Literary Hong Kong 文學香港 – Meet the Filmmaker
Screening of Liu Yichang 劉以鬯: 1918 and Conversation with Director Dr. Ben Wong 黃勁輝
Date: Saturday, September 21, 2024
Time: 3:00-4:45pm (screening); 4:45-5:15pm (Q&A)
Venue: AERL 120, Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory
Address: 2202 Main Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver | Map
Parking: UBC Health Sciences Parkade, 2250 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver | Map
“Since arriving in Hong Kong from Shanghai, I have relied on myself and my pen, producing some ten thousand characters a day. During the day I write things for the entertainment of others, at night I have time to write the things that I enjoy.” — Liu Yichang
「我從上海來到香港以後，我一個人，靠一支筆，一日寫一萬字左右。我日間寫娛樂別人的作品，晚上有閒我寫自己喜歡的作品。」— 劉以鬯
Join us for the screening of documentary film Liu Yichang 劉以鬯: 1918 and meet award-winning filmmaker, scriptwriter, and scholar Dr. Ben Wong 黃勁輝 in person.
Born in Shanghai, Liu Yichang 劉以鬯 (1918-2008) is one of the most influential writer and literary editor in Hong Kong’s cultural scene. Among his works, Liu was best known for his novels The Drunkard and Tête-bêche which had inspired film auteur Wong Kar Wai’s 2046 and In the Mood for Love. Liu received the Award for Outstanding Contribution in Arts in 2013 and the Life Achievement Award in 2015, both from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, for his contribution to Hong Kong culture and literature. The audience will get to experience the worlds created and lived by Liu through this documentary.
Award-winning scriptwriter, director and writer Dr. Ben Wong 黃勁輝 (Golden Horse Award Winner – Best Original Screenplay; Artist of the Year, Hong Kong Arts Development Council) will participate in the post-screening conversation in person.
The event is free and open to all. English subtitles will be provided.
Limited seats available. Registration required.
Watch the Trailer
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Liu Yichang: 1918
Director: WONG King Fai
Cinematographer: YUEN Chi Him, KWAN Pun Leung, WONG Shuk Han
Duration: 108 mins
Year of release: 2015
Synopsis
1918, the title of this film, is also the birth year of Hong Kong’s literary virtuoso, Liu Yichang, who fueled the literary modernism in Hong Kong. Liu’s fiction has been a significant source of inspiration for the renowned Hong Kong film director, Wong Kar Wai, whose In the Mood for Love (2000) and 2046 (2004) are in substantial debt to Liu’s experimental fiction. The film delivers Liu’s life stories and his writings in the form of docu-fiction. This cross-generic presentation introduces the writer by not only his empirical reality but also his literary imagination, which challenges the tradition of biography documentary. The audience will be able to appreciate Liu’s entire literary career extending from the 1930s to the present, roaming across Shanghai and Singapore, and finally settling down in Hong Kong where he became a pioneering literary giant.
About Liu Yichang
Liu Yichang (1918-2018) was born in Shanghai, where he later graduated from St. John’s University. He then went to Chongqing to edit the literary supplements of the National Gazette and Saodangbao (“eradication”, an anti-war newspaper), which marked the beginning of a life-long career in newspapers and literature. The civil war between the Nationalists and communists in mainland China drove him to Hong Kong in 1948, where he would work as an editor for various newspapers and periodicals, including the Hong Kong Times and Sing Tao Weekly, and write serialized novels to support himself.
In 1985 he started the Hong Kong Literature monthly, for which he served as editor-in-chief until 2000. Throughout his career, he lent a helping hand to many new-generation Hong Kong writers, giving them a place to shine in newspapers and the literature monthly. Even King-Fai Wong, who directed this documentary film about Liu Yichang, says Liu is “half a teacher” to him, because although Liu never taught him in a classroom, his influence was far and wide. Always willing to help aspiring writers, he would publish their first stories, sometimes calling them to offer advice or just to discuss the work. All this despite Liu once saying in a newspaper interview that “writers interested in literature will start writing on their own.”
About Director Dr Ben Wong
Dr. WONG King Fai is an award-winning film director, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the director of two documentaries 1918 (2015) and Boundary (2015), which are respectively about Hong Kong literary giants Liu Yichang (1918–2018) and LEUNG Ping-kwan (Ye Si) (1949–2013). Endeavours of six years in production, the two documentaries have been released in theatres in Hong Kong and Taiwan and screened in various universities in the United States, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, etc., as well as screening in the Berlin International Literature Festival in 2019. His screenplay for the film Life without Principle (2011) has garnered a number of prestigious awards, including the Best Original Screenplay (the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards), the Best Screenwriter (Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards), and the Best Screenwriter (Chinese Film Media Awards). The film was selected in the competition list at Venice Film Festival. The film won the Best Picture in the Asian Film Festival. His screenplay Wu Yan (starring Sammi Cheng and Anita Mui) competed for the highest box office of the year’s Chinese New Year films and the film Help !!! was selected in Berlin Film Festival official screening. Dr. WONG has been teaching in tertiary institutions in Hong Kong for many years. He was the chief editor of the book series “Literature and Cinema” published by Hong Kong University Press. Dr. Wong was awarded the Artist of the Year by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2018.
