EVENT DESCRIPTION
M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, is pleased to present the world premiere of the first title of the M+ Restored, The System (1979) by pioneering Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Yung. This groundbreaking film will be showcased as part of the special programmes of the 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), co-presented by M+ and HKIFF. The System has been invited to screen as part of the Restored Classics section of the 27th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy in late April.
The System is the debut feature of independent filmmaker Peter Yung (born 1949). The film earned widespread acclaim for intricately portraying the relationship between drug dealers, the police, and informants. Its solid and detailed depiction of investigations and drug trafficking, combined with documentary innovations such as handheld cinematography. It captures a wealth of on location scenes without resorting to convenient dramatization, allowing the film to stand out among the many works of Hong Kong’s first wave of New Wave cinema. Its distinctive and cohesive style also sets it apart from Yung’s later works.
The System underwent a meticulous 4K restoration in 2025, undertaken by M+ at the film restoration laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata, with colour correction completed at One Cool Production. The restoration utilised the original 35mm picture and sound negatives preserved at the Hong Kong Film Archive.
The film’s 4K restoration will premiere at the M+ Cinema on Sunday, 13 April 2025 and Saturday, 19 April 2025. Each screening will be followed by a post-screening talk with Peter Yung in Cantonese about the conditions of filmmaking at the time and the importance of film restoration projects in Hong Kong. The film lead actor Pai Ying and lead actress Chiao Chiao will participate in the post-screening talk on Sunday, 13 April 2025.
