“Against the Flow – Female Pioneer in Japanese Cinema” Tanaka Kinuyo’s Directing Works Retrospective
17/11 – 3/12/2023 @K11 Art House
Tanaka Kinuyo (1909-1977), the most important actress in the history of Japanese cinema, not only starred in Shimizu Hiroshi, Gosho Heinosuke, Ozu Yasujiro, Kinoshita Keisuke, Mizoguchi Kenji and other classics of many masters, she also directed Love Letter in 1953 to launch her career as a director. She then successively filmed The Moon Has Risen (1955), Forever a Woman (1955), The Wandering Princess (1960), Girls of Dark (1961), and Love under the Crucifix (1962).
In recent years, her directorial works have been digitally restored and re-released around the world and attracted great attention. Her unique and sensitive portrayal of women is truly amazing. This programme will screen a total of six films directed by her. Academics and film critics are invited to give a talk to have in-depth discussions on Tanaka’s artistic world as a pioneer female director.
Selected titles:
Love Letter 1953｜ Japan｜B & W ｜98 min｜In Japanese with Chi & Eng subtitles
The Moon Has Risen 1955｜ Japan｜B & W ｜102min｜In Japanese with Chi & Eng subtitles
Forever a Woman 1955｜ Japan｜B & W ｜110min｜In Japanese with Chi & Eng subtitles
The Wandering Princess 1960｜Japan｜Color ｜103 min｜In Japanese with Chi & Eng subtitles
Girls of Dark 1961｜Japan｜B & W ｜93min｜In Japanese with Chi & Eng subtitles
Love Under the Crucifix 1962｜Japan｜Color ｜102 min｜In Japanese with Chi & Eng subtitles
本地資深動畫導演陳偉文、鄭崇炘與美術及動畫指導馮慶強組成，旨在傳授香港絕無僅有的手繪動畫技巧，由從事2D動畫創作需要由概念、構圖、分鏡、人物造型等各方面打好基本功，三位經驗豐富的動畫師與電影文化中心及文房合作，為大家帶來2D手繪動畫工作坊，除了講解有關Full animation，Limited animation, Pose to pose , squash and stretch, anticipation, follow through , over lapping等知識外、展示2D動畫的拍攝台講解原理及運作，從經典的迪士尼公主動畫到《阿基拉》、《攻殼機動隊》，與大家分析及講解當中的創作精粹。
－－－－－－－－－－－ 導師：鄭崇炘 本身為quantum studio 2D手繪動畫師及3D動畫師，後加入香港先濤數碼擔任動畫導演及制片，二十年間先後為多個廣告動畫先擔任制片和特效指導，如可口可樂cny泥娃系列，葡萄適系列，麥當勞等，及後展開電影特效制片工作，作品有《刺陵》、《痞子英雄》、《龍門飛甲》、印度電影《Enthiran the ROBOT》和《BAAHUBALI》，2013年開始了國內2D動畫《龜兔再跑》的導演工作，及為2017年電影《追龍》擔任特效總監。
導師：馮慶強 早年從事漫畫，後轉至廣告及電影製作，擔任導演、特效設計、美術指導等工作，onebyone studio 創辦人。現任「香港粵語片研究會」主席及電影文化中心 (香港) 董事、香港演藝學院電影電視學院客席講師。
After leaving his orphanage, Totò ends up on a vast, barren field among other homeless people. Totò turns out to be a naturally gifted “urban planner”: he transforms the place into a structured and flourishing town with streets, and even encounters his dream woman Edvige. When oil is found in this shantytown, capitalists intend to take over their property and the police forces them to evacuate. Using the wish-granting powers by his stepmother Lolotta who passed away, Totò finally makes his wishes come true. De Sica creates this heartwarming tale for the poor, and pays tribute to the comedic style of Charlie Chaplin.
The scene of negotiation shows thick-walled Fascist buildings and ends with a scene at the Milan Cathedral. In addition to this neo-realist fable, one may wonder if De Sica is spreading an anti-architectural message to remind the audience of what makes a warm home is more than the building.
