Film Hong Kong — Director’s blog on making movies in Hong Kong

Saturday, February 21. 2009

Hong Kong Film Directors Guild annual Spring dinner

The Hong Kong Film Directors Guild had its annual Spring dinner this year on Thursday, Feb 19th. Directors who have made two commercially released local films are eligible to join the Guild. Around 100 veteran and emerging directors, and guests attended the festive event.

Me and Lam Wah Chuen (dir,Nothing is Impossible; also cinematographer on Made in Hong Kong and my film, Rice Rhapsody)

Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs) and Gordon Chan (Painted Skin)

John Sham (actor, producer), Mabel Cheung (dir,The Soong Sisters), Alex Law (writer, City of Glass), and Christina Yao (dir, Empire of Silver)

The day after I received the invitation I got a phone call from the Guild secretary letting me know that all directors are requested to perform during the dinner. Since it was all for good fun, few declined. Some brave souls, such as Stephen Fung (dir, House of Fury) Barbara Wong (dir, Wonder Women), and Arthur Wong (cinematographer, The Warlords) did it solo while most of us performed in groups.

Stephen Fung

Barbara Wong

Arthur Wong

My ensemble consisted of Philip Chan (actor, director, producer), Mabel Cheung, Alex Law, Chi-kin Kwok (dir, The Moss) and finally, a professional singer/musician, Lai Siu Tin (Michael Lai), who played keyboard for us. We sang a Mandarin song called “A Love Letter to Filmmakers” (sounds kinda corny in English, but much more poetic in Chinese), a beautiful ballad by Taiwanese songstress Tsai Chin. I played the guitar and provided background vocals. I don’t have a clip of our performance, but here’s how it should be sung:

One of the highlights was Teddy Robin’s rendition of “Wipeout.”

Teddy Robin & band

Awards were also handed out and it was a big evening for Wilson Yip, who won three prizes, including Best Director for Ip Man.

Cheang Po Soi (dir. Dog Bites Dog) & Wilson Yip

John Woo and Ann Hui were also honored for Chi Bi and The Way We Were, respectively.

Posted by Kenbiroli at 12:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Sunday, February 15. 2009

BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Congratulations to our sales agent, The Match Factory, for their huge success at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival. Their films, The Milk of Sorrow and Gigante, won the Golden Bear for Best Film and the Silver Bear for the Jury Grand Prix, respectively.