Hong+Kong

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**Hong Kong**

** Key Movements/Eras ** **1913 The first Hong Kong feature film is made, //Zhuangzi tests his wife//, directed by Lai Man-Wai and produced by Benjamin Brodsky. ** **1923 Lai Man-Wai, his brother, and his cousin create the first Chinese-owned film company, the Minxin (aka China Sun). **
 * 1909 Benjamin Brodsky, an entrepreneur from the U.S., produces the first two Hong Kong pictures, //Stealing a Roast Duck// and ** //Right a Wrong With Earthenware Dish//, both directed by Leung Siu-Po and both deriving from Chinese opera.



\ **1930s More production companies are founded. Genres go from martial arts films (//wuxia//) to dramas. At the time, films were acted out in the Cantonese dialect. The Nationalist Party shows hostility towards all this. **
 * 1937 After the Japanese conquest of Shanghai and the advent of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), Hong Kong becomes a shelter for actors, directors and producers. **
 * 1941 Hong Kong falls to the Japanese. Film production stops. **
 * 1946 Civil war in China between communists and nationalists. Film talents from China find shelter in Hong Kong. Hong Kong becomes the nucleus of Chinese-language cinema. **
 * 1949** Mao's communists take control over China. More talents arrive in Hong Kong. Films are made in Mandarin and in Cantonese. No language restrictions take place.
 * 1950s Shaw Brothers and MP&GI are the dominant film studios. **




 * 1963** British authorities demand Hong Kong films to be subtitled. Film exportation in international market increases.
 * 1964** MP&GI founder Lok Wan Tho dies in a plane crash. Shaw Brothers become the only dominant studio.
 * 1966** King Hu's //Come Drink With Me// is a commercial success. And it's produced by Shaw Brothers.




 * 1970** Cathay (the renamed MP&GI) fails and ceases film production. Shaw Brothers executive Raymond Chow decides to create his own company, Golden Harvest, that will focus mainly on producing kung-fu films. Golden Harvest will also be responsible for booming the career of Bruce Lee. Rivalry between SB and GH, but SB is still the dominant studio.
 * 1972** No more Cantonese films are made. //Kung fu// films explode nationally and internationally, following successes of Chang Wa-Chung's //King Boxer// and Lo Wei's //Fists of Fury// (with Bruce Lee).




 * 1973** Bruce Lee dies at 32 after having starred in only four films. Cantonese-language films are reintroduced with Chor Yuen's //The House of 72 Tenants.// Hong Kong comedies officially take off.
 * 1974** 21% of Hong Kong films are in Cantonese. Mandarin-language films decline.
 * 1977** The first Hong Kong Film Festival takes place.
 * 1978** Jackie Chan takes over the new kung-fu films with Yuen Woo-ping's //Snake in the Eagle's Shadow// and //Drunken Master//. Jackie Chan will become famous for starring in action-comedies.
 * 1979** The Hong Kong New Wave begins, led by young filmmakers who have studied and worked abroad. Notable filmmakers of this period include Tsui Hark, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Yim Ho and Allen Fong.
 * 1980** Mini/Independent Studios start to profit, such as Cinema City. These new studios will mainly focus on action comedies. Shaw Brothers decline. New stars are introduced to the big screen, such as Chow Yun-Fat.




 * 1983** Luxury Goods retailer Dickson Poon founds film company D&B Films, also aimed at action comedies.
 * 1987** Shaw Brothers cease film production.
 * 1988** The Hong Kong government introduces a rating system that includes a special category for films with sex and violence, called Category III. Category III soon becomes a new, specific film genre. (To know more about the Hong Kong film rating system, click [|here].)
 * 1992** Thanks to video stores in Chinatown and other similar cities, Hong Kong cinema booms in the west.
 * 1996** Director Johnnie To and screenwriter Wai Ka-fai create a new film company, Milkway Image, pioneering a new style of film-noir movies.
 * 1997** In the year of the transfer of sovereignty to PRC, local releases drop from 178 to below 100 for the first time since the 1980s.
 * 2003** Releases are only 64. Local banks decide to produce films in order to support the film industry.
 * 2008-onwards** Local releases are now around 50 per year. Despite this, the Hong Kong film cinema is considered the third most leading film industry in the world, right behind Bollywood and Hollywood.