獎項Awards： 1951Cannes Film FestivalGrand Prize
1951 National Board of Review AwardTop Foreign Films
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心靈築動 Columbus
導演／編劇 Director／Screenplay：Kogonada 攝影 Cinematographer：Elisha Christian 演員 Cast： John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson, Parker Posey
2017｜美國 USA｜彩色 Colour ｜104 min 英語、韓語對白，中英文字幕 In English and Korean with Chinese and English subtitles
Arriving at a hospital in Columbus, Indiana, Jin stays to watch over his father who has fallen into a coma while being in town to deliver a lecture. Casey, who is a fan of architecture, strikes up a conversation with Jin, knowing that he is the son of the renowned architect. Casey is proud of Columbus, which is known as the “Athens of the Prairie”, and acts as Jin’s guide during his stay. Jin and Casey open up about themselves to each other in front of these modern architectural works. Jin reveals his estranged relationship with his father, while Casey confesses that her life restriction as taking care of her mother — the two share mutual feelings of loneliness and powerlessness.
The director, Kogonada, is a second-generation Korean-American. After traveling in Columbus with his wife, he is mesmerized by the town and is inspired to produce this debut film. With reference to the spatial juxtapositions of Antonioni and Ozu, Kogonada subtly places simple and parallel lines within seemingly asymmetrical compositions, as a way to quietly calm the inner struggles of the two protagonists.
獎項Awards：2018 Chlotrudis Awards – Best Cinematography
This architectural documentary follows the life of Swiss architect Mario Botta: his collaborative work with Giuliano Vangi, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Namyang, South Korea, has commenced its construction; he is invited to Yinchuan to inspect and build a mosque; audiences are reviewing Botta’s “journey to sacred spaces” while looking through old photos with Botta’s family, which all began with his first construction of a Parish house in his hometown Genestrerio. The directors also feature the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center of Tel Aviv University as well as Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista in Mogno, all of which have a breathtaking presence.
A recipient of numerous prizes, Botta’s works neither pursue progressive technicality, nor indulge in multifunctionality. Within his signature design of curvilinear brick walls, Botta seeks to find the balance between sacred and secular, and the connecting point between the confinement of shapes and the infinity of heaven and earth.
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森山君住好啲 Moriyama-San
＊香港首映 Hong Kong premiere screening＊
導演 Director：Ila Bêka, Louise Lemoine 攝影 Cinematographer：Ila Bêka
2017｜法國 France｜彩色 Colour ｜63min 英語、日語對白，中英文字幕 In English and Japanese with Chinese and English subtitles
Moriyama San and Ila Bêka, who met by chance, were discussing Japanese avant-garde music when Moriyama decided to bring Bêka back to the “Moriyama House” and show him his collection of Otomo Yoshi albums. Seeing this extraordinary architecture, Bêka immediately requested a filming and stayed at the house to document one week in the life of its owner, who perfectly demonstrated the art of “living”. Living by himself, the film depicts the book-loving Moriyama lying and sleeping wherever he wants— wandering between his domestic space and the communal space. Bêka and Lemoine (The Infinite Happiness (2015), Koolhaas Houselif (2008) were described by the New York Times as the “cult figures in the European architecture world”. They did not get “lost in translation”, and managed to capture the free spirit of the city dweller.
Moriyama House is the work of Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa, constructed between 2002 and 2005. Built on a rectangular residential site in Ōta, Tokyo, the house consists of ten similar yet separate box-shaped volumes in white, with grass covering the connected land and has no walls in between. Moriyama House showcases a metropolitan version of living within small communities in rural areas.
