Moonlight Cinema

To Hong Kong, cinema is the crown’s most distinct jewel – after the post-war bloom of Cantonese films, the internationally acclaimed martial arts and action movies of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, and the golden age of Hong Kong productions in the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong cinema, has been painstakingly crafted and refined. Over the decades, the industry has accumulated countless brilliant works that we know will stand the test of time. "Moonlight Cinema" selects 10 Hong Kong films spanning from the 1960s to the post-millennium era, showcasing creativity and our cityscape as it fused together east-meets-west culture and even gives a glimpse of Hong Kong culture abroad. Each feature film will be preceded by a short film screening made by a young Hong Kong filmmaker – allowing the audience to capture the present while reminiscing about the past.

The Arch, a sensitively photographed, professionally-made story released in the late 1960s, it opened up local independent film productions and provided a glimpse of early feminist ideals with an avant-garde mentality. Martial Club, before the Once Upon a Time in China series by Tsui Hark, Martial Club wittily re-shaped Wong Fei-hung, the renowned kung-fu master. Experience his passion and persistence as he faces tough times and challenges in martial arts and virtues – it has been hailed as one of Lau Kar Leung’s most ground-breaking masterpieces. Ah Ying, inspired by true stories, Ah Ying recounts the warmhearted journey an ordinary girl pursuing her dream, breaking through traditional movie forms by integrating both fictional stories and documentary.. A Chinese Odyssey Part 1: Pandora's Box and Part Two: Cinderella are staple Hong Kong comedies – Stephen Chow goes above and beyond his trademark inane humor to produce a superb performance with bitter-sweet undertones. Summer Snow, depicts the last days of an elderly man struggling with dementia, taking on realism in  its characters, it showcases ordinary people with rich personalities –a representative work of humanistic cinema in Hong Kong. Comrades: Almost a Love Story spans years and centres on two Mainlanders who migrate to Hong Kong to make a living, Teresa Teng’s OST presents an air of uncertainty before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, capturing the enchanting once-in-a-lifetime atmosphere of the city. A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation, the first animation feature released after several blockbusters filmed by Tsui Hark, expands the imagination of classic fantasy films in a truly unique way for its time. In the Mood for Love furthers Wong Kar-wai's affection for the 1960s and his complex attitudes towards memories and loss – in the corridors, stairs and small rooms where the protagonists linger, we can see the most delicate and subtle side of Hong Kong. The Legend of Zu, Tsui Hark has called on various Chinese gods and demons to tell a breathtaking modern fable, the film leverages the most advanced digital CG techniques, as Tsui brings forth a surreal local fantasy. Throw Down is a remarkable picture that even surpasses other Johnny To's famed gangster works. Its distinctive style, unusual structure and narrative is loaded with an uncompromising personal flavour of the filmmaker.

Screening Timetable

Date: 28.07.2022 – 07.08.2022

Time: 8pm (except screening on 30.7.2022 with opening time at 7:30pm)

Venue: Parade Ground

Ticket Price: $150 (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House or PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)

* Screenings with Concessionary Price: $50 (including a movie ticket, applicable to full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, and people with disabilities and the minders; limited quota)

# Family Package Price: $200 (including TWO adult movie tickets and ONE student ticket, applicable to full-time students; limited quota)
 

Terms and conditions

1. Upon purchase of a ticket of Moonlight Cinema, you can get:

• One (1) voucher from LockCha Tea House or PAZTA for a selected drink ; and
• HK$50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher
  Please redeem the above vouchers at the admission point of the screening 30 minutes before it commences.
  Voucher and cash voucher cannot be redeemed with an expired unused ticket.

2.  The use of the ticket, voucher and cash vouchers shall be subject to the relevant terms and conditions.
3. In the event of any discrepancy between the Chinese and English versions of these terms and conditions, the English version shall prevail.