** Key Players ** __King Hu__ (1931-1997). Born in China, active in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Brought Chinese/Hong Kong/Taiwanese films to a new height thanks to his martial arts films. His major films are //Come Drink With Me// (1966) (produced by the Shaw Brothers) and //Dragon Gate Inn// (1967).
 * Directors**



__Lo Wei__ (1918-1996). Chinese director active in Hong Kong. Launched careers of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Made mainly martial arts films. Major films include Fists of Fury (1971) and Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin (1977). Little trivia; it is said that Wei was linked with the Triads, a Chinese crime band.



__Chang Cheh__ (1923-2002). AKA Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema. Shaw Brothers Studio's most profilic film director. He did classic wuxia and kung fu films as well as swordplay films. Influenced by spaghetti westerns and samurai films. Major works include Five Venoms (1978) and The One-Armed Swordsman (1967).



__John Woo__ (1946-). Filmmaker of choreographed action films. Began his film career by becoming a script supervisor. Inspired by //Lawrence of Arabia// and //Seven Samurai//, he was described by film critic Dave Kehr as "arguably the most influential director making movies today". First Hong Kong director to work in Hollywood (Mission:Impossible II).



__Andrew Lau__ (1950-). Renowned today for filming action and crime films, as well as martial arts films. He began his career as a cinematographer after graduating from secondary school. Works include //The Young and Dangerous// film series and for //Infernal Affairs// trilogy. He is also a producer and occasional actor.



__Tsui Hark__ (1950-) The most successful film director that came from the Hong Kong New Wave of the 80's. His genres mix horror, wuxia, fantasy, mystery and kung fu. He made some action films in Hollywood, such as //Double Team// in 1997 with Jean-Claude Van Damme, but he proves to be more successful in Hong Kong. His major films include //Zu Warriors and the Magic Mountain// (1983), //Peking Opera Blues// (1986), //Seven Swords// (2005) and //Time and Tide// (2000) although many critics consider his best work to be the //Once Upon A Time in China// film series (1991-7) that blends martial arts and adventure.



__Wong Kar-Wai__ (1958-). Internationally renowned. Sophisticated filmmaker, he stands away from the mainstream business, focusing on making stylish and striking cinema. His genres go from science-fiction to romance, from art to gangster films. Major works include Days of Being Wild (1991), In the Mod for Love (2000) and 2046 (2004), all winners of European awards like the EFA and the César.




 * Actors/Actresses**

__Bruce Lee__ (1940-1973). Born in China, grew up in Hong Kong. His father was a Cantonese opera star, so he was introduced to the world of drama and film at a young age. At the age of 18, his parents decide to send him to the US, where he studied philosophy and drama at the University of Washington. There, he also started to win boxing and martial arts championships. After university, he became a martial arts teacher. He started acting in the TV series of //The Green Hornet//, playing sidekick Kato. The show is successful in Hong Kong, and with a big future ahead of him, Bruce Lee signs for newborn film industry Golden Harvest. His major films for that company are //The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon// and //Enter the Dragon//. He died in 1973 in his sleep. He only starred in these four films.



__Jackie Chan__ (1954-). From the age of 17 he worked as a stuntman for Bruce Lee and wuxia films before finishing high school in Australia. From his small roles/cameo/stunts, Chan had been identified as the new Bruce Lee. His breakthrough film was //Snake in the Eagles Shadow// in 1978. He had become a Hong Kong celebrity before switching from kung fu films to action comedies like //Police Story// (1985). He moved to Hollywood were he continued making action comedies, like the commercially successful //Rush Hour// series together with Chris Tucker. His most recent performance was in the remake of //Karate Kid// as Mr.Han. Today he is one of the biggest media celebrities in Hong Kong.



__Chow Yun-Fat__ (1955-). Actor who mainly plays roles of tough guys, he is best known in Asia for collaborations with John Woo (//Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow//) and in the West for his performance in the successful Taiwanese film //Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon//. He has won three Hong Kong film Awards for Best Actor.



__Leslie Cheung__ (1956-2003). World-known Cantopop singer. Starred in Woo's //A Better Tomorrow// and in Wong Kar-Wai's //Happy Together// and //Days of Being Wild// (for which he won the Hong Kong film award for Best Actor). Gained worldwide fame for his performance in Chinese film //Farewell, My Concubine//. Committed suicide by falling off a building. He was suffering from depression.



