Hong Kong’s film history is neither simple nor dull. It is as complicated and rich as the city’s political and cultural history. The works, historical events and interpretations produce new meanings and debates over time. Being able to incorporate the discourse allows us to gain a more subjective understanding of Hong Kong film history’s numerous facets, which will expand the quality and quantity of our appreciation, preservation and research. Hence, in order to explore and protect Hong Kong film history (and its related materials), we must not be limited to examining Cantonese and Mandarin films that were made in Hong Kong, but include the production, budgetary and distribution information from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. The various genres, styles and trends across generations, in addition to the different regional cultures and languages, all come together in this boundless scope that sets the stage for Hong Kong film history. All these elements have a causal relationship. When we examine them, seeing how they work as cogs and gears of a larger structure, we will gain a greater understanding and appreciation of Hong Kong Cinema and film history in adjoining areas.

For this section, we expect to establish a wide and independent perspective that will unearth (or help unearth) films in our vast film history and archives. Hence, besides well-known classics, there are also forgotten or previously lost gems that are worthy of being introduced to the public. They fill in the blanks that might rewrite our known film history. Aside from the relatively known Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon (1947) and the ‘Nanyang Trilogy’, the other films have been lost or shelved for decades without much attention from critics and scholars. After being re-released in recent years, Suspect from Husband and A Good Couple (both 1948) were treated with little consideration, as their achievement and place in film history did not inspire any detailed exposition. Besides, whether or not a film has been restored is not a factor in its selection. Since digital restoration is all the rage these days, DCP has almost become the only screening format. We are trying to rectify the trend by extending the life of different media and screening formats, such as programming films whose materials have not been digitally restored. By doing so, we hope that film cinematography, processing and projection will not cease to exist (while film restoration entities are developing technology that will advance the medium’s sustainability). Although films in this section are in DCP or other digital formats, A Good Couple, Alienation (1966), I Didn’t Dare to Tell You (1969), and The End of the Track (1970) have not been digitally restored. However, these screening copies exhibit decent quality, so there is no point to make it look new for the sake of doing so and leave no trace of time passed. After all, the films themselves are already incredible rediscoveries.

Based on these ideologies, one would understand why the postwar Shanghai classic Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon should not be overshadowed by The Spring River Flows East (1947). Besides its spirit of the times and neorealist approach, the film also has strong connections with Hong Kong’s Chinese-leftist Cinema. Even though the mature discussions on life and gender roles in Eight, Suspect from Husband and A Good Couple might not form an equal dialogue with Kong Ngee Film Company’s ‘Nanyang Trilogy’, their integration of regional and historical experience with the adaptation of Hollywood styles constitutes a distinctive contrast. Classic Hollywood aesthetics are not as deeply embedded in Chun Kim and Chan Man’s films as they are in the aforementioned earlier Chinese films. The latter’s clever mishmash format upholds Cantonese films’ didactic spirit while demonstrating the youth and sexiness of the Cold War era. By the time Taiwanese films like Alienation, I Didn’t Dare to Tell You, and The End of the Track were released, Hong Kong’s artsy youths were making avant-garde or experimental short films. Meanwhile, industry pros like Chor Yuen, Patrick Lung Kong, and Wong Yiu also introduced the angst of youth, crimes, and political problems in their films while imitating the then-new style from the West. But the young Taiwanese filmmakers made films like the European art house directors with a mix of realism and veiled abstraction. Their feature-length films require us to carefully consider and compare the creative environment and filmmakers’ ideologies from these two locations. Dangerous Youth (1969) represents Taiwanese-language films that were mass-produced outside of the mainstream Mandarin Cinema. Their themes and styles varied as trends evolved. Besides paying close attention to their characteristics and history, we could learn about the interaction between its ecology and local culture, which might help us explain and analyse Hong Kong Cantonese film history.

This January marks the second anniversary of seasoned film researcher Wong Ain-ling’s passing. The significance of Ms. Wong’s research on film history is indisputable. As many of the films selected here were only rediscovered in recent years, it is unlikely that Ms. Wong would have seen them. Since our intention is to discover rare and unseen films, and ceaselessly writing more additional chapters for the lively and boundless film history, this program is not only a forward-looking take on film history for movie-goers and researchers, but also a tribute to Ms. Wong Ain-ling.

To many, early films mean black-and-white. However, as soon as motion pictures were invented, filmmakers were looking beyond the monochrome. Despite technological limitations, non-photographic methods like hand colouring, stencil printing, tinting and toning were conceived and broadly used, offering the audience new and exciting visual experiences. With advances in film materials, additive and subtractive colour processes were developed to produce photographic colour in films, and studios and inventors were in a race to invent the latest technologies aiming to capture the colours of the real world. While there are over a hundred recorded film colouring techniques, some well-known additive systems are Kinemacolor (2 colour), Gaumont Chronochrome (3 colour), Technicolor Process 1 (2 colour), Lee and Turner (3 colour) and Douglass Color No. 1 (2 colour); notable subtractive systems include Kodachrome Two-color (renamed Fox Nature Color in the 1930s), Polychromide, Prizma II, Zoechrome, Technicolor Process 4, etc. Most early films recovered are in poor condition, as the conservation of film itself has not been a simple task and the colouring chemicals are unstable and easily faded. As early film restoration techniques were far from perfect, moving images were kept as the more stable form of black-and-white films. Nowadays, more and more early films are restored through innovative scanning and image reconstruction. This section presents a number of unique colour films, including several Asian productions, in their restored formats, to demonstrate various early film colouring techniques and let the audience discover this rich and vibrant part of film history.

