Adventures in Acquisition (H.K Film Archive) - Articles & Related Content

[DragonClaws]

 

Adventures in Acquisition

Link- https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/archive/en/newsletter/newsletter06_e.pdf

 

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Q: There are so many film materials. Apart from the film prints them selves, there are printed materials, posters, stills, etc. How do you go about collecting them?

A: We follow leads given to us either by insiders within the film  industry or local and overseas friends who give us information. For example, in the case of King Hu's The Valiant Ones (1975), we learned that the negative of the film was still placed in a laboratory in Hong Kong through a friend of Mr Law Kar, programmer in the Hong Kong International Film Festival. We conducted investigations of our own to establish the veracity of this information, then we contacted the late director himself to get his consent. After agreement had been established, we then proceeded to arrange it to be donated to the Archive. It's more or less the same for other acquisitions.

 

Edited November 16, 2020 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

Hong Kong’s Hidden Trove of Film Treasures: The Film Archive (Simon Cartledge)

Link- https://zolimacitymag.com/hong-kongs-hidden-trove-of-film-treasures-the-film-archive/

 

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The Film Archive is one of Hong Kong’s cultural curiosities. Its five-storey home stands a little off the beaten track, on a nondescript corner of Sai Wan Ho next to a sports centre and opposite the Korean school. Month in, month out, it screens an astonishing range of films from across the span of Hong Kong’s movie history.

 

[DragonClaws]

 

The Life Interview With Karen Chan: Guardian of old films - (John Liu)

- The mission of Karen Chan, executive director of the Asian Film Archive, is to preserve old films, catalogue them and make them accessible to the public

Link- https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/the-life-interview-with-karen-chan-guardian-of-old-films

 

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Archival is really interesting. It's like being a detective. You sniff around. You have to find out what other countries have - they might be holding on to a print that could be in really good shape, and the images are better than what you have, so you have to compare. It takes a lot of investigative work.

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

Keeping Cinema’s Memory Alive in Hong Kong: An Interview with Bede Cheng, Managing Director at L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia

(Andrea Gerlardi)

Link- http://framescinemajournal.com/article/keeping-cinemas-memory-alive-in-hong-kong-an-interview-with-bede-cheng-managing-director-at-limmagine-ritrovata-asia/

 

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In March 2019, Professor Dina Iordanova asked me to contribute to a dossier focusing on film archives in Asia. I was particularly thrilled by this project, which aims to highlight the history, work, and latest developments of archival organisations and film heritage institutions operating in Southeast Asia. Following the publication of the UNESCO Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images (1980), this region has witnessed a boom in attention towards the safeguarding of cinema’s memory. Indeed, under the aegis of UNESCO and FIAF, several new film heritage institutions were established in the Asian region between the late 1980s and the 2000s, such as the Thai Film Archive (1984), the Hong Kong Film Archive (1993), the ABS-CBN Film Archives in the Philippines (1994), and the Singapore-based Asian Film Archive (2005), each mandated with the specific aim to protect its nation’s film heritage.[1]

 

[DragonClaws]

 

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Do any of the films you made in Korea survive?

The Korean films I made were distributed to many southeast Asian countries, and at that time, because of a lack of support, we actually sent the originals instead of giving out copies of the film. And many of them are missing—perhaps 70 percent of my films, including some of my favorites actually, are missing because of that. The Korean Film Archive looked for them, and they were able to find only one film. In the Korean Film Archive there are several films of mine, restored, but I don’t think they have been distributed in America yet because they don’t have subtitles.

 

Interview: Chung Chang-Wha - (Gavin Smith)

Link- https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/interview-chung-chang-wha/

Edited November 11, 2020 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

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In the summer of 2019, I spent a few days at an international symposium of people involved with film preservation and archives at Xiamen University in China.[1] The Chinese colleagues had brought important speakers from the USA, such as Jan-Christopher Horak, Dan Streible, and others. More importantly, however, they had agreed to feature a parallel programme of screenings dedicated to archival findings and restored films, as well as to take us on a visit to their new campus, where they held the materials of a large regional film archive.

