The 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival is the most complete film list: the day to enjoy watching movies is coming again!

It's been more than three years, and I haven't been crazy watching movies in the cinema and enjoying movie addiction.

Even, I have forgotten the feeling of rushing between theaters and rushing madly.

However, entering 2023, as theatrical movies and various screenings gradually normalize, enjoy the days of watching movies.

Probably, it's coming back again.

No, the 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival is coming!

Starting from the end of this month (March 30) until April 10, there will be a large number of popular new films and classic films screened in many theaters in Hong Kong.

A few days ago, the film festival was also officially opened to the public, and some friends are already planning ticket grabbing and Hong Kong movie viewing itinerary. If you want to find a vacation, go to Hong Kong to watch a few movies, and get addicted to movies.

Especially friends in Guangshen, convenient transportation, flexible choices, find a weekend, binge watch a few movies, it is also quite enjoyable.

At the same time, the selection of films at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is still very exciting, whether it is classic old films or new film units, there are many films worth looking forward to. Moreover, due to the particularity of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, we can also see many artistic masterpieces there that are not usually easy to see in cinemas.

And this is also the charm of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

So, what films are worth paying attention to at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival?

Let me also introduce you from my personal interests.

Rest assured, after seeing it, you should also be eager to try it.

The full exhibition of Itami XIII films

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Japanese director Itami XIII, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival has also launched a full exhibition of his director's works, all of which are 4K restored films.

If you've always been a fan of director Itami XIII, or, if you often hear the name but don't know much about his work.

Well, this unit is a great option that will give you a systematic understanding of this excellent Japanese director.

Because I have always liked his works very much, I especially want to recommend him to everyone. Although, his film popularity may not be as high as that of many Japanese film masters of his time. However, I believe that many friends will definitely fall in love with his works if they have seen his works.

Itami XIII is a popular film director who is very close to the people, and his works are also very personal satirical comedies.

It is all about everyone's affairs, and it is very ironic and critical, which can be regarded as the work of conscience of his time.

Watching his works, you will be amused by his satirical plots at the same time, and at the same time, you will be moved by his idealism, which is very good.

The ten Itami 13 works screened at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival are:

1984 "Funeral"

1985 "Dandelion"

1987 "Female Tax Officer" (Hong Kong translation: Cha's daughter)

1988 "The Sequel of the Female Tax Collector" (Hong Kong translation: The Sequel of Cha's Daughter)

1990 "Lucky Girl"

1992 "Daughter of Civil Violence"

1993 "Big Patient"

1995 "Silent Life" (Hong Kong translation: Quiet Life)

1996 "Supermarket Daughter"

1997 "Supervised Woman" (Hong Kong translation: Guardianed Daughter)

If possible, I still recommend everyone to check it out.

Jean-Luc Godard × Anna Karina retrospective

French New Wave film master Godard died last year, and to pay tribute to the great director, the Hong Kong International Film Festival also brought Godard eight films with his ex-wife and muse Anna Karina to pay tribute to the director.

Although there are only eight works selected this time, they are all classics, and they are all masterpieces of Godard who are very familiar to everyone.

I still think that movies like Godard need to be seen in the cinema and felt in front of the big screen to truly appreciate the charm of his works.

And this time, perhaps, is an opportunity.

The works screened include:

1961 "A Woman is a Woman"

1962 "Do What You Want"

1963 "Little Soldier"

1964 "Outlaw"

1965 "Alpha City"

1965 "Pierrot the Madman"

1966 "Made in America"

1967 "Longing" (excerpt from "The Woman to Love")

Because the Godard movies chosen this time are too classic, I don't know which one to start recommending. In fact, the easiest way is that if you really want to watch it, choose a more suitable time and relatively more well-known to understand.

Perhaps, just fall in love.

Focus filmmaker: Zheng Baorui

The focus of this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is Hong Kong-based director Paul Cheng, known for his dark style and violent aesthetics.

His works, often with extreme stylistic and aesthetic pursuits, have impressed many audiences. This time, the Hong Kong International Film Festival chose him as the focus filmmaker and screened his 12 works, which is just enough to systematically sort out the context of Zheng Baorui's works.

The 12 films include:

1999 Day 100

2000 "Glowing Stone"

2001 "Horror Hotline Big Headed Monster Baby"

2002 "Hot-Blooded Youth"

2004 "Love and Battle"

2005 The Monster

2006 "Dog Eats Dog"

2007 "Military Rooster"

2009 "Accident"

2012 The Driver

2015 "Kill the Wolf II"

2021 Wisdom Teeth

At the same time, as the focus filmmaker, director Cheng Baorui will also attend the Hong Kong Masters Lecture held at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on April 8 to share with everyone his experience and feelings on the road of acting.

