After months of watching films from your sofa or on your phone, it’s time for some big-screen surround sound entertainment as local cinemas will reopen from 21 April, albeit at 50% capacity.
So what’s there to see, that you might haven’t watched already at home/need to be seen on a big screen:
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Denis Villeneuve film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book Dune opening in Hong Kong has been rescheduled. The latest adaptation of the iconic book will now open locally on 16 September 2021.
Updated 6 September 2021 – new opening date
The new MCL Amoy Theatre opens in Kowloon Bay on 15 July. The three-screen complex has 603 seats and features as MCL puts it “the latest and best in cinema experience”. Each auditorium is equipped with 4K Laser projectors and Dolby Atmos sound. Opening ticket prices are $60
MCL Amoy Theatre
G/F, Phase III, Amoy Plaza,
77 Ngau Tau Kok Road,
Kowloon Bay,
Hong Kong
The documentary Taiwan Equals Love has been pulled from the EU-Asia Rainbow Docs festival after the Film Censorship Authority refused to authorise the screening of the full documentary, Broadway Cinematheque announced.
The organisers of the ‘EU-Asia Rainbow Docs’ regret to announce that the scheduled full-length documentary “Taiwan Equals Love” will no longer be screened.
The Film Censorship Authority did not authorise the screening of the full documentary. We jointly decided to cancel the screenings of the film, in accordance with our agreed policy not to screen censored films in this programme.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
In May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Director Yan Zhexuan’s documentary Taiwan Equals Love chronicles the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for this landmark achievement.
Humanising the struggle through the portrayal of three LGBTQ couples from three generations facing different legal and social challenges but all with the same dream of getting married. Their perspectives provide an intimate context and address the question of why this fight for equality and dignity is so important for millions of LGBTQ people everywhere.
EU-Asia Rainbow Docs
Date: 30 June-11 July, 2021
Venues: Broadway Cinematheque
Tickets: $95 from www.cinema.com.hk/en/movie/special/19
A new MCL Citygate Theatre opens in Tung Chung today. The four-screen complex has 673 seats and features as MCL puts it “the latest and best in cinema experience”. Each auditorium is equipped with 4K Laser projectors and Dolby 7.1 surround sound audio. Opening ticket prices are $80
MCL Citygate Theatre
6/F, 20 Tat Tung Road,
Tung Chung,
Hong Kong
Premiere Cinema will open at Elements on 1 March. Operated by Broadway Circuit the new cinema has 12 houses containing 1,600 seats, two of which are equipped with Dolby ATMOS 3D sound – one of which is main house, and the other is a small ‘VIP’ house.
The opening film selection and the cinema amenities have yet to be announced. Check the website for details www.cinema.com.hk
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
In 1954 to cater to the local predominately Cantonese-speaking audience the Motion Picture & General Investment Co Ltd, later known as Cathay, began making Cantonese language films in Hong Kong. Recruiting, amongst others, the directorial talents of Tso Kea, Wong Tin-lam and Wong Toi, these films included adaptations of literary classics, airwave novels (stories originally told over the radio) and foreign films.
As part of the retrospective Angels over the Rainbow – Cathay’s 80th Anniversary Celebration the LSCD is screening several Cantonese films from that era at the HK film Archive over the weekend of the 12-13 March. All films are black and white and in Cantonese with, sadly, no English sub-titles.
The romantic tragedy Love Lingers On (1957) is based on Emily Brontë’s gothic novel Wuthering Heights. Concentrating on the characters’ simmering mental troubles, Tso Kea shepherds the tale of profound passion, thwarted love and bitter vengefulness with broad narrative strokes and delicate orchestration of mise-en-scène.
Love Lingers On: 1pm, 12 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40
Based on the Hollywood film Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Sorrowful Lute (1957) features the rooftop entertainment scene of Guangzhou and portrays love and careers, and fame and power, in the Cantonese opera world. Tso Kea brilliantly depicts a crazed relationship balanced with extreme and subtle emotions. Ng Cho-fan embraces his role as a crippled sponsor with a shady side, while Fong Yim-fun counters with a riveting turn as a Cantonese opera diva struggling in lust and fame.
The Sorrowful Lute: 5pm, 12 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40
Second Spring (1960) is adapted from a typical airwave novel by Li Ngaw and tells of the reunion of two miserable lovers (Law Kim-long and Christine Pai Lu-ming) after going through ordeals. Wong Tin-lam’s skilful mise-en-scène brings out the strong script structure and introduces a humorous servant (Leung Sing-po) and a defiant maid (Chan Ho-kau) to provide much comic relief.
Second Spring: 7:30pm, 12 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40
Also adapted from a Li Ngaw airwave novel, The Song of the Nightingale (1961) follows a poor young man (Woo Fung) and an ill-fated village girl (Christine Pai Lu-ming) being forced to leave their home village and toil away to rise from despair. Wong Toi fluently lays out the twist-filled plot, in which Pai shows her resilience with measured precision and depth. In a role that moves from wealthy heir to poor and desperate scammer, Cheng Kwan-min utterly inhabits a loathsome character, and is paired in a duo of classic melodrama villains with Lee Hong-kum playing his two-faced partner in crime.
The Song of the Nightingale: 7:30pm, 13 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40