During the late 19th and early 20th century, filmmakers explored the endless potential of this latest technology of the time. Les Parisiennes (1897), The Six Sisters Dainef, A Trip to the Moon (both 1902) and Het Tovertoneel (1907) demonstrated early films’ narrative transition from reality to phantasm. These multi-act works were full of life and wild imagination, presenting marvellous visual effects and creativity unconstrained by technological limits. The Extraordinary Voyage (2011) chronicles the life of iconic filmmaker Georges Méliès, his adroit filming and colouring over a century ago, and the decade-long restoration of his A Trip to the Moon, a journey just as dramatic as his life. With the rapid development of film industry, studios replaced hand colouring with tinting and toning as they employed assembly-line production techniques. At the beginning the effect was rudimentary and single-toned, created as something other than the monochrome just to satisfy the audience’s desire for colour. Later the effects were more refined and context-specific, with corresponding colours for various times of the day, locations, atmospheres as well as plot turns. Both filmed on location, the plots of The Mills in Joy and Shadow (1912), a tragedy of vengeance in a pleasant town, and Way Down West (1927), a classical tale of romance between a scholar and a fair lady, were intensified by elaborated toning. Though in 1916 the colour film printing process Technicolor was invented, the process displayed a limited colour spectrum and the production cost was daunting. Despite the limitations, studios strove to impress audience with different colouring techniques, serving up an innovative visual feast with films like The Phantom of the Opera (1925), the first adapted from this classic novel, with a combination of toning, partial Handschiegl colouring and Technicolor Process 2 (two-colour).

In 1932, Technicolor managed to improve its processes and image authenticity with its subtractive 3 colour (RGB) process. With image tones richer and more intense than reality, this process was often used in genres like musical, romance, and even western adventure films. With the Technicolor process, Magnificent Obsession (1954) portrayed in realistic detail the prosperous American life in the 1950s. Luxurious cars and apartments, colourful clothes and novel home appliances impressed further with vivid toning. While colour films in Asia did not flourish as much as in the West, filmmakers in the region were also keen to experiment; filmed using the American two-strip colour process Cinecolor invented in 1932, The Thousand-Stitch Belt (1937) is the oldest surviving Japanese colour film with sound. Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. founded in Tokyo was Asia’s first to develop filming techniques with the autochrome process. Natsuko’s Adventure in Hokkaido (1953), Shochiku’’s second colour feature made with Fuji’s films, compares the leading character’s resolute nature to Japan’s majestic landscape. Santi-Vina, produced in Thailand in the next year, enriches its cultural and religious qualities through exquisite composition and brilliant colours.

As state-of-the-art digital technologies progress towards fruition, the bar is also raised in terms of filmmaking and imaging standards. Yet, celluloid film is still largely agreed to be the medium of highest filming and screening qualities. Indeed, screening formats, resolution and carriers of digital images often get renewed and replaced every few years. Celluloid films, on the other hand, if properly preserved, can store moving images for an apparent longest length of time.

At the moment, a number of filmmakers still diligently create films, animations and all sorts of moving images using celluloid films. In this era where digital cameras are at our easy reach, their creative works are remarkably precious for their exquisite imageries and experimental filming styles.

For this programme, may we introduce to you Director Tetsuichiro Tsuta from Japan and bring to the big screen Islands of Dreams (2009) for its overseas debut, as well as his more recent short, Forestry (2016). Born in Tokushima prefecture in 1984, Tsuta graduated from Department of Imaging Art, Faculty of Arts, Tokyo Polytechnic University. In his university years, he acquired his film developing and editing skills on the basis of celluloid filmmaking, trying to realise his belief of ‘movies and celluloid are both named “film”.’ It was also when Tetsuichiro co-founded Niko Niko Film with photographer Yutaka Aoki and had always borrowed the 16mm shooting equipment from the university.

While one might say that Tsuta’s graduation film, Islands of Dreams, carries a retro approach; The Tale of Iya (2013), his first feature film upon graduation, would then be considered beyond nostalgic, in which a character of his own gradually came into shape. Spanning nearly three hours, the piece was shot entirely on 35mm films, which is fairly impossible in the Japanese production scene. Thanks to the perseverance of the Niko Niko Film team, not only was the filming completed, the piece was later selected in various film festivals both nationally and internationally, garnering a few awards.

Celluloid and digital filmmaking do not only differ in their creative media. The modes of production and the styles and effects represented in the resulting works are also noticeably distinct. Opting for celluloid filmmaking doesn’t mean to disprove otherwise, but is instead conducive to re-exploring all the possibilities of moving image works.