Essential Cinema Archives

Days and Nights of Being Wild: Hong Kong New Wave Cinema

Sept 6 - Oct 7, 2011

Starting in the mid-1970s, the Hong Kong film industry received a much needed blow-to-the-head from young filmmakers returning from study abroad, brimming over with new ideas of how to tell (primarily) contemporary stories set in Hong Kong. They would set off the HK New Wave of films bursting with visual flair and bold themes. The most stylishly audacious director Wong Kar-Wai, along with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, painted their celluloid canvases with thousands of unforgettable images of modern Hong Kong. Ann Hui, one of the few women in the 2nd generation HK pantheon, chose to tell more personal, character-driven stories. John Woo earned (or was cursed with) attention from Hollywood after showing he could create jaw-dropping scenes of off-the-chain violence in Hong Kong. University of Texas graduate Tsui Hark went home to re-imagine the history of China through big screen epics. Altogether these four directors, along with others, blew up the Hong Kong film industry and blasted out a multitude of story-telling styles a decade before the island of capitalist success and excess was reabsorbed into greater China.--Chale Nafus, Director of Programming, Austin Film Society

	DAYS OF BEING WILD (A Fei jingjyuhn) Tues Sept 6, 7pm at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar Love – casual, unrequited, or impossible – among six people in a rain-soaked, neon-flooded Hong Kong.  More Info & Tickets >>
	FALLEN ANGELS (Duo luo tian shi) Tues Sept 13, 7pm at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar This film crisscrosses the lives of a suave hit man, a lovesick housemaid/murder arranger, a sweet-hearted mute criminal, and a brash young woman pining for a lost love. More Info & Tickets >>
	SONG OF THE EXILE (Ke tu qiu hen) Tues Sept 20, 7pm at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar A well-educated young woman leaves London to revisit her family in Hong Kong, where she discovers her mother’s Japanese origin. More Info & Tickets
	THE KILLER (Dip huet seung hung) Tues Sept 27, 7pm at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz A professional assassin and the police detective pursuing him must finally become allies against a blood-thirsty gang. More Info & Tickets
	PEKING OPERA BLUES (Do ma daan) Tues Oct 4, 7pm at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar Focusing on three brave women, Tsui Hark examines life in the Peking Opera against the turbulent historical backdrop of civil war-torn China in the early 20th century. More Info & Tickets