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EVENT DESCRIPTION
M+ is pleased to announce the M+ Cinema Winter Edition, to be presented from January to March 2024.
Winter Edition Highlights
M+ Cinema offers diverse viewing experiences and enriching encounters with visual culture. ‘Once Upon a Time in Beijing’ presents blockbusters and independent films that bring the dynamic city to life with dramatic epics and personal stories. This edition’s ‘Previews’ features Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall (2023) by Justine Triet alongside two local films: Winter Chants (2023) by Tsang Tsui-shan, which takes a sentimental look at the Tai Ping Ching Chiu festival, and Norris Wong’s semi-autobiographical comedy The Lyricist Wannabe (2023). For the Lunar New Year, M+ Cinema will have a special screening of Now You See Love, Now You Don’t (1992) at the Grand Stair, while this season’s ‘Fresh Eyes’ focuses on heartwarming, otherworldly creatures.
Details of the M+ Cinema Winter Edition are as follows:
· Once Upon a Time in Beijing
In dialogue with the Special Exhibition Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, the thematic programme ‘Once Upon a Time in Beijing’ explores the many facets of Beijing as a city, its cultures, and the dynamic lives of its residents. The programme highlights Beijing as an inspiration for some of the most important filmmakers and a prism reflecting different aspects of Chinese society.
Iconic blockbusters such as The Last Emperor (1987) by Bernardo Bertolucci and Farewell to My Concubine (1993) by Chen Kaige will be shown alongside independent films that tell lesser-known and more personal narratives of a Chinese society in transition. They include the comedy The Troubleshooters (1989) by Mi Jiashan, one of the first independently produced Chinese films, Beijing Bastards (1993) by Zhang Yuan, and For Fun (1993) by Ning Ying. David Cronenberg’s screen adaptation of M. Butterfly (1993) presents a tragic romance between a Frenchman and a Beijing opera singer with a secret identity.
· Previews: Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Winter Chants (2023), and The Lyricist Wannabe (2023)
M+ Cinema is showcasing long-awaited previews of local and foreign films. Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall is a thrilling trial drama about a writer suspected of murdering her husband. Tsang Tsui-shan’s Winter Chants takes a look at the tribulations faced by a Sai Kung village when preparing for the once-in-a-decade Tai Ping Ching Chiu festival during the height of the COVID-19pandemic. My Prince Edward director Norris Wong depicts an aspiring lyricist in the semi-autobiographical The Lyricist Wannabe, starring emerging actress Chung Suet-ying. Tickets for The Lyricist Wannabe will be on sale starting from 15 January 2024.
· Special Screening
This edition’s special screening programme highlights filmmakers Hu Bo and Sarah Morris. Hu Bo graduated from the Beijing Film Academy and penned two novels before ending his life at the age of twenty-nine. His four-hour film An Elephant Sitting Still (2018) was released posthumously and widely acclaimed, demonstrating his precocious talent and incredible vision. Four selected short films, made during his student years, provide a further taste of his singular, all-consuming cinematic style.
The films of Sarah Morris highlight the interplay between the economies that simultaneously exist within each metropolis. Her latest film ETC (2023), co-commissioned by M+ and Tai Kwun Contemporary, is a cinematic portrait of Hong Kong that will be displayed on the M+ Facade at night from 26 January to 17 March 2024. M+ Cinema is also presenting two of Morris’s previous city portraits: Strange Magic (2014), which probes the materials and processes associated with commercial production; and Abu Dhabi (2017), which captures the architectural and geographical grandeur of the city.
· Afterimage
This season’s ‘Afterimage’ offers a selection of investigative documentaries and self-reflective essay films that blur the lines between fiction and non-fiction. Riar Rizaldi’s ‘earth trilogy’ considers the intricate relationship between capital, technology, and extractivism in Indonesia, while the short films by Ayoung Kim present speculative narratives of indigenous tales and the social milieu of Korea with fantastical digital imagery. Köken Ergun’s Binibining Promised Land (2010) portrays a community of Filippino migrant workers in Tel Aviv, who host a beauty contest that looks beyond the physical.
· Makers and Making
Featuring intimate and insightful documentaries, ‘Makers and Making’ taps into some of the most inspiring creative minds of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As another complement to Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, this season’s ‘Makers and Making’ spotlights the fashion industry. House of Cardin (2019) pays homage to Pierre Cardin, a trailblazing designer whose vision ventured into all forms of creative expression on the runway and beyond. Jia Zhangke’s Useless (2007) presents a poignant and humanistic three-part story about the Chinese garment industry.
· Fresh Eyes
This season’s ‘Fresh Eyes’ provides a handy guide on how to bond with supernatural and extraterrestrial beings. Viewers are invited to explore the enchanting world of animation with Hiroyuki Okiura’s A Letter to Momo (2011), in which eleven-year-old Momo encounters three goblins while coping with the loss of her father, or connect with the gentle alien in Steven Spielberg’s family classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Selected sessions are offered as ‘relaxed screenings’, a new mode of viewing at M+ Cinema with child-friendly lighting and audio. Concession tickets are priced at only HKD 25.
· Rediscoveries
The recurring series ‘Rediscoveries’ brings back forgotten gems and restored classics. Lars von Trier’s classic The Idiots (1998) shocks audiences by centring on youths who debase social order by releasing their ‘inner idiots’ and is presented in a new uncut 4K restoration. Allen Fong’s innovative docudrama Just Like Weather (1986) chronicles the marital crisis of a Hong Kong couple who face the hardships of leaving home for a new country.
· Stair in the Dark
‘Stair in the Dark’ presents ‘Eye Tunes’, an ongoing film series featuring musical films amplified by unforgettable melodies and captivating scores. In Blue Velvet (1986) by David Lynch, a young man is lured into the dark underbelly of an American small town by a severed ear and a mysterious lounge singer. The fictitious documentary 20,000 Days on Earth (2014) enters the mind of the brooding rockstar Nick Cave as he muses on life and craft. Two teen delinquents are caught up in a violent plot of gang vengeance in Dust of Angels (1992), whose theme song kickstarted Wu Bai’s music career.
· Lunar New Year at the Grand Stair
Following last year’s screening of Johnnie To’s Fat Choi Spirit (2002), M+ Cinema brings local classic Now You See Love, Now You Don’t (1992) back to the big screen for 2024. This screening will take place on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, in commemoration of the late director Alex Law.
Details
- Start:
- 1 January 2024
- End:
- 31 March 2024
- Event Category:
- Cinema
Organiser
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