And, his new work this year, the new film "Murder", which just premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, will also be officially met at this year's Hong Kong Festival as the opening film of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

This crime thriller co-starring Lin Jiadong, Yang Lewen, Wu Tingye and others will continue to direct Zheng Baorui.

Interested friends, you can also go to taste. This is the premiere of all of Asia.

Classic restoration unit

In addition to some thematic units, the Classic Restoration Unit has always been the reason I love these film festivals.

After all, there are always channels to see new films, but classic films can often only be seen at film festivals. In particular, now various film festivals are mainly promoting restoration units, so that we can not only see a variety of classic films, but also all newly restored, which is still very enjoyable.

Among them, there will be 8 classic restoration films from all over the world:

1925 Ernst Liu Bieqian "Young Grandma's Fan"

1956 Ichikawa Kun, "Harp of Burma"

1970 Bernardo Bertolucci "Fellow Streamers"

1971 Kira Muratova "The Long Farewell"

1977 Satyajit Rey, The Chess Player

1979 Jeanne Moreau "The Girl"

1990 Carl Kachener, "Monitor"

2000 Bella Tal and Anias Hranietsky, "Whale Circus"

Among them, such a film history masterpiece as "The Streamer", friends who are interested, you can still go to see, and it can be regarded as the memory of the times.

Like Liu Bieqian's "Young Grandma's Fan", it is a comedy silent film adapted from Wilde's works, and there is a live piano accompaniment by musicians, which is also a very rare silent film experience.

Also, classic films such as Ichikawa Kun's "Harp in Myanmar" and Bella Tal's "Whale Circus" can also be felt.

And, I would also like to recommend Carl Kachener's "Monitor"

If you listen to the title, you know how awesome this piece is.

In addition to the international restoration unit, the films of the Chinese restoration unit may be more familiar to everyone.

The four films in this year's Chinese restoration unit can be said to be classics, namely:

1982 Tan Jiaming "Agni Youth (Director's Version)"

1989 Hou Xiaoxian "City of Sorrow"

1992 Xu Xiaoming "Young Voice, Anla! 》

1994 Yang Dechang "Independent Era"

It is also too well-known several Chinese art films, no matter which one you see, you have earned it. In particular, these are all new 4K restoration versions.

If possible, it is still recommended to go and see.

In addition, from a personal point of view, I am very eager to watch the 4K version of "Independent Era" on the big screen, because this film has never had a particularly good version, and this is really an opportunity.

New film unit

In addition to the classic unit, the new film unit is also worth paying attention to, this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival has collected a lot of excellent new films in the past two years, but it is a good opportunity to systematically understand the latest film creation in the world.

The festival itself divides these films into many curatorial units, such as Starry Feast, Colorful Colors, Masters and Authors, and so on.

However, I will follow the film list and recommend it if I see a good one. What's more, you can also go to see the full film list and program introduction, which will have more detailed recommendations and introductions.

For example, in addition to "Murder" directed by Zheng Baorui, this year's opening and closing films include:

The documentary "Poems", directed by director Hui Anhua, will also be screened as the opening film, and director Hui Anhua will visit a number of Hong Kong poets in the documentary.

The closing film chose the new film "On the Way to the Hospital" starring Gu Tianle, which was written by Qiu Litao and directed by Zhuo Yunzhi.

The above two are new Chinese-language films with world premieres.

Red Sky, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival at the beginning of the year, will also be unveiled in Hong Kong.

This film is directed by Pezolde, the Douban score is still very high, and it is also a new film worth paying attention to this year.

Last year's hit new film "After-Sun Holiday" (Hong Kong translation: Ri Li Reminiscences) will also be screened at the Hong Kong Festival. I have recommended this film too many times, and this time is a good opportunity to meet on the big screen.

I think you can experience it if you have the opportunity.

The documentary "All Beauty and Blood and Tears" was last year's Venice Golden Lion Award winner and Oscar nominee for documentary films. At the same time, this is also a documentary worth paying attention to last year. It tells the story of Nan Golding, a well-known photographer and activist.

The Iranian film "World War III" was the best film in the Horizon section of last year's Venice Film Festival. It is said that it is a very wonderful play, with many twists and layers of progress, but you can also pay attention to it.

