Retrospective: King Hu

For the first time in Poland, we present a retrospective of the filmmaker who changed the face of cinema. King Hu is an undisputed master of the most important Chinese film genre – wuxia, which he redefined and modernized.

The director of "A Touch of Zen" went down in history as the innovator of action scenes choreography. He employed visionary technical solutions which he approached with extraordinary accuracy. The epic fights of the Taiwanese master's films became the emblems of his work, characterized by precision, the pioneering approach to movement as a dance, and the dynamic camerawork enhancing the poetic dimension of the fights.

King Hu was also a protofeminist. He brought to live many wonderful screen heroines – driven, emancipated, ready to fight for what's theirs – that were rarely found not only in the contemporary cinema of Taiwan and Hing Kong, but also all around the world. Hu's works left a big creative mark on the later masters of action cinema, including Zhang Yimou, Tsui Hark, John Woo, Johnnie To, and the Wachowskis.

The retrospective is comprised of films from different periods of King Hu's career, unveiling a profile of the artist without whom world cinema would not be the same. It includes some of his most famous works, such as "Dragon Inn" or "A Touch of Zen," but also films virtually unknown in Poland, such as "Raining in the Mountain" or "Legend of the Mountain."

The program of the retrospective is presented in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan and the Taiwanese Institute of Film and Audiovisual Arts. All films will be screened from digitally restored copies.