Category: listings

India by the Bay: A Digital Series

The Sixth India by the Bay, postponed from February, has become a slimmed-down online festival entitled India by the Bay: A Digital Series running from 15-18 October, 2020

The virtual festival features four free events and offers HongKongers an insight into Indian culture and history through film, food, yoga and conversation. The events are:

Yoga as a Way of Life | 15 October, 7pm
Yoga philosopher Daniel Simpson will present a specially designed session on the benefits of Yoga in these difficult times

Zaika: Food, Creativity and Lockdown | 16 October, 7pm
Romy Gill and Rahul Gomes Pereira in conversation with Vir Sanghvi

East West – A Legacy | 17 October, 7pm
Shubhendra Rao, disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar celebrates the centenary of his Guru’s birth.

Churchill: Hero or Anti Hero | 18 October, 7pm
Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Mukulika Banerjee on the life and legacy of Winston Churchill, one of history’s most complex figures.

India by the Bay 2020
Date: 15-18 October, 2020
Venue: Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Tickets: free

Tenth Anniversary European Union Film Festival

The Tenth European Union Film Festival (EUFF) brings 15 award-winning films to the screens of Broadway Cinematheque and AMC Pacific Place between the 21 February and 10 March.

To mark the 10th Anniversary, this year’s EUFF features a special free opening performance of the Spanish film Champions replete with orchestra, several free screenings of European classics including one to celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March). There’s also a Q&A with the director of the closing film, Michael Inside, Frank Berry.

The films featured in the festival are: The Best of All Worlds, After Love, Bear with Us, The Eternal Road, Just a Breath Away, 3 Days in Quibero, Aurora Borealis: Northern Lights, Michael Inside, Dogman, An Impossibly Small Object, Breaking the Limits, Mother Knows Best, Champions, A Serious Game, Eldorado, Amelie, The Lives of Others, Female Pleasure. Tickets are available here

European Union Film Festival
Date: 21 February – 10 March, 2019
Venue: Broadway Cinematheque; AMC Pacific Place
Tickets: $95, $85

St. David’s Day Celebration

On St David’s day at St John’s Cathedral the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir and the British Brass Company celebrate the Patron Saint of Wales with a joint concert.

The concert features a selection of Welsh and popular songs, including Verdi’s Speed Your Journey, Satie’s Gymnopedie, Colin Touchin’s Below the Lion Rock, the first movement of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor with soloist Emas Au and Jan van der Roost’s Canterbury Chorale, inspired by one cathedral and now performed in another.

Tickets are available from the Cathedral Bookshop and on the door.

St. David’s Day Concert
Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir, British Brass Company
Date: 7:30pm, 1 March, 2019
Venue: St John’s Cathedral
Tickets: $200

Aliens from the Galactic Silk Road

The 3rd Asian Sci-Fi Festival Melon will be held at JW Marriott, Hong Kong on Saturday 23rd March 2019. The festival focuses on science fiction, innovation and the future… Leading science fiction writers, scientists, industry professionals and fans from across Asia, China and the west discuss what’s next in science fiction, entrepreneurship and the future.

Melon 2019 will feature aliens, the future of science fiction writing, filmmaking and gaming as well as exploring the latest scientific research, innovative technology such as AI development, space exploration and Mars terraforming.

Melon 2019: Aliens from the Galactic Silk Road

Date: 8am, 23 March, 2019
Venue: JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong
Tickets: US$450, US$250 (advance)

European Union Film Festival

This year’s European Union Film Festival features 16 award-winning films and documentaries released across the EU in the past year. The Festival will open with The Divine Order – screening at the new cinema MOViE MOViE Cityplaza – and close with Welcome to Germany. Valentin Hitz, director of Hidden Reserves will visit Hong Kong to meet with the audience after the screening of her film.

Directed by Petra Volpe, the opening Film The Divine Order is set in Switzerland in 1971 where women were still denied the right to vote. When housewife Nora is forbidden by her husband to take a part-time job, her frustration leads to her becoming the poster child of her town’s suffragette movement. Marie Leuenberger who played Nora won Best Actress at Tribeca Film Festival.

Welcome to Germany is directed by Simon Verhoeven. Recently retired teacher Angelika decides, against her skeptical husband Richard’s will, to take in a refugee. Soon afterwards, a whirlwind of complications ensue. The film explores the European refugee issue with humour while making you think.