獎項Awards：2019 London Architecture Film Festival – Best Documentary 2018 Perpignan Festival International du Livre d’Art et du Film – Golden Award
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＊香港首映 Hong Kong premiere screening＊
導演 Director：Ila Bêka, Louise Lemoine 攝影 Cinematographer：Ila Bêka
2020｜法國 France｜彩色 Colour ｜34min 英語、日語對白，中英文字幕 In English and Japanese with Chinese and English subtitles
While visiting the Kuwait Embassy designed Kenzo Tange and taking pictures for that building he admired greatly, Ila Bêka’s eyes were suddenly drawn to an unfinished, rugged house on the same street. It was a house featuring childlike line design similar to the style of Antoni Gaudi. Ila Bêka went into the house and met Keisuke Oka, who was at the time making cement by himself in that house he built. After receiving permission from Keisuke Oka, Ila Bêka quietly recorded him and the house, including the ‘Stone Steps of Hope’ that Keisuke Oka completed before the construction was forced to stop, on camera. Keisuke Oka used to study architecture but later became a butoh dance performer. He took the last seventeen years to build his house at a snail’s pace, incorporating improvisely the idea of physical movement into construction. The silhouette of the house imitates dancers‘ moving bodies as imagined by Keisuke Oka. The stone house is named ‘Ari-masu-tonbi-ru’ (蟻鱒鳶ル), as it symbolizes spirits of roaming ants, swimming trouts and eagles flying in the sky. This is a highly spiritual architectural project with philosophical significance.
This house can be categorized as “self-made dwelling”, which can be traced back to the Edo period. Such buildings were made by farmers who had an unstoppable determination to build their own houses despite their lack of construction experience or money. In modern times, “self-made dwelling” regained popularity in the Japanese architectural community due to promotion by architects including Tenrunobu Fujimori. Keisuke Oka studied architecture at Takayama Architecture Seminar School. After his proposal was selected in a competition organised by an architecturethe magazine in 2003, Keisuke Oka embarked on the arduous yet enjoyable journey to realize his architectural ideal, which is still incomplete after twenty years of work.
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涅雲奴 Nirvenue
導演 Director：吳家龍 Kal Ng 攝影 Cinematographer：吳家龍 Kal Ng
2018｜香港 Hong Kong｜彩色 Colour ｜75min 粵語對白，英文字幕 In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
A young architect, Li Wan, wrote a letter to his recently broken-up girlfriend, Li Bing. In this letter, which was tucked between the pages of Le Voyage d’Orient by Le Corbusier, Li Wan lamented that the two of them cannot escape the destined cycle of love, which starts with encounter, flirtation and passion, but always ends in estrangement between lovers. While Li Wan was typing on his computer, a virtual version of himself (created by collective intelligence) appeared on the screen, who looked exactly like the real Li Wan but had an opposite attitude towards the world. This virtual version of Li Wan invited him to enter the virtual world, where he could develop relationships with multiple versions of “Li Bing Ying” and start all over each time these virtual relationships hit a snag. Moreover, this virtual version also taught Li Wan to invent a software called “virtual hotel”, which transformed the 70-square-foot room that Li Wan lived in into a boat that could take him through all the good memories stored in the database. This film shares the common theme of migration and search with Kal Ng’s 1999 film Dreamtrips, while further visualizing the two cities of Toronto and Hong Kong. We can see in this film an empty version of Toronto and a purified version of Hong Kong, which appear and disappear on the screen alternately and create a world of constant flux and imagination.
Influenced by André Bazin’s ‘myth of total cinema’, Kal Ng feels that the ultimate purpose of cinema is to re-present a priori experience of human existence deep down inside. In other words, cinema is never a fully developed invention, but a progressive movement that continuously explores the imagery system. Through his films, Kal Ng focuses on exploring the spatial dimension of how emotional messages are conveyed beyond the narrative through the interaction between human beings and landscape.
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【精選短片 Short Videos】
南角 The Southern End
導演 Director：張偉雄 Bryan Chang 2023｜黑白 Black and White｜18min 粵語對白，中英文字幕 In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
Ting’s hometown was far away, but now she had made her home on Nam Kok Road (meaning “The Southern End”) in Kowloon City. Ting wanted to go around and know the area. The various trivial things she saw on the streets invoked many inner thoughts and monologues in her. When the night came, she wrote down “words about staying”. While she was wandering on the street, she walked past countless walls of silence where time had left marks on.