__Andy Lau__ (1961-). Performed in more than 120 films. Coming from a poor familiar background, he became an actor after signing up for a training program of local TV channel //TVB//. He starred in the first films of Wong Kar-Wai (As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild) before moving on to crime films by starring in Andrew Lau's //Infernal Affairs//. He won 25 Hong Kong Film Awards for acting and producing. Today he is also a famous Cantopop singer.



__Stephen Chow__ (1962-). Actor, director, comedian, producer, screenwriter. What else? He made Hong Kong's highest grossing films, //Shaolin Soccer// and //Kung Fu Hustle// (Over HK$ 60 million gross revenue each). But he did get some experience through working for local teenage TV channel TVB. Since he was actor who played small roles in films, he decided to direct his own films, starting in 1994 with //From Beijing with Love//. Hard to give him more credit as a director or as an actor since he plays both in his films...



__Tony Leung Chiu-Wai__ (1962-). Former TVB actor, Leung gained success with his performances in Woo's //Hard Boiled//, in Wong Kar-Wai's //In The Mood For Love// (for which he won the Best Actor award at Cannes) and Andrew Lau's //Infernal Affairs// together with Andy Lau. He won the Hong Kong film Award five times. His last major performance was in Woo's Chinese epic //Red Cliff//.



__Maggie Cheung__ (1964-). Raised in England. Was a semi-finalist at the at the Miss World competition in 1983. Like Andy Lau, she worked for Wong Kar-Wai. She is the first Asian to have won the Best Actress price at Cannes in 2006 for her performance in the French film //Clean//.




 * Producers**

__Runme Shaw__ (1901-1985) and __Run-Run Shaw__ (1907-), AKA the Shaw Brothers. Pioneers of Eastern Asian film production, they have also worked in Singapore and in Malaysia apart from the creating Hong Kong's biggest film industry, the Shaw Brothers studio. They are best known for producing martial arts/wuxia films such as //Come Drink With Me// and //The One-Armed Swordsman//.





__Raymond Chow__ (1929-) Former executive of Shaw Brothers, he decided to create his own film company, Golden Harvest, were he made kung-fu and martial arts films. He produced the major films with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Thanks to him, Golden Harvest became the major film industry from the 70s to the 80s.



__Terence Shang__. Produced all of John Woo's greatest films made in Hong Kong (//The Killer, Hardboiled, Face/Off, Once a Thief),// as well as Mission:Impossible II.




 * Screenwriters**

__Barry Wong__ (1946-1991). Wrote scripts for various comedy and action films, he was one of the leading figures of Hong Kong cinema for having collaborated with actors & filmmakers such as John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat, Jacke Chan and Wong Jing. He died at the age of 44 because of a heart attack, right after //Hard Boiled// was released.



__Felix Chong__ (1968). One of the most famous screenwriters in the Hong Kong cinema scene. Best known for writing the scripts of the first three //Infernal Affairs// films. Other films he wrote include //Cat and Mouse// and //Confession of a Pain//.




 * Clips from Hong Kong films **

**Fist of Fury** by Lo Wei, 1972.


 * Hardboiled** by John Woo, 1992.


 * In The Mood For Love**, by Wong Kar-Wai, 2000.


 * Come drink with me by King Hu, 1966. **

** Articles of Analysis/Links ** >
 * [] An analysis of Wong Kar-Wai's major films, from //As Tears Go By// to //2046//.
 * [] Another analysis on Wong Kar Wai's pictures, although this one focuses more on the key elements and the //mise-en-scene// of his films.
 * [] John Woo's biography. Focuses mainly on his Hong Kong films (//A Better Tomorror, Hard Boiled//)
 * [] While celebrating the 100th anniversary of Hong Kong, Matthew Scott analyzes the first ever Hong Kong film, //Stealing A Roast Duck//.
 * [] Robert Twigger challenges Bruce Lee's kung fu skills comparing them to "Ip Man".
 * [] A source analyzing the rise and fall of the Shaw Brothers Film Industry.
 * [] Tsui Hark talks about //Time and Tide// (2000) in an interview.
 * [] A very detailed Q&A page about Hong Kong cinema, from history to trivia.
 * [] A timeline of Hong Kong cinema.
 * [] Good facts and details about HK cinema


 * Influences **


 * Chinese Opera. The first Hong Kong films had plots loosely based on stories taken from the Chinese opera, the dominant form of entertainment in China before the advent of cinema.
 * **Wuxia literature**. The adventures of martial artists, mainly contained in newspapers/magazines/serials, have made films like //Come Drink With Me// possible.
 * Art films. The Honk Kong New Wave of the 80's, inspired by this, decided to create anti-mainstream conventional films.
 * British sovereignty. Hong Kong had more freedom regarding its cinema thanks to the government it had, although it still managed to become "free-minded" after 1997.



