Last night, the 38th annual Hong Kong International Film Festival drew to a close... It's been an incredible fortnight, with a slew of movies from every corner of the globe. And as you may remember, the middle weekend of the film festival happens to coincide with Hong Kong's most popular sporting extravaganza, the Rugby Sevens. I've written before that the collision of these two events makes for my favorite chunk of Hong Kong's cultural and social calendar, and this year has strengthened my conviction.
Over the past two weeks, I managed to squeeze in twenty-one movies from ten countries, a record for me. And it was a great assortment of films I'd been waiting ages to finally see, little gems I'd never even heard of before and, of course, restored classics from decades past.
One of the bright spots of this year's HKIFF was a screening of Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, with Ray Milland and Grace Kelly. I've seen the film many times before—in fact, I actually own it on DVD—but the festival screening showcased the work in its original 3D form! You see, by the time Dial M for Murder was completed and ready for release in 1954, the 3D craze had pretty much died down. Theater owners, looking to save cash and knowing Hitchcock's name was enough to attract a crowd without the added gimmick, opted to show less expensive 2D prints instead. As such, very few audiences ever saw the film in the manner the Master of Suspense had originally envisioned it. For a movie geek like me, there was no way I was missing this opportunity!
Over the past two weeks, I managed to squeeze in twenty-one movies from ten countries, a record for me. And it was a great assortment of films I'd been waiting ages to finally see, little gems I'd never even heard of before and, of course, restored classics from decades past.
One of the bright spots of this year's HKIFF was a screening of Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, with Ray Milland and Grace Kelly. I've seen the film many times before—in fact, I actually own it on DVD—but the festival screening showcased the work in its original 3D form! You see, by the time Dial M for Murder was completed and ready for release in 1954, the 3D craze had pretty much died down. Theater owners, looking to save cash and knowing Hitchcock's name was enough to attract a crowd without the added gimmick, opted to show less expensive 2D prints instead. As such, very few audiences ever saw the film in the manner the Master of Suspense had originally envisioned it. For a movie geek like me, there was no way I was missing this opportunity!
Me and my friend Yvonne with our 3D glasses
It was another classic that stands out for me as the absolute highlight of the entire festival. On Saturday afternoon, on the massive screen of the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, a remastered print of Nicholas Ray's seminal Rebel Without a Cause dazzled the crowd with its vividly restored colors and a trio of dynamite performances from its young leads (James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo), which remain undimmed despite the sixty years that have passed since the film's original release.
Apart from the films themselves, an added attraction of many festival screenings is a post-movie dialogue with stars and directors. In festivals past, I've gotten the chance to listen to Keanu Reeves, Charlotte Rampling, Déborah François and plenty of other less well-known actors and crew members discuss their films with the audience. This year, I added a very memorable addition to the list: Catherine Deneuve. The iconic French legend appeared in Kowloon's Grand Cinema to answer questions from the crowd after a showing of her new film, On My Way. A picaresque movie about a woman driving from place to place after the unexpected conclusion of a romantic relationship, it was a highly enjoyable flick made undeniably more incredible by the presence of Ms. Deneuve herself.
Five other screenings I attended included similar "meet the audience sessions" of incredible variety, from a local Hong Kong documentarian and a Mainland Chinese college film crew to the French director of a still-in-progress underwater 3D documentary, a legendary Chinese actress and a Czech guest programmer who curated a special selection of this year's festival.
Of course the movies got put on hold, albeit briefly, for the rugby. For the past three years, I've managed to secure tickets for all three days of the Hong Kong Sevens. This year, I decided that I'd gladly take any ticket that came my way, but I didn't feel the urge to go out of my way to hunt for them. In the end, I wound up in the stadium on Friday afternoon only, since Sarah couldn't make it and gave me her ticket. With Sonia and Motez up from Singapore with a bundle of friends, it was a great time in the South Stands, as you can easily imagine.
Although I didn't actually make it to the rugby on Saturday, of course I went out in Wan Chai afterwards to meet up with the usual suspects. Hong Kong is at it's best during this weekend, with a palpable, electric atmosphere. It's a ton of fun, and I'm already looking forward to next year's Sevens. Truth be told, I think having missed out on a lot of it this year will inspire me to start the search early next year, so that I can fully participate again.
On Saturday, the rains came. They came and they stayed. Sunday was one of the wettest days I've ever seen here. It got so bad, that out in Kowloon, one of the shopping malls flooded, traffic cones were swept away and an MTR station was filled with water. Some awesome individual mashed up various clips of the havoc and overlaid some ominous music, resulting in the below video.
Although there have been a couple of beautiful sunny days this week, the majority has been pretty drizzly and cloudy. But quite honestly, I'm fine with this. It always breaks my heart to go in to a cinema on a glorious afternoon or evening, when I could easily be on the beach, on my roof or in a park reading. I think the rain is perfectly appropriate film festival weather—but for the rugby, not so much!
Oh! I also have a new roommate, which is always exciting. Sarah decided to move out of Happy Valley and move in with her boyfriend, leaving a vacancy at the flat. Enter Jonny, a really cool British guy brand new to Hong Kong. He actually moved in on Rugby Sevens weekend, making for a memorable start to our roommateship. He seems like a fellow adventurer, and I foresee lots of interesting exploits in our collective future.
With Jonny at the Rugby
The screening of On My Way was actually on Sevens Sunday, and from each day between then and the festival's close last night, I made it to at least one movie per day—films from France, the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Denmark, Belgium, China and the Czech Republic. It was an incredible festival, and I can hardly wait for movie fever to sweep over Hong Kong for next year's event!
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