Dr. WONG is the editor-in-chief and curator of “Literature and Cinema” book series (Hong Kong University Press, etc.). Dr. WONG is the author of the novel The Hong Kong’s most famous Pirate: Cheung Bao Tsai, a collection of personal short stories Hong Kong: The Mock City, Metamorphosis of Russia Dolls, etc., and his short stories have been selected into many representative Hong Kong literary anthologies.
In recent years, Dr. WONG has explored his creative career in Taiwan The Girl Without a face (original author, screenwriter, director, producer) was selected for the 2023 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion(in production preparation), the script of The Beast Academy was funded by the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan, the script consultant of the upcoming Taiwan international film series The Outlaw Doctor (starring Viet Nam actor Liên Bỉnh Phát and Janine CHANG), and wrote the Taiwan-Hong Kong short stories Death in Kenting to be published.
有關電影《劉以鬯：1918》
導演｜黃勁輝
攝影｜阮智謙．關本良・黃淑嫻
108 mins ｜2015
「我在香港生活，一個人，靠一枝筆，一天要寫超過十份報紙的連載小說。」
1918年生於上海的劉以鬯，是近代華人文壇歷程的見證人，更是香港電影導演王家衛幾乎最重要的創作靈感泉源。 劉以鬯跟張愛玲年齡相差僅兩年，寫成被譽為中國第一部意識流長篇小說《酒徒》之時，他已四十多歲，可算大器晚成。他的文學和人生轉捩點，想不到來自新加坡一段愛情經歷，拍攝團隊循線追尋到劉以鬯伉儷邂逅的地方，實景回味這段花樣年華的時光。 本片嘗試打破紀錄片與劇情片的邊界，打開劉以鬯的記憶、生活與小說想像世界，穿梭30-40年代摩登上海，50年代南洋風味，香港新舊城市的變化魅力，游走虛構與真實之間，環迴過去與現在的文學時空⋯⋯
劉以鬯1918年出生於上海，2018年逝世。1941年自上海聖約翰大學畢業後，前往重慶主編《國民公報》與《掃蕩報》副刊，報紙與文學成為他一生的事業。1948年因國共內戰來到香港，先後任《香港時報》、《星島週報》等報刊雜誌編輯，同時也寫連載小說支撐生計。
1985年創辦《香港文學》月刊並擔任總編輯至2000年。為了實現文學理想，堅守工作崗位，劉以鬯提攜了許多新一代的香港作家，讓他們在報紙與月刊上展露光芒，連此次拍攝紀錄電影的導演黃勁輝，也稱劉以鬯為「半個老師」——雖然沒直接上課指導，但不遺餘力的提攜後輩、刊登他們的處女作品，甚至打電話指點新人、討論一二，雖然劉以鬯曾在報紙訪談中說過：「對文學有興趣的作家，他們自己就會去寫。」
有關導演
黄勁輝 博士
作家、編劇、導演、文學博士，涉獵文學創作、商業電影、藝術電影、紀錄片及文學與電影研究。花六年時間，同步完成《劉以鬯：1918》及《也斯：東西》（台資「他們在島嶼寫作2」）導演作品，並於台灣與香港戲院上線公映，在歐美亞洲多所著名學府（包括美國紐約大學、約克大學、蘇黎世大學、日本慶應義塾大學等）及柏林書展放映，黄氏將「香港文學家紀錄片」的新電影類型研究及製作經驗，寫成學術專著《劉以鬯與香港摩登：文學・電影・紀錄片》獲香港公共圖書館頒授中文文學雙年獎推薦獎(評論組兩年內唯一獲獎書籍)。編劇作品《奪命金》（杜琪峰導演）入圍威尼斯影展主競賽名單角逐最佳劇本獎，連奪台北金馬獎最佳原創劇本獎、華語電影傳媒大獎最佳編劇、香港電影評論學會最佳編劇及亞太影展最佳電影；編劇作品《鍾無艷》（鄭秀文、梅艷芳主演）角逐全年賀歲片最高票房以及柏林影展觀摩電影《辣手回春》等。任教大專院校多年，「文學與電影」叢書主編及策劃（香港大學出版社等）。著有長篇小說《張保仔》、個人短篇小說合集《香港：重複的城市》、《變形的俄羅斯娃娃》等，短篇小說入選多部代表性香港文學選集（包括劉以鬯編《香港百年短篇小說精華》；也斯、葉輝等編：《香港當代作家作品合集選（小說卷）》；許子東編《後殖民食物與愛情：三城記小說系列香港卷》，多次入選香港三聯出版社年度「香港文學小說選」等。）2018年獲香港藝術發展局頒發「年度藝術家」大獎。
近年，黄氏積極在台灣探索其創作事業。《無相女》（原著作者、編劇、導演、監製）入選2023年金馬創投劇情長片項目（籌備中），《馴獸樂園》劇本獲台灣文化部資助，即將上映的台灣國際影集《化外之醫》（越南影帝連炳發、張鈞甯主演）劇本顧問，書寫三年台港小說《死在墾丁》即將出版。
This event is organized by the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative; and is supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council as well as the Watt Family—Hong Kong Studies Initiative Fund, the Centre for Chinese Research, and the Department of Asian Studies, UBC.
Watt Family—Hong Kong Studies Initiative Fund
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