UK Premiere
A recent initiative by the Hong Kong Film Festival, Quattro Hong Kong sees established directors return to the short filmmaking, with each instalment containing four 15 minute gems. In the first series, Hong Kong heavy weights Fruit Chan, Herman Yau and Clara Law are joined by new kid on the block Heiward Mak covering love, family, fried glutinous rice and the end of the world. In the second and most recent programme, veteran Stanley Kwan is joined by Brillante Mendoza (Philippines), Cannes Film Festival award-winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) and Ho Yuhang (Malaysia) with a purple flower, a bus journey, a hotel room and the illegal animal trade all providing inspiration.
Screening courtesy of Hong Kong International Film Festival. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office
Booking
£3 full / £2 Cornerhouse Members
Dir Herman Yau/HK 2010/13 mins/Cantonese wEng ST
Dennis To
Before Hong Kong’s modernization, a dish of fried glutinous rice cost no more than fifty cents. Since the city’s transformation, this delicacy has all but disappeared. This piece of local culture is not something that the commercial world can put a price on. Fried Glutinous Rice gives off the colour, smell, and taste of Hong Kong memories.
Dir Clara Law/HK 2010/22 mins/English
Daniel Wu
A professional management consultant comes to Hong Kong to meet a girl he briefly encountered a month ago. He checks into a hotel room and waits for her to show him the unforgettable view of the sunset that she had once promised him. But somehow he can no longer remember her face. Then, strange things happen that not only changes his life forever, but also the lives of seven billion people…
Dir Heiward Mak/HK 2010/20 mins/Cantonese wEng ST
Chui Tien-you, Kate Yeung
A man who wants to take his lover out for a late night snack ends up drowning his desire with food. A girl who wants to see the man she loves cannot make up her mind, and ends up seeking consolation in drinking. These two post-80’s individuals, trying to resist the ennui of city life and clinging onto their cell phones for relief, meet as they wander around Nathan Road…
Dir Fruit Chan/HK 2010/12 mins/Cantonese wEng ST
Joey Kan, Kitty Fung
There was once a little boy whose mother would often take him to the movies to see his father. His mother was an actress and his father was a famous actor. The boy has now grown up, and his mother has since passed away, but he still loves the movies, and it no longer matters who his father was….
Dir Brillante Mendoza/HK 2011/15 mins/English
Rene Durian, Raymund Nullan
Inspired by the color of bauhinia, a purple that is at once mysterious and regal, Mendoza and his team spent their days in Hong Kong’s flower market and Tai O, the fishing village in Lantao Island. Travelogue, anthropology and more, Purple begins as an observation of the ways Hong Kong people go about their everyday activities, and emerges as an ode to beauty: the specific beauty of Hong Kong as a city, and the almost transcendental beauty of life itself.
Dir Ho Yuhang/HK 2011/20 mins/Cantonese, English with partial Eng ST
Wai Ying-hung, Michelle Wai, Tsui Tien You, Carlos Chan, Chew Kin-wah, Bront Palarae
Thrilled by Hong Kong’s unbounded energy, Ho Yu-hang lets loose his comic talents. Two Hong Kong narcotics agents receive a tip from their Malaysian counterparts: a Malaysian kingpin will be hauling some serious goods to Hong Kong for some serious business. “Watch out for him, find out when he shows up, and….”
Dir Apichatpong Weerasethakul/HK 2011/11 mins
Nitipong Thinthupthai, Chaisiri Jiwarangsan, Chalermrat Kaweewattana
Two men are on the 17th floor of a hotel, taking lazy afternoon portraits. They are there to shoot a film for the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Outside, another man is in the park with his sound recorder. Yaumatei transformed into a place of sound and mystery, pure Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Dir Stanley Kwan/HK 2011/15 mins/Cantonese, Putonghua, English with partial Eng ST
Lam Ka-tung, Terence Yin, Hayama Hiro, Felina Pau, Yolande Yau
Inspired by the famous Chinese painting Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, Stanley Kwan takes us on a real-time bus trip from the airport to Kowloon. Riding this 13-minute trip there are: two gleeful middle-aged women returning from the “Animated River Scenes at Qingming Festival” exhibition, a mainland couple here for a holiday and their young friend; a touring Japanese musician, and a local intellectual type. A snapshot of the myriad travelers who visit Hong Kong.