It’s hard to count the many apexes in New Wave wizard Tsui Hark’s career, but Once Upon a Time in China must surely count as one of them. Once Upon a Time in China sees Jet Li inhabit and redefine the role of real-life folk hero Wong Fei-hung, the main character of the world’s longest-running movie series – yes, even more prolific than James Bond. As worldwide colonial forces seek to invade and rule over 19th-century Guangzhou, Wong, the locally popular doctor and martial arts teacher, must save his city from further conflict between East and West. In the role that cemented his stardom, Li portrays Wong’s masculinity not only with bedazzling martial arts choreography, but also with modern-day vulnerability, as Tsui places Wong in a crisis of modernity. How do we maintain our cultural identity in the face of unsurmountable, inevitable change, and where exactly is the touchy line where “East meets West”? Tsui crafts a highly entertaining and intelligent blockbuster that responds to its time, as his martial arts epic comes out mere years after the Tiananmen Square massacre and before the Handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China. Despite the film ostensibly set in Guangzhou, the questions of Hong Kong’s unique identity and place in the world remain more relevant than ever.

Presented with The Hong Konger Club as part of the 2nd San Diego Hong Kong Film Festival

新浪潮鬼才導演徐克在生涯上屢創高峰，其中必數在1991年翻拍了全球史上最長壽的電影系列黃飛鴻。當西方殖民勢力強行侵略十九世紀的廣州時，受大眾愛戴的中醫師與武術師傅黃飛鴻必須在白人與華人之中作出調停，以防城市的衝突加劇。因為這部電影而成為巨星的李連杰不僅出演了黃飛鴻，更是重新定義了這個傳奇人物。李連杰的敏捷身手固然使人歎為觀止，但他更為這個英雄人物注入了一點軟弱，而徐克則把黃飛鴻放進現代化的危機之中。面對不能逆轉的變革，我們如何保持自己的文化與獨特性？「中西合璧」的界線又身在哪裡？徐克的《黃飛鴻》推出時正值天安門屠殺後和香港主權移交前，除了娛樂大眾，更回應了時代。即使電影名義上處於廣州，徐克所探討的主題卻非常香港，而關於香港地位與身份的一連串問題，至今仍然貼題。

與香港會共同呈獻

Director’s bio
Known for his wicked genre-hopping and state-of-the-art spectacles, Tsui Hark is one of the forefathers of the Hong Kong New Wave. His four-decades-long career has seen him jump between social critique, period fantasies, martial arts epics, and propaganda war films. His most notable directing works include Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Peking Opera Blues, Green Snake, and the Once Upon a Time in China and Detective Dee series. He also has a prolific producing career and has birthed many iconic Hong Kong film series such as A Better Tomorrow and A Chinese Ghost Story, leaving an indomitable legacy in Chinese-speaking culture.

導演簡介
徐克是香港新浪潮的領導人物之一，以「鬼才」類型片和尖端科技的大場面見稱。在他橫跨四個十年的生涯裏，他嘗試過社會批判、古裝奇幻、武俠，以及樣板戰爭片等類型。他最著名的導演作品包括《新蜀山劍俠》、《刀馬旦》、《青蛇》，以及《黃飛鴻》和《狄仁傑》系列等。他亦曾經監製無數標誌性的香港電影系列，例如《英雄本色》和《倩女幽魂》，在華語世界家喻戶曉、影響深遠。