第一炉香
Romantic drama
China, Hong Kong
Mandarin, English and Czech subtitles
Directing: Ann Hui
Starring: Sandra Ma, Eddie Peng, Faye Yu, Janine Chang
Distributor: Fortissimo Films
Guest: Ann Hui

TRAILER

The screening will be introduced by the director Ann Hui.

The period melodrama tells the story of a young woman (Sandra Ma) who travels to Hong Kong in pursuit of education, but instead becomes charmed with the luxurious life of glamour girls accompanying rich and powerful men.

Love After Love represents Ann Hui’s recent work characterized by subtle stories of individuals against the backdrop of important historical moments. This film is yet another example of her latest filmmaking, together with works such as The Golden Era (2014) or Our Time Will Come (2017), mixing opulent mise-en-scène with a reduced camera motion and focus on delicate gestures. Love After Love is also a good illustration of contemporary Hong Kong, as well as Chinese, cinema at its very best. The renowned director adapted the novel by Eileen Chang, a prominent novelist, and in leading roles cast shining stars Sandra Ma and Eddie Peng. The costumes are designed by Emi Wada whose filmography includes such hits as Hero (2002) or House of Flying Daggers (2004). The cinematographer Christopher Doyle was responsible for the visual aspect, and the score was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Love After Love is not only a great film by Ann Hui, but also the collaboration of crucial figures of Asian cinema.

投奔怒海
Drama
Hong Kong
Cantonese, English and Czech subtitles
Directing: Ann Hui
Starring: George Lam, Andy Lau, Cora Miao, Season Ma
Distributor: Edko Films
Guest: Ann Hui

TRAILER

The screening will be introduced by the director Ann Hui.

A Japanese photojournalist (George Lam) returns to post-war Vietnam to explore the country that is facing new challenges and, hopefully, a bright future. Or so he has been promised. But shortly after arrival he sees through official theses, propaganda slogans, and fragile peace. Vietnam is suffering. Taking photos of incidents without permission is prosecuted and reality cannot be further from government declarations.

This uncompromising portrait of post-war Vietnam is not only an important representative of Hong Kong New Wave, but of a global cinema, as well. Unlike filmmakers such as Tsui Hark or Johnnie To, Ann Hui’s picture is not a stylized genre film, it is rather a powerful socio-critical drama. She captures the misery of life in repressive regime and, above all, the power of people to resist it. Humanism is one of the most important issues in Hui’s work and Boat People is a great example of that – with empathy it shows human suffering, deconstructs political fabulations, and marks the path for Hong Kong social dramas in decades to come.

桃姐
Drama
Hong Kong
Cantonese, English and Czech subtitles
Directing: Ann Hui
Starring: Andy Lau, Deanie Ip
Distributor: Distribution Workshop

TRAILER

The screening will be introduced by the director Ann Hui.

After suffering a stroke, housemaid Chun-To (Deanie Ip) is forced to retire and moves into a nursing home. Film producer Roger (Andy Lau) whose family employed Chun-To for many years is helping her go through this life-changing situation. Further medical complications allow them to come closer again. While Chun-to cared for Roger when he was a child, this nuanced drama shows us their roles being reversed as they age.

A Simple Life – based on actual life experience of a renowned producer, Roger Lee – is a story of care, trust, and relationships that transcend blood ties and redefine the concept of a family. There is an entire generation of adults living in Hong Kong who had been, to a large extent, raised by housemaids. Ann Hui opens this social issue with incredible sensibility without exaggerated gestures. The film is composed of a mosaic of conversations and silence, characters walking and sitting down, people holding hands or smiling gleefully – all the little things we take for granted. But Ann Hui’s subdued style highlights them to show that it is precisely these things that make emotional bonds with people around us stronger. A Simple Life showcases Ann Hui’s authorial style that is set to open difficult social issues and touches the hearts of her audience.

阿金
Action drama
Hong Kong
Cantonese, English and Czech subtitles
Directing: Ann Hui
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Sammo Hung
Distributor: Paramount, Park Circus

TRAILER

The screening will be introduced by the director Ann Hui.

Throughout her career, Ann Hui has many times demonstrated her genre versatility. She perfectly comprehends the principles of war films, comedies, melodramas, and action films. What she never forgets is the central theme of her works – people stories and humanity. A great example of the director combining a genre experiment with a central theme is the life story of Ah Kam (Michelle Yeoh), a stunt woman.

In three chapters Hui brings three different films with a unifying theme – the status of women in Hong Kong society. The first chapter of The Stunt Woman is a conscious take on François Truffaut‘s Day for Night (1973) or Andrzej Wajda‘s Everything for Sale (1969). Using a great deal of introspection, it tells the story of stunt men and women and their status in the film industry. On the one hand, Hui describes their job as dangerous, sometimes underrated by directors or producers, and unexpectedly intimate on the other. Stunt teams form small families, little ecosystems in an otherwise pragmatic industry. Meta-cinematic narration is followed by a subversive melodrama and that, at last, changes into a refugee story. But at center stage of each story is Ah Kam, a woman who refuses to conform to social norms, whether as a stunt woman, a partner, or a mother. The Stunt Woman uses genre formulas primarily as motivation to explore the woman-society relationship.