Archive - 11th Five Flavours Film Festival

Made in Hong Kong

Xiang Gang zhi zao
Hong Kong 1997, 108’
subtitles: Polish and English
director: Fruit Chan
screenplay: Fruit Chan
cinematography: Lam Wah-chuen, O Sing-pui
editing: Fruit Chan
music: Lam Wah-chuen
cast: Sam Lee, Yim Hui-chi, Wenders Li, Tam Ka-chuen
producer: Andy Lau, Doris Yang Ziming
production: Nicetop Independent Ltd., Team Work Production House
language: Cantonese
colouration: colour

Awards and festivals

Golden Horse FF 1997 - Best Original Screenplay, Best Director; Hong Kong Film Awards 1998 - Best Picture, Best Director, Best New Performer; Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 1998 - Best Director, Film of Merit; Locarno IFF 1997 - Swissair/Crossair Special Prize; Pusan IFF 1997 - FIPRESCI Prize; Nantes Three Continents Festival 1997 - Golden Montgolfiere; Gijón IFF 1997 - Best Screenplay, Grand Prix Asturias; Golden Bauhinia Awards 1998 - Best Picture, Best Director

Film description

Rebellious Moon wanders between Hong Kong skyscrapers, accepting small jobs form shady members of the local underworld. He has a sick girlfriend who is waiting for a kidney transplant, and a friend whose life is also filled with setbacks.

The three of them seem to be perfect candidates for a wild, romantic tale in the style of the popular Hong Kong "young rebels" cycle, with its picturesque image of a gangster life. Chan deconstructs these conventions, staying close to the ordinary life and the unimpressive reality of a gang. The style of his film is indebted both to the Japanese young rebel films of the 1960s, and the aesthetics of Wong Kar-wai. Strong frames, the desperate-melancholic atmosphere, and the dynamic editing turn "Made in Hong Kong" into an expressive urban poem, piercing and hypnotic.

The young filmmaker made his production in a truly independent home-made way, using pieces of film from the movies he worked at. Five crew members, loaned money for the equipment, and only two months of production were enough to create a film which soon became legendary – a fresh, vivid work capturing the spirit of its times. Twenty years after its premiere and twenty years since Hong Kong came under Chinese rule, many of its themes remain valid, and the restored version made for the film’s anniversary allows us to once again appreciate its sharp visual form.

The 4K restoration of Made in Hong Kong was promoted by the Far East Film Festival (Udine, Italy) on the occasion of the 20th anniversary since the film's first public screening in 1997, the same year as Hong Kong’s handover to China. The restoration was made from the original camera negative with the supervision of director Fruit Chan and cinematographer O Sing-pui and was carried out in 2017 in the Hong Kong and Bologna headquarters of L'Immagine Ritrovata.

> Interview with Bede Cheng about film restoration

Jagoda Murczyńska

Fruit Chan

Born in 1949 in China, then emigrated to Hong Kong with his family. Director, producer, actor, screenwriter, member of the so-called second wave of independent Hong Kong cinema. Praised for his urban-themed films, in which he often cast amateurs, showing the life of a modern metropolis from up close. He combined his interest in social issues with a fascination with avant-garde Japanese cinema of the 1960s, including the works of Nagisa Oshima.

Selected filmography:

1991 Wu ge ji mo de xin / Five Lonely Hearts

1997 Made in Hong Kong / Xiang Gang zhi zao

1998 Najdłuższe lato / Hui nin yin fa dak bit doh / The Longest Summer

1999 Mały Cheung / Xilu xiang / Little Cheung

2001 Heung Gong you ge He Li Huo / Hollywood Hongkong

2004 Jiao zi / Dumplings

2009 Chengdu, wo ai ni / Chengdu, I Love You

2015 My City

2016 Mou sha si shui nian hua / Kill Time

Be up to date!

© Fundacja Sztuki Arteria
Our website uses cookies, i.e. small text files that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you browse the site. Click here to change your cookie settings.