(28.07.2022)

Ah Ying (Restored Version)
Ah Ying is a daughter of a fishmonger's family, but it doesn't stop her passion for literature and art: after work, she listens to rock and avant-garde music on the hi-fi in a corner at home and attends acting classes at an art centre, with a wild and free curly-haired rock drummer as her boyfriend. Cheung Chung-pak is a middle-aged man who returned from the US but finds himself in his career doldrums looking for chances for filmmaking. While working as a tutor at the art centre, he meets Ah Ying who wants to break a new path in life. He opens up the girl's horizons in the artistic world wider than the mundane everyday life, while the girl also brings him comfort as a soulmate along his way of artistic pursuit. Integrating the real life of the leading actress Hui So-ying and her relationship with her late teacher into the fictional drama, director Allen Fong found an alternative way to employ real stories in film and at the same time further reveal the truth. The film has brought Hong Kong cinema to a new height in the questioning of fictional and reality, in the creation and exploration of form, and in the ultimate pursuit of presenting a certain truth. It also recorded the unique art scene and the city in the early 1980s – the hybrid and diverse atmosphere full of vitality and possibility is one of the most distinctive elements of the film.

Director: Allen Fong
1983    Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   110mins
Licensed by Sil-Metropole Organization Limited. All rights reserved

(29.07.2022)

In The Mood For Love (4K Restored Version)
Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen each rent rooms in adjacent apartments, with their respective spouses often away. The two lonely souls, like a pair of mirror images, sympathise with each other in the alike situation. At first, the two were just nodding acquaintances, but over time, their courtesy turns into shared meals and heart-to-heart chats, and the greetings turn into a hidden love temptation. Set in the 1960s' Hong Kong adorned with the fancy chic of cheongsam, the two protagonists dance a nostalgic yet modern tango on the screen, hiding their erotic desires in the lingering cigarette smoke. Released more than 20 years ago, the film has been hailed as one of the most important movies of the 21st century, and the inextricable yearning and delicate visuals of the film have fascinated local and international audiences and influenced countless filmmakers. An unparalleled well-crafted Hong Kong-made movie with top-notch artists gathered at that time, it won Tony Leung for the Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his melancholic charm.

Director: Wong Kar-wai
2000    Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   98mins
Licensed by Block 2 Distribution Ltd and Jet Tone Production Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Endless Chain of Lies
A boy meets a girl in a self-service laundry at midnight. The quick-tempered girl is in a flurry, while the boy appears to be calm but his mind is in a tumult. On the tender night of Central with this one-night-only encounter, can they see each other clearly before dawn? Combining delightful and changing images with incessant murmurs and talks, the film succeeds the style and romance of the city in Hong Kong cinema.

Director: Liknifena
2019   Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   17mins

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Date: 29.07.2022
Time: 8pm
Ticket price: $150  (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)

(30.07.2022)

A Chinese Odyssey Part 1-Pandora's Box and A Chinese Odyssey Part Two-Cinderella
10,000 years of love, 500 years of time travel – Monkey King, reincarnated as Joker, makes his way across reality and illusion, just to ask what love is all about. In Part I, gang leader Joker meets Spider Woman and Bak Jing-jing – the two demons who plan to capture Longevity Monk. Joker falls in love with Bak Jing-jing at first sight but fails to save her fate from committing suicide due to misunderstanding. In Part II, the Pandora's Box that can open up a time portal encounters a problem and accidentally brings Joker back to 500 years ago, where he meets Fairy Zixia and fulfils the prophecy of becoming Monkey King.

As a remake of the classical novel Journey to the West, the film reinvents the relationships, personalities, and causes and effects of the story to tell a fable of contemporary love in a subversive manner. Comical yet tragical in an extreme way, the two episodes are playful in attitude but serious in love – not only created countless buzzwords and memorable scenes but also marked the most distinctive performance of comedy king Stephen Chow. Filling with nonsensical gags in vulgar taste while exploring the weight of love and longing with subtlety, the two seem to be contradictory but coexist in a paradoxical way, reflecting the one-of-a-kind flavour of Hong Kong cinema.

Director: Jeffrey Lau
1995   Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   87mins (Part 1)   99mins (Part 2)
Licensed by Media Asia Film Distribution (HK) Limited. All rights reserved.

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Another World

In the netherworld for the dead, a little girl who died of famine and poverty is waiting for Little Ghost's guide to reincarnation, but she is reluctant to give up her past – she hopes to reunite with her missing brother who deceased prematurely. The film brings together an excellent drawing, animation, dubbing and music team to create a fantasy world of vivid colours and unrestrained imaginations.