Hidden Reserves (Austria)
Paradise Trips (Belgium)
Republic Home Care (Czech Republic)
Man and A Baby (Finland)
Montparnasse Bienvenüe (France)
Welcome to Germany (Germany)
Roza of Smyrna (Greece)
Kincsem — Bet on Revenge (Hungary)
The Farthest (Ireland)
Porn to Be Free (Italy)
Quality Time (Netherlands)
Gods (Poland)
All the Dreams in the World (Portugal)
1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines (Spain)
Eternal Summer (Sweden)
The Divine Order (Switzerland)

European Union Film Festival 2018
Date: 1-18 March, 2018
Venues: Broadway Cinematheque (Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square Street, Yaumatei, Kln) & AMC Pacific Place (Level 1, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong Island)
Tickets: $various
More info: https://issuu.com/broadwaycinematheque/docs/_issuu_20180206_booklet_euff2018

I Hate Hamlet!

To be or not to be – that is the question facing celebrity TV actor Andrew Rally (Hamish Campbell). To be Hamlet in a prestigious production in New York’s Central Park, or not to be Hamlet and stick to what he knows best – phone-it-in acting on a cheesy but popular TV show.

His girlfriend (Kate Mulligan) and his agent (Kath O’Connor) want him to take the role; his Hollywood buddy (Mike Pizzuto) and real-estate agent (Jane Archibald) do not. As for Andrew, he’s just not sure he’s capable of the Bard. Plus he’s seriously worried about the slings and arrows of outraged critics!

Enter the ghost of John Barrymore (Neville Sarony), dressed in high Shakespearean garb and determined to help Andrew fulfill his actor’s destiny. What a piece of work is Barrymore! Noble in reason and infinite in faculty, and yet Andrew remains suspicious that Barrymore may smile and smile and be a villain.

Playwright Paul Rudnick had the idea for I Hate Hamlet! when he lived in John Barrymore’s apartment in New York in the late 1980s. This Hong Kong Players production is directed by Jodi Gilchrist.

So, what’s a man to do? It’s said that all the world’s a stage and each must play his part… the question is, which part?

Cast
Andrew Rally – Hamish Campbell
John Barrymore – Neville Sarony
Deirdre McDavey – Kate Mulligan
Lillian Troy – Kath O’Connor
Felicia Dantine – Jane Archibald
Gary Lefkowitz – Mike Pizzuto

Director: Jodi Gilchrist
Assistant Director: Sarah Kidd

I Hate Hamlet!
Hong Kong Players
Date: 1-4 March, 2017
Venue: Fringe Club, Fringe Underground
Tickets: $280 from www.art-mate.net

I Hate Hamlet!

To be or not to be – that is the question facing celebrity TV actor Andrew Rally (Hamish Campbell). To be Hamlet in a prestigious production in New York’s Central Park, or not to be Hamlet and stick to what he knows best – phone-it-in acting on a cheesy but popular TV show.

His girlfriend (Kate Mulligan) and his agent (Kath O’Connor) want him to take the role; his Hollywood buddy (Mike Pizzuto) and real-estate agent (Jane Archibald) do not. As for Andrew, he’s just not sure he’s capable of the Bard. Plus he’s seriously worried about the slings and arrows of outraged critics!

Enter the ghost of John Barrymore (Neville Sarony), dressed in high Shakespearean garb and determined to help Andrew fulfill his actor’s destiny. What a piece of work is Barrymore! Noble in reason and infinite in faculty, and yet Andrew remains suspicious that Barrymore may smile and smile and be a villain.

Playwright Paul Rudnick had the idea for I Hate Hamlet! when he lived in John Barrymore’s apartment in New York in the late 1980s. This Hong Kong Players production is directed by Jodi Gilchrist.

So, what’s a man to do? It’s said that all the world’s a stage and each must play his part… the question is, which part?

Cast
Andrew Rally – Hamish Campbell
John Barrymore – Neville Sarony
Deirdre McDavey – Kate Mulligan
Lillian Troy – Kath O’Connor
Felicia Dantine – Jane Archibald
Gary Lefkowitz – Mike Pizzuto

Director: Jodi Gilchrist
Assistant Director: Sarah Kidd

I Hate Hamlet!
Hong Kong Players
Date: 1-4 March, 2017
Venue: Fringe Club, Fringe Underground
Tickets: $280 from www.art-mate.net