Film Still of Coffee and Cigarettes
Photo courtesy of The Match Factory
Director: Jim Jarmusch
United States/2003/black and white/DCP/in English with Chinese subtitle
There is a form of film that has neither moving plot lines nor exquisite shots but rather only plain conversation. Such “conversational cinema" was mastered by Eric Rohmer and Abbas Kiarostami. A fan of conversational cinema, the artist Wong Wai Yin picks Coffee and Cigarettes, a collection of 11 films made by the director Jim Jarmusch over a period of more than ten years; they can be regarded as the result of the director's artistic research on conversational cinema. Most of the actors and musicians in Coffee and Cigarettes, are Jarmusch’s close friends or long-time collaborators who play themselves. The magic of the film lies in the fact that they have made a mesmerising film talking in pairs and among three people about absolutely nothing while imbibing coffee and cigarettes that are hazardous to health.
The artist Wong Wai Yin will attend the artist’s talk after the screening and discuss her reflections on Coffee and Cigarettes, on conversations, and on interviews; Wong will also share her latest “conversation cinema” project Everybody’s Sick. The video series Everybody’s Sick, to be shown for the first time in Tai Kwun from late May to June, comprises 20 interview videos documenting the intimate conversations between Wong Wai Yin and her friends in the art scene—showing Hong Kong artistic labour with a perspective rarely seen before by the public.
*The event will be held under Free Seating. The artist’s talk will be conducted in Cantonese, with simultaneous interpretation from Cantonese to English available.
