M+ Cinema Spring Edition

EVENT DESCRIPTION

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, unveils the M+ Cinema Spring Edition which will be presented from April to June 2023. Spring Edition Picks

M+ Cinema strives for diverse viewing experiences that enrich audiences’ encounters with and appreciation for visual culture. Highlights of this edition include Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018), a documentary which follows a crew travelling to six continents and twenty different countries to capture sobering images chronicling the catastrophic path travelled by our species over the last century. Women Talking (2022), a drama by Oscar-nominated writer-director Sarah Polley, is a fearless adaptation of Miriam Toews’ acclaimed novel in depicting how women from a tight-knit, cloistered religious colony struggle to recover from an epidemic of abuse. In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), a living manifestation of humanity’s inherent greed and violence converge in Tokyo Bay for a final showdown marking the end of the Heisei-era Godzilla. Wong Ping’s Picks invites Hong Kong artist and animator Wong Ping to present his recent work, alongside short films by other filmmakers that have inspired and delighted him.

Details of the Spring Edition programmes are as follows:

Thinking Global, Acting Local: Ecology on Film
Through documentaries, fiction, and artist films, this thematic programme investigates the future of human-nature relationships from three perspectives: global, local, and non-human. Exploring the world of manufacturing and consumption in films such as Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018) and the transformation of Hong Kong ecology in the documentary shorts compilation Farmers, Fishermen, and the Sea, the programme also imagines the world from a cosmic point of view of nature in works such as Leviathan (2012) and Gunda (2020). The programme will be launched in April 2023.

From Surge to Burst: Japan’s Frenetic Years
Inspired by the M+ exhibition Things, Spaces, Interactions in the East Galleries, this programme focuses on films that are closely linked to 1980s–90s Japan. These films speak to the ingenuity and prosperity of the era, when the world looked up to Japan for its technological advancement, creative abundance, and economic prowess. Yet the dark undercurrent in many of these films foreshadowed the ‘lost decade’ that followed the burst of the economic bubble. Apart from Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), other highlights of the programme include Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo (1987), and Electric Dragon 80,000V (2001). Post-screening talks will bring together various curatorial perspectives on visual culture and provide further context to this momentous era in Japan and beyond. The programme will be launched in early May 2023.

Cinema Today
In this programme, M+ Cinema continues to collaborate with distributors to present art-house favourites that are not found in commercial cinemas in Hong Kong, among them Women Talking (2022) by Oscar-nominated writer-director Sarah Polley which features an all-star cast including Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Jessie Buckley. This film will be shown at M+ Cinema starting from April 2023.

Special Screening: The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
Awarded Best Film in the Encounters section at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) (2020) is an eight-hour fiction feature shot over a period of fourteen months in a small mountain village in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. A captivating portrait of a family and the land in which they live and work, the film is an arresting meditation on the seasons, family, and the passage of life and time itself. The work will be screened within one day with three intermissions in April and June 2023 respectively.

Afterimage
This recurring series features experimental works that cross formal and conceptual boundaries and includes both foundational and emerging figures. This edition features Visual Breathwork: The Films of Daïchi Saïto, a compilation of three shorts by Daïchi Saïto, who won the 2016 Tiger Award for Short Films with Engram of Returning (2015). earthearthearth (2021) is an unmissable pick, using the expansive mountainscapes of the Andes as the basis to instil a hypnotic, sensory meditation on ‘our’ earth. Another highlight of this series is Last and First Men (2020), the posthumously completed feature debut of the late renowned Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Narrated by Tilda Swinton, the film is a haunting elegy to humanity and our failed utopian ideals. This programme will be launched in April 2023.

Fresh Eyes
This new recurring series offers audiences a glimpse into the enchanting world of animation and moving image that inspires and appeals to families, younger audiences, and those who are young at heart. Highlighting imaginative stories, handcrafted imagery, dynamic film scores, and creative journeys, this new series will be launched alongside two animations, Oceans (2009) and Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985), in April 2023.

Screen Encounters
This thematic programme gives filmmakers the opportunity to share works that have influenced their career and practice. In this new edition, internationally celebrated Hong Kong artist and animator Wong Ping will present his recent work, alongside chosen favourites produced by other artists and filmmakers. The one-off screening in early May 2023 will be followed by a discussion with the artist.

Co-presentation with Hong Kong International Film Festival
M+ Cinema will screen filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s short film Where Do You Stand? (2022), commissioned by Centre Pompidou in France, at the Grand Stair in Master Class with Tsai Ming-liang. Participants will hear from Tsai and his regular lead Lee Kang-sheng in person in a post-screening talk on the film and the filmmaker’s recent works. In addition, Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022), the winner of the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, will be presented with a post-screening talk that explores the intricate relationship between art and politics. Both programmes will take place on Wednesday, 5 April 2023.

M+ Grand Stair—Stair in the Dark

Once a month on a Friday evening, during the museum’s extended opening hours, Stair in the Dark offers a cinematic and relaxed atmosphere at the Grand Stair. This new edition reveals how French actress Sophie Marceau made her screen debut as a Parisian teenager dealing with family and puppy love in La Boum (1980). The programme also explores director Gakuryu Ishii’s (formerly known as Sogo Ishii) reimagination of Tokyo as an anarchic wasteland with warring punk bands and other violent fractions in Burst City (1982). The two films will be shown once in May and June 2023 respectively.