Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: The Cinema of Patrick Lung Kong
Aug 15 — Aug 24, 2014
A visionary Hong Kong director, Patrick Lung Kong, who made his first film nearly 50 years ago, had a profound impact on following generations of filmmakers, including John Woo and Tsui Hark. Portraying oft-neglected social realities with unflinching fervor, and with formal inventiveness, he drew on the rich traditions of Cantonese cinema while bringing new social dimensions to genre filmmaking. In addition to the fourteen feature films he wrote and directed between 1966 and 1979, Lung Kong acted in 60 films between 1958 and 2002—a prolific career which began at the Shaw Brothers Studios (then Shaw & Sons) and carried over into his own filmmaking. Though scarcely shown outside of Hong Kong today, he endures as one of the most original and uncompromising auteurs Hong Kong has ever produced. This program—consisting of eight features that he directed and one he produced—is a celebration of the life and achievements of Lung Kong.
Co-presented with the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office New York and New York Asian Film Festival/Subway Cinema. Special thanks to Patrick Lung Kong, Paul Lung, and Hong Kong Film Archive, Leisure and Cultural Services Department.