Director: Tommy Ng
2019   Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English Subtitles   14mins

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Date: 30.07.2022
Time: 7:30pm
Ticket price: $150  (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)

(31.07.2022)

The Legend of Zu
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, special effects became a trend in Hong Kong cinema. Films with extensive use of innovative visual effects gained popular appeals, such as The Storm Riders and Shaolin Soccer. The Legend of Zu is another work in the same period that employed special effects with great ambition. The work echoes Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain – another groundbreaking classic by Tsui Hark 18 years ago, but the young and fearless swordsman in the old work becomes a half-immortal helpless in confronting the demon in the latter work. Master Dawn and her apprentice King Sky of the Kunlun clan join hands with Grandmaster White Brows and his apprentices Red and Enigma of the Omei clan to fight against Insomnia – the demon who wants to destroy the magic mountain of Zu. A war between good and evil is about to happen. The film not only explores the new possibilities of special effects at the time but also brings a touch of cyberpunk to this oriental martial-arts fantasy: the "spiritual resurrection" similar to implanting consciousness into a cyborg, the laser-like Thunder Sword, the freewheeling iron wing weapon of Red, etc. Through oppositions and fusions of good/evil, master/apprentice, male/female and secular/sacred, the film constructs a unique conception and principle of the world which distinguishes itself from other fantasy action movies of the same type.

Director: Tsui Hark
2001    Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   104mins
Licensed by Fortune Star Media Limited. All rights reserved.

===

Another World

In the netherworld for the dead, a little girl who died of famine and poverty is waiting for Little Ghost's guide to reincarnation, but she is reluctant to give up her past – she hopes to reunite with her missing brother who deceased prematurely. The film brings together an excellent drawing, animation, dubbing and music team to create a fantasy world of vivid colours and unrestrained imaginations.

Director: Tommy Ng
2019   Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English Subtitles   14mins

===

Date: 31.07.2022
Time: 8pm
Ticket price: $150  (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)

(02.08.2022)

Throw Down (4K Restored Version)
How do you get back up after you have been thrown down? Szeto Bo, once a judo master, now lives a wasted life of a hopeless drunker and gambler; Tony, a judo expert, keeps relentlessly challenging Bo to a duel; Mona, a damsel in distress, stays at Bo's bar as a singer, aspiring to be a star. The fates of three wandering souls, each with their burdens and persistence, intertwine with each other in this short but warm encounter.

Johnnie To, with his refined cinematic style, turns Hong Kong into a martial arts arena where everyone is a judo fighter wrestling on streets and lanes. Bo, after twists and turns in the story, gains new insights about judo and himself – it is To's most powerful response to the downturn after the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong at that time. The fighting spirit and positive attitude of the film are still heartening today.

Director: Johnnie To
2004   Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   95mins
Licensed by Fortune Star Media Limited. All rights reserved.

===

Fencing
Hardships, breakthroughs and overcoming oneself – that's what all athletes have to face and also why they shine on the competition field. Fung and Bun are two young good fencers. The hard-working Fung is regarded as a junior and not put in an important position, while Bun is having a more successful career due to his father's position. Yet, the two fencers respect each other and compete with dignity.

Director: Tse Hei-long
2015   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   20mins

===

Date: 02.08.2022
Time: 8pm
$150 (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)
$50 (including a movie ticket, applicable to full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, and people with disabilities and the minders; limited quota)

(03.08.2022)

The Arch
Madame Tung is a widow for years who lives with her daughter Wei Ling and a granny in a small village. One day, Captain Yang and his bandit suppression troop pass by and station there temporarily. During the stay of Captain Yang at Madame Tung's guest house, Wei Ling is curious about this heroic man yet Madame Tung is calm and undisturbed by the visitor. In the midst of polite and restrained contacts, however, Captain Yang gently hints that he has fallen for Madame Tung, while Madame Tung suppresses her feelings with composure. Among the artistic and cultural exchanges, there is a subtle and reserved emotional tension between the mother, the daughter and the captain. Will feudal ethics and virtuous chastity bring more honour or more sorrow to Madame Tung? By adapting an ancient folk tale with a contemporary point of view, director Tang Shu-shuen tells a female story of the past with a conscious and critical perspective to present the repressed and intricate emotions of Chinese women. Boldly applied the Western New Wave cinema techniques of the time to a conventional Chinese story, the film is a trailblazer in Hong Kong cinema showing the director's unparalleled avant-garde and independent attitude.

