See Them Here First
The Hong Kong International Film Festival wants to show you something you've never seen before: more than a dozen world premieres.
Festival representatives, including its public face, actor-singer Andy Lau, have been busily twisting the arms of Hong Kong filmmakers to put more effort into promoting their hometown festival, including having their films debut there. It paid off: The big prize this year is the world premiere of "Election 2," Hong Kong director Johnnie To's much-anticipated follow-up to last year's critical and commercial hit, "Election," a taut drama about a power struggle among triad leaders. "Election" had its world premiere last year at Cannes, the grande dame of international film festivals, and Peter Tsi, the Hong Kong festival's executive director, is especially happy to have snared the sequel as one of about 240 films screening this year.
In addition to premieres, Mr. Tsi says the festival will continue its tradition of showcasing classic Hong Kong movies. The festival's major retrospective this year is a tribute to Hong Kong action choreographers, a collection of 20 films that features the work of Corey Yuen ("Fong Sai-Yuk"), Ching Siu-tung ("A Chinese Ghost Story") and Yuen Woo-ping ("Once Upon a Time in China II"). Perhaps no other action choreographer has received greater world-wide recognition than Mr. Yuen, whose career began in the 1960s and spanned the golden age of Hong Kong action cinema in the following two decades; recently he has worked on blockbusters including the "Matrix" trilogy and "Kung Fu Hustle."
Other highlights at this year's festival include "Isabella," from Hong Kong's Pang Ho Cheung, about a Macau policeman's relationship with a woman who may be his daughter; "Paradise Now," a story of prospective suicide bombers from Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad, which earlier this year won the Golden Globe award for best foreign-language film, and an Oscar nomination in the same category; and Australian heroin-addiction drama "Candy," based on the best-selling novel by Luke Davies and starring Heath Ledger, a recent Oscar nominee for his widely acclaimed performance in "Brokeback Mountain."
香港国际电影节：先睹为快
香港国际电影节(Hong Kong International Film Festival)将向大家展示前所未有的盛况：十多部电影的全球首映礼。
包括电影节荣誉大使刘德华(Andy Lau)在内的诸多香港影星正在积极努力，携手推广港产影片，例如在香港举办他们制作的电影的首映礼。这些努力已经初见成效：香港导演杜琪峰(Johnnie To)的作品《黑社会：以和为贵》(Election 2)作为电影界的开幕电影进行全球首映，观众订票反应十分热烈。《黑社会》(Election)系列第一部去年在戛纳电影节举行全球首映，影片描述了黑帮三巨头的权力之争，观众好评如潮，早就翘首企盼著第二部影片的上映。香港国际电影节协会执行董事戚家基(Peter Tsi)表示，能吸引这部影片的续作参加今年香港国际电影节的展映，感到非常兴奋。本届电影节预计共有240部影片展映。
除了盛大的首映礼之外，戚家基说，电影节会一如既往地推广经典港产影片。本届电影节最重要的电影回顾展就是向动作指导致敬，展映20部体现影片动作指导艺术成就的影片，包括元奎(Corey Yuen)的《方世玉》(Fong Sai-Yuk)、程小东(Ching Siu-tung)的《倩女幽魂》(A Chinese Ghost Story)和袁和平(Yuen Woo-ping)的《黄飞鸿之二：男儿当自强》(Once Upon a Time in China II)等诸多杰作。袁和平也许是全世界知名度最高的影片动作指导了，他从六十年代开始涉足电影圈，其后的二十年亲身经历并目睹了香港电影的黄金时代，他最近的两部杰作是《黑客帝国》(Matrix)三部曲和《功夫》(Kung Fu Hustle)。
本届电影节的其他亮点还包括：香港导演彭浩翔(Pang Ho Cheung)的作品《伊莎贝拉》(Isabella)，讲述一名澳门警察与一位可能是自己亲生女儿的女性之间的纠葛；《立见天国》(Paradise Now)：本届金球奖(Golden Globe)最佳外语片得主，并入围本届奥斯卡(Oscar)最佳外语片提名，巴勒斯坦导演阿布阿萨德(Hany Abu-Assad)在此讲述了被征召做人体炸弹的两名巴勒斯坦死士的故事；还有澳大利亚影片《爱?糖针》(Candy)，本片围绕吸毒的主题，改编自卢克?戴维斯(Luke Davies)的畅销小说，由最近因主演奥斯卡提名影片《断背山》(Brokeback Mountain)而大受好评的希思?莱杰(Heath Ledger)主演。