** Influenced **
 * American action cinema. Hollywood remained so impressed by the action films produced in Hong Kong that action films made today are taken from Hong Kong films (e.g. Scorsese's //The Departed// is highly based on //Infernal Affairs//).
 * Quentin Tarantino & Roberto Rodriguez (//The splatter/action couple//). The Kill Bill series was inspired by various genres and subgenres of Hong Kong Cinema (Bruce Lee, martial arts). He even used a fighting choreographer (Yuen Woo-Ping)! Rodriguez used Woo's cinematic style mainly for //Desperado// and //Once Upon A Time in Mexico//.
 * //Matrix// trilogy. Just like Tarantino used a choreographer for Kill Bill, the Wachowski Bros. employed a choreographer and Woo's "gun fu" style for this blockbuster sci-fi masterpiece.
 * In general, Hong Kong cinema influenced mainstream **Hollywood** films; the action/science-fiction genres completely changed to become more similar to the Hong Kong style. Also, many Hong Kong actors "emigrated" to Hollywood, such as the late Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.



** Awards **
 * **Hong Kong Film Awards**; the Academy Awards of Hong Kong, probably the most prestigious award in Eastern Asia since the nominations also come from China and Taiwan. The difference with the Academy Awards is that there are more categories. Here they are:
 * Best Film
 * Best Director
 * Best Screenplay
 * Best Actor
 * Best Actress
 * Best Supporting Actor
 * Best Supporting Actress
 * Best New Performer
 * Best Cinematography
 * Best Film Editing
 * Best Art Direction
 * Best Costume/Make-Up Design
 * Best Action Choreography
 * Best Original Film Score
 * Best Original Film Song
 * Best Sound Design
 * Best Visual Effects
 * Best Asian Film
 * Best New Director




 * **Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award**. Probably the //Cannes Festival// of Hong Kong Cinema, since instead of mainstream cinema it focuses on art films and non commercial cinema. The categories are:
 * Best Film
 * Best Director
 * Best Screenplay
 * Best Actor
 * Best Actress

** Quotations **
 * ** //This time you eat paper...next time it will be glass!// (Bruce Lee forcing two Japanese people to eat paper after he "warned" them not to disturb his kung fu school any more in //Fist of Fury//) **




 * ** //I hate making paper cranes. I make one each time I kill someone. How about it, should I make you one?// (Tony Leung, the sort-of-bad guy that turns out to be good while he talks to "bad cop" Chow Yun-Fat in //Hard Boiled//) **




 * ** //When I was 11, even though we were poor, my mother would take me to the movies. I was fascinated by the musicals. I think they influenced me the most//. (John Woo, major action/gun fu filmmaker, mentions his major influence) **


 * // You need to make yourself very flexible with Kar-wai. You have to turn yourself inside out. I've worked with people on his films and they were very frightened, very nervous at first, and they came up and ask me what the heck was going on. And I always tell them with Kar-wai, you don't ask, you just feel. I think Kar- wai feels that if you know a character, you're no longer acting, and therefore it restricts your acting. He works in reverse to everyone else. That's why he takes so long and that's why we don't need to know. The actors develop purely through shooting. (Tony Leung talks about applying the Stanislavski system while working with Wong Kar-Wai). //




 * // What goes around comes around. It came later than expected already . ( Infernal Affairs ) //



** Critical Reception **
 * It's the third biggest film industry in the world, right behind Bollywood (India) and Hollywood (USA).
 * Not many films are released now in compared to the 80s, but nowadays at least 60 films are distributed every year.
 * //Kung Fu Hustle// is the most commercially successful Hong Kong film ever, with a Hong Kong gross of HK$ 61 million.
 * //Comrades: Almost a Love Story// (1996) by Peter Chan is the film that won the highest number of Hong Kong Film Awards ever (9 in total).
 * John Woo was the first film director to work for Hollywood, in 1993, with the film //Hard Target//. At the same time Wong Kar-Wai was the first one to collaborate with more sophisticated filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh and the late Michelangelo Antonioni (together, the three made the 2004 portmanteau film //Eros//).
 * The HK$ 10 million gross revenue limit is considered a successful run.
 * Top film stars get HK$ 5 million ($640 000) per film.