 

Archiving and Film Restoration: The View From Asia - (Dina lordanova)

Link- http://framescinemajournal.com/article/archiving-and-film-restoration-the-view-from-asia/

 

[DragonClaws]

 

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Chor Yuen's "Cold Blade" is a film of great importance as it marks the turning point in the career of the great director. Chor had enjoyed a successful career in Cantonese cinema. After the success of this film, he went on to make a string of similarly stylised swordplay films that are considered exemplary works of martial arts cinema.

     The film was considered lost when a print, in which a segment had no sound, was discovered a few years ago. The HKFA was fortunate to have located another print with a complete soundtrack, safeguarded in France by the collector Marie-Claire Quiquemelle. It was thus able to restore the film to a condition much closer to that of the original. The restored print was also made with extensive colour grading.

 

More "Restored Treasures" to screen at HK Film Archive

Link- https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201007/27/P201007270240.htm

[DragonClaws]

 

Asian archives and archivists: travels and revelations - (Dina lordanova)

Link- http://iamhist.net/2020/05/asian-archives-archivists-travels-revelations/

 

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Fast forward two years later, to December 2018. Serving a term as Visiting Research Professor at the University of Hong Kong, I chose to live in Kwun Tong, a part of town where few foreigners ever set foot. A former industrial area occupied by large building blocks where various factories were clustered in the past, nowadays this is one of the places in the city where rents are still affordable. So no wonder that even if not obvious on the surface, Kwun Tong is the epicentre for the city’s cultural industries. Quite remote from Hong Kong’s glossy commercial areas such as Central, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui, it is the home of leading modern art galleries such as Agnes Lin’s Osage and the Sun Museum, as well as of popular music venues. It only took me a few daysin Kwun Tong to discover it is also the centre for Hong Kong’s burgeoning film industry, with the venerable Hong Kong International Film Festival having its offices here, as well as many production and distribution companies occupying co-working space in the buildings nearby. One of these older industrial space, The Milky Way Building, is owned by director Johnnie To and his associates – and it is on its staircase that many scenes of well-known Hong Kong action movies have been shot.

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[reason108]

It's great that these films are getting preserved. Sadly, it's too late for a lot of films though. But, Eureka needs to release The Valiant Ones since they already have a King Hu reputation of quality releases. 

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

On 12/10/2020 at 12:17 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

 

Thanks for sharing this, great to make a little tour thru this holy temple, and the famous peak tram ride!

Edited December 27, 2020 by Chu Liu Hsiang

[DragonClaws]

On 12/27/2020 at 1:04 AM, Chu Liu Hsiang said:

Thanks for sharing this, great to make a little tour thru this holy temple, and the famous peak tram ride!

 

It would be fun to visist this place, I hope they keep up the great work of preserving Hong Kong cinema.

 

On 12/25/2020 at 3:15 PM, reason108 said:

Sadly, it's too late for a lot of films though.

 

Never say never, you don't know what might turn up in the future.

[DragonClaws]

 

 

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[ShawAngela]

On 11/13/2020 at 12:09 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

 

More "Restored Treasures" to screen at HK Film Archive

Link- https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201007/27/P201007270240.htm

Since HKFA has released on dvd some Connie Chan's movies restored and English subbed a few years ago, I wonder why they don' t release a dvd of Cold Blade, since so many fans are longing to watch this movie !

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Exactly. What she said. Cathay has been bought out several times. My understanding is the latest women who own the copyrights are into remaking the titles, not really preserving them. At least so far. I emailed them twice, no response, which I understand. I mean Warner Bros wouldn't return an email either I would imagine.

 

https://variety.com/2021/film/asia/indra-and-erlina-suharjono-launch-i-e-entertainment-venture-in-asia-1234945648/