Director: Tang Shu-shuen
1968    B&W   Putonghua   English subtitles   95mins
Acknowledgement: Lee Family

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The 1960s For Me
Taking Ye Si's poem The 1960s For Me as an inspiration, Choi Sai-ho's video work of the same name collects images and sounds from the 1960s to rebuild a video poem with an electronic music collage. Squatter huts, sailboats, modern dance parties, the Cantonese opera veteran Leung Sing-poh -- all juxtaposing one another without contradictions. Interspersed with the chanting and strong beats of the new generation, the film reflects the cultural landscape of the old Hong Kong.

Director: Choi Sai-ho
2014 B&W and Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   5mins
The 1960s For Me was commissioned and premiered at the 2014 Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Acknowledgement: Historical footage provided by Public Records Office, Government Records Service, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

===

Date: 03.08.2022
Time: 8pm
Ticket price:
$150  (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)
$50 (including a movie ticket, applicable to full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, and people with disabilities and the minders; limited quota)

(04.08.2022)

Martial Club

The righteous and upright image of Wong Fei-hung has been rooted in Hong Kong culture for years since the first film about the martial arts master in 1949, Wong Fei-hung's Whip that Smacks the Candle. Martial Club, another film about Master Wong directed by Lau Kar-leung, is one of the pioneering works depicting the hero at a younger age, much earlier than Tsui Hark and Jet Li's phenomenal movie series Once Upon a Time in China. In the film, the young and reckless Wong Fei-hung and his friend are two troublemakers who love showing off their kung-fu skills. The Lu's martial arts school, plotting to dominate the martial arts domain, recruits kung fu expert Master Shan from the north and deliberately provokes Fei-hung's martial arts school to disputes.

From the childish heroism at the beginning and the impulsive and personal fights in the middle, to the dignified contest with Master Shan in the last, we witness how Wong Fei-hung, a master of kung-fu and virtue, is born. Director Lau Kar-leung combined seriousness with humour in the plot and fighting scenes and utilised the film language to showcase the form and essence of the southern kung-fu stream. Emphasising the moral culture and spiritual aspects which are essential in kung fu, the film is a masterpiece reflecting the martial arts perspective of master Lau Kar-leung.

Director: Lau Kar-leung

1981    Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   103mins

Licensed by Celestial Filmed Entertainment. All rights reserved.

===

Blade of Enforcer

Set in an ancient time, a newly appointed constable follows the team to hunt down the bandits, but the confrontation between the good and the bad becomes complicated in an unexpected way. In the fierce fight, he discovers that the line of right and wrong between the police and the thieves is blurred. Overcoming various production difficulties, the creative team reproduced martial arts fighting scenes from the jungle to the riverside. A respectable and rare attempt to produce with such rigour under such limited resources.

Director: Ng Siu-lun

2015   Colour   Cantonese and Putonghua   Chinese and English subtitles   20mins

Date: 04.08.2022

Time: 8pm

Ticket price:

$150  (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)

$50 (including a movie ticket, applicable to full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, and people with disabilities and the minders; limited quota)

(05.08.2022)

Summer Snow

No matter how ordinary life is, there are always trivial mundane matters, as well as illnesses and death. In the drama of life, we all have to face all kinds of helplessness and hardship in reality. May is a competent woman both at work and at home, but one of her troubles is the old Mr. Sun – her stubborn and authoritative father-in-law who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease after the sudden death of his wife. The old man doesn't even recognise his children and grandchildren, but he remembers May – he still often yells at her and calls her home to cook. The Sun family is exhausted from taking care of the old man. He is sent to a daycare home, but more problems are caused by his increasingly serious condition. May, who used to be at odds with the old man, unexpectedly becomes the most reliable support in his last days. Instead of dramatising the tragic and miserable life of old age, the seemingly plain plot depicts more the daily moments of mutual support and complaints in the family, as well as the bonding built between May and the old man. With a tender touch, it tells an ethical story full of humanistic concern.

Director: Ann Hui

1995   Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   106mins

Licensed by Park Circus Group Limited. All rights reserved.

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A Floating Hope

It's the little boy's birthday and he is looking forward to seeing his mother who has left home and remarried – a hug or a gift is enough to change his world. In the frequent and intensive close-ups with a mother who is never shown clearly and a kid with bright and delicate glances, the film tells a heartbreaking story of a helpless family in a subtle way.

Director: Chan Kam-hei

2017  Colour Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   8mins

Date: 05.08.2022

Time: 8pm

Ticket price:  $150 (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)

(06.08.2022)

A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation
Ning is a young man on his way to collect debts with his pet dog Solid Gold. He runs into two ghostbusting monks, White Cloud and Ten Miles, who warn him to be aware of the ghosts in the surroundings. After completing his task, the simple-hearted Ning doesn't realise that he has entered a ghost town. Among many different monsters, ghouls and spirits, Ning becomes a target of Shine – a beautiful maiden ghost. She plans to get close to Ning and sell him to Madame Trunk, who is a tree demon devouring life forces to continue her beauty. In a fantasy world where ghosts are everywhere and oddities are normalities, Ning not only protected himself but also changed Shine's mind in the midst of fierce magical battles, with his sincere heart. The work seems to turn the 1980's popular live-action movie series A Chinese Ghost Story into animation, it only takes some parts of the characters and story outline from the old works and freely builds a vivid and exciting futuristic costume drama world where humans and demons coexist. Combining 2D and 3D animation technologies, the film is a groundbreaker in Hong Kong cinema as well as special effects movies. Under the supervision of director Andrew Chen, the work is full liveliness as in Japanese animation, with spectacular fighting scenes presented in refined and top-quality executions.

Director: Tsui Hark
1997    Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   83mins
Licensed by Film Workshop Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.

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How she lives her life
This sand painting animation presents the life of a rural woman with imaginative and delicate images. After suffering from illness and war, the woman fled to the city, worked hard and raised a family, living an ordinary but tough life. Sand painting artist Hoichiu presents the ups and downs of his mother’s life in a condensed ten-minute film. A mature and sincere work excelled in sand painting and emotional expression.

Director: Hoichiu
2021 Colour   No language   12mins

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Date: 06.08.2022
Time: 8pm
Ticket price: $150  (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)
Family Package Price: $200 (including TWO adult movie tickets and ONE student ticket, applicable to full-time students; limited quota)

(07.08.2022)

Comrades: Almost a Love Story
"Comrade Li Xiaojun, my purpose of coming to Hong Kong is not for you, and your purpose here is not for me either." Li Xiaojun from Tianjin and Li Qiao from Guangzhou meet by chance in Hong Kong in the 1980s – a prosperous era of the city. With the modern cityscape and Teresa Teng’s songs as the backdrop, they start a love story spanning years and across cities, and meet and part at the turning points of the times. Li Xiaojun, a country boy who is excited about everything in the Hong Kong city, hopes to earn money to marry his girlfriend back home; Li Qiao, an ambitious girl working several jobs and learning English to get rich, is an opportunist who is quick-witted than Hongkongers. Hong Kong is neither a final stop nor destination, but a transition for them – just like their short-lived, casual love affair.  Times change and stars fade. How much can the two leave in each other's lives? Lively yet restrained, Maggie Cheung's presentation of Li Qiao, a combination of her roles of Holli-yuk (All's Well, Ends Well) and Su Li-shen (In the Mood for Love), is one of her breakthrough performances. Mostly shot in Yau Tsim Mong District and along Nathan Road, the film preserves the once-bustling scenes of Hong Kong. Together with the drifting and undecided collective state of mind captured in the story, it is a unique record of the times.

Director: Peter Chan
1996   Colour   Cantonese   Chinese and English subtitles   116mins
Licensed by Park Circus Groups Limited. All rights reserved.

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Lovers In The Wave
A young couple comes from the shore, kissing and embracing on the sand, walking into an empty city where they meet, love, hate and separate. They wander about the oppressive huge building space and finally go back to nature. With its images and sounds tango along and a piano track alternated between fragmented and lingering, the film takes the audience to meander through the different emotional tones and frequencies of an intimate relationship.

Director: Wong Cheuk-man
2020   B&W   No Language   12mins
Lovers in the Wave is a short film featured in West Kowloon Cultural District's Freespace Mixtape Vol. 3 (2020).

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Date: 07.08.2022
Time: 8pm
Ticket price: $150  (including a movie ticket, a LockCha Tea House/PAZTA voucher for a selected drink, and a $50 Tai Kwun shopping cash voucher)

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