Rhapsody (2002) and On the Minibus (1985) as well as a collection of her proses. When the Wind Was Blowing Wild: Hong Kong Cinema of the 1970s puts together interviews with 14 filmmakers and in-depth discourses of researchers with a view to depicting the fast-evolving landscape of Hong Kong cinema at the time.
Film and Media Arts Programmes
The Film Programmes Office promotes the appreciation and development of film and media arts in Hong Kong. In 2017-18, the office collaborated with Consulates-General, film and media arts organisations and cultural institutes to organise screening programmes, talks, seminars and workshops on various film and media arts topics.
Highlights of the year included:
- the International Children’s and Youth Film Carnival 2017;
- the Chinese Film Panorama 2017;
- Critics’ Choice 2017 – Music and Film in Six Movements;
- Critics’ Choice 2017 – Cinema of Occultism;
- Repertory Cinema 2017 : In Memory of Japanese Film Master – Kindness & Selflessness : The Doctrine of Kurosawa Akira;
- Christmas Family Screen;
- The Malaysian Chinese Experience;
- the 46th French Cinepanorama;
- the German Film Forum; and
- the KINO German Film Festival.
One event organised by the Film Programmes Office to enhance interest in film in the community and among school students was Old Movies, Old Hong Kong – Care for Our Community 2017. This delivered a series of film screenings at schools and elderly centres, after which students were able to meet and talk with the elderly attendees. Film Exploration for Primary Students – A Trip to the Moon was also initiated to provide primary students with basic film knowledge through screenings of world classics, along with post-screening talks and creative writing workshops.
