GOLDEN SHADOWS...... |
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Is a series of double features covering Cantonese movies from 1983 - 95, Hong Kong's most recent golden age of cinema. Of course, more contemporary HK titles will play an important part in any programming. In short, Golden Shadows will be best of the old and best of the new - from the cinematic fantasies of Tsui Hark to the eclectic cinema of Johnnie To. The programme kicked off in 2001 with two of Hong Kong's best known action films - Michelle Yeoh's martial arts fest Butterfly and Sword and the ultra-stylish/ultra-violent Ringo Lam thriller Full Contact. Both are legendary to followers of Cantonese movies, but to most Australian filmgoers they remain virtually unknown. No longer so to the 100 people who turned up to watch the films on Sunday 22 April 2001! Thanks to all for coming, your enthusiasm means that there will be many more screenings to come. The second screening was unfortunately not so well attended. A brave few turned out to watch Michelle Yeoh in Project S and Ti Lung in A Killer's Blues on Saturday 26 May 2001. Undaunted, the Golden Shadows screenings returned on Sunday September 23 at the Treasury Theatre, with the HK double-bill event of the year: Andrew Lau's ground breaking action-fantasy Storm Riders, and from maverick film-maker Tsui Hark, The Blade. On Sunday 28 October, the 2001 season ended with Ching Siu-Tung's superb action flick Wonder 7 starring Michele Yeoh, and the Tsui Hark produced sci-fi classic Wicked City. The first double for 2002 was a special Lunar New Year treat on Sunday 17 February - Jet Li's supercharged rescue picture High Risk and Jackie Chan's pumped-up action fest Rumble in the Bronx (the original Hong Kong version, featuring 17 minutes of extra footage!). On 23 June there was an encore screening of Full Contact, which is to be followed by more modern action with an encore screening of Michelle Yeoh's Project S on Sunday 21 July. The last Treasury Theatre screening returned to kung fu with Drunken Master 2 on Sunday 1 September. After the closure of Treasury Theatre, Golden Shadows moved to the Kino Cinemas, with a re-screening of the awesome fantasy flick Storm Riders on 27 October 2002, and then on 8 December a screening of Andrew Lau's follow-up fantasy blockbuster A Man Called Hero. On 25 May 2003 Golden Shadows debuted at the fabulous new venue the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, with another look at Tsui Hark's furious swordplay flick The Blade. After that was the long awaited screening of the incomparable Brigitte Lin in the wuxia film Fire Dragon on 22 June 2003 - in the Golden Shadows style, this film has not been seen on Melbourne screens for nearly ten years! This was followed by two more rare treats: Tsui Hark's The Lovers in July, and Johnnie To & Wai Ka Fai's Too Many Ways to Be No.1 in August. The final screening for 2003 was another go at Rumble in the Bronx in October Golden Shadows returned to ACMI in 2004 with the girls with guns revenge flick Widow Warriors, and then a short season of the shocking war crimes drama Man Behind the Sun.
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