The Firebird Award is a special award set up by the Hong Kong International Film Festival, mainly to discover some new director's works, namely the Chinese section and the world section.

Friends who like to follow new directors can follow this unit.

For example, the Chinese unit has Li Kangsheng, Li Meng, Renke and other co-starring, and the new film "Snow Cloud" directed by Wu Lang also appeared in Berlin at the beginning of the year.

and the new film "Black Education" directed by Ke Zhendong; "A Family Cooing" directed by Zhan Jinglin; the new film "Night is Coming" that won multiple awards in Pingyao at the beginning of the year; : "Stone Gate" by Huang Ji and Ryūji Otsuka;

There is also "Reunion", which won the Febisi Award and a special award in Rotterdam last year, starring Li Xuejian and Song Xiaoying.

In the world section of the Firebird Awards, there are also many new directors from all over the world. For example, "20,000 Species of Bees" (Hong Kong translation: 20,000 species of flower bees), which just won the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. There is also "His Autobiography", which won an award in Venice (Hong Kong translation: dictatorial maintenance) and so on.

The documentary competition also selects documentary works from Sundance, Locarno, Rotterdam and Berlin and other film festivals that have won or been nominated for the competition, and you can also pay attention to it if you are interested.

In the master unit, many new works of famous masters have been selected.

For example, Sokolov's new film "Fairy Tale" (Hong Kong translation: the dictator's dreams); Herzog's Heartfire: Requiem for the Volcano couple and The Theater of Ideas; There is also Hong Changxiu's new film, which has just appeared in Berlin's "In the Water" (Hong Kong translation: Mirror Flower in Water);

Others include Mongi's NMR; Cai Liangliang's "Where" and "Where You Are".

and the author's unit also has Chen Zheyi's new film "Drifting Life"; Zhang Zuoji's new film "The Red Horse in the Summer Sky"; Wang Xiaoshuai's new film "Hotel"; Zhang Lu's "Light of the White Tower" and so on

The world cinema unit has "Time of Drought" (Hong Kong translation: the scorching sun is fierce) in Cannes last year, and the evaluation of this film is still good; "A Day That Begins in the Blue Room" (Hong Kong translation: electrocuted youth), which won multiple awards in Locarno. and "She in the Mist", which won the Golden Coconut Award for Best Picture in Hainan (Hong Kong translation: Lola's Lost Files); and won a kind of attention unit best picture in Cannes; The most popular film of the Pingyao Crouching Tiger unit "Bad Kids" (Hong Kong translation: wild children play within plays).

In addition, Danish director Lars von Trier's new drama "Hospital Vice: Exodus" will also be screened at the Hong Kong Festival, with five episodes divided into two screenings.

The Filmmaker Unit is a unit dedicated to fans and will launch a number of documentaries related to the director. For example, the documentary "The Great Hero Hu Jinquan" about Hu Jinquan, the documentary "Jane Campion, Female Filmmaker" about Jane Campion (Hong Kong translation: Yangmei female director Gambien), the documentary about Hitchcock "My Name is Alfred Hitchcock" (Hong Kong translation: obviously Hitch Court) and so on.

In addition, the popular Taiwanese movie "About the Ghost and I Became Family" will also be screened at the Hong Kong Film Festival

There are also several Japanese films that are also worth paying attention to, such as "Miss Freckles Who Reluctant to Fall in Love" co-starring Toruko Miura and Atsuko Maeda (Hong Kong translation: like this me); Kenichi Matsuyama and Masami Nagasawa co-starred in "The Death Nurse" (Hong Kong translation: The Disqualification of the Guardian Angel); Ryohei Suzuki and Ice Fish Miyazawa starred in "Egoism" (Hong Kong translation: love is very selfish)

There is also a 4K restoration version of the theatrical version of the animated film "Galaxy Railway 999".

In fact, there are many films that can be followed, I really can't fully introduce them, just briefly selected some films that I am more interested in.

For more information, you can also go to the official website of the Hong Kong International Film Festival: www.hkiff.org.hk or download their official program HKIFFS to learn about the full list and related introduction, as well as how to buy tickets, etc.

This year's 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival is actually the first time since 2019 that the Hong Kong Festival has completely returned to normal, and all aspects of screening and sharing activities have also been fully rolled out.

I also hope that this Hong Kong Festival will give this year's Chinese Film Festival a good start, and hope that this year's other festivals will have good performances.

All in all, I hope this year can be fine.

Of course, if you want to go straight to Hong Kong at the end of the month, I also wish you:

Happy watching the movie!