Entangled
導演 Director：布澤銘 Anthony CM Po、Adisak Yavilas 2023｜彩色 Colour ｜8min 英語對白，中英文字幕 In English and with Chinese and English subtitles
Keith and Mara were having a chat while Mara recalled the time her father accidentally splashed hot tea on her arm. Keith questioned whether the incident actually happened and went on to talk about a dreamlike memory of a burning house in the woods, before he realized the childhood regret hidden in this memory. This film, with most of its images extracted from an artificially intelligent chatroom, is a new attempt of architectural visualization based on morphological choices.
Cavity
導演 Director：潘子懷 Tsz Wai Pun 2023｜彩色 Colour ｜13min 粵語對白，無字幕 Cantonese without subtitles
Cavity collects traces of a lost city. Once known as one of the most densely populated places on Earth, the Kowloon Walled City was a labyrinth of tightly packed buildings. Demolished in the early 1990s, a park now fills its space. In an attempt to uncover signs of what remains;
a square,
a set of dentures, a map drawn from memory,
Cavity reveals material objects of lost time, lining the walls of absence.
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座談 Seminar
「石屎之詩：認識粗礦主義」Poetry of Concrete: Brutalist Architecture and Cinema
6/5 (六 Sat) ｜4:30 pm ｜ 香港藝術中心 古天樂電影院 Hong Kong Arts Centre, Louis Koo Cinema
In this seminar, two young architects from Hong Kong will tell you about the visual rules of an architectural concept called Brutalism, as well as its origin and the history of its rise and transformation. After knowing what is Brutalism, you may look at the buildings of your school and the housing estate you are living in, and think to yourself whether these buildings are “brutalist” enough. Also, you can take an examination of the films you’ve watched to see if brutalist architecture is featured in any of them. Perhaps, through this examination, you’ll understand the reason you fall in love with ___ (fill in the blank).
講者：潘浩倫、Bob Pang 主持： 張偉雄
Speaker: Allen Poon, Bob Pang Moderator: Bryan Chang
潘浩倫，香港註冊建築師，TETRA Architects 創辦人。現任香港建築師學會理事會執事及義務財務長，HKIA雙年展基金會聯席主席。威尼斯建築雙年展香港展 2006策展團隊成員，及2013香港深圳城市建築雙城雙年展的執行策展人。Allen 一直致力於在社區推動建築文化。2022年，他為 MOViE MOViE 策劃了《築動我城 Build Our Dreams》Life Is Art 光影藝術祭；過去十年，他亦持續協助薄扶林村社區推行保育運動。
Allen Poon, a Registered Architect in Hong Kong and founder of TETRA Architects, currently serves as an Office Bearer and Honorary Treasurer of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA), as well as the co-chair of the HKIA Biennale Foundation. Allen was part of the Curatorial Team for the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale Hong Kong Exhibition and served as the Executive Curator for the 2013 Hong Kong-Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture. He is also dedicated to promoting architectural culture within the community. In 2022, he co-curated the “Build Our Dreams” Life Is Art Festival for MOViE MOViE. Over the past decade, he has been actively involved in conservation efforts for the Pok Fu Lam Village community.
Bob Pang為本地駐冊建築師，曾於倫敦、維也納及上海生活。2011-2012期間於日本建築大師磯崎新工作室任項目建築師。2017年 “40 under 40” 優秀設計師得獎者。15年的建築與設計實踐曾贏得多個殊榮，如亞洲MIPIM最佳住宅設計金獎、日本Good Design Award Best 100獎等。近年獲Design Trust與 Leigh and Orange資助，持續研究本地粗獷建築歷史達三年之久。2021年的展覽《粗! －未知的香港粗獷建築》成功引起公眾注意，吸引逾二十家媒體報導。該展覽曾獲香港建築師學會年獎、台灣金點獎標章及英國Dezeen Awards 評審獎。Bob Pang曾受邀在香港M+、大館及倫敦C20 Society分享粗獷建築歷史研究。
Bob Pang is a registered architect in Hong Kong and has lived in London, Vienna and Shanghai. From 2011 to 2012, he worked as a project architect at the studio of Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. In 2017, he is being awarded as “40 under 40” Outstanding Designer Award. With 15 years of architectural and design practice, he won notable awards, including the MIPIM ASIA Best Residential Design Gold Award, and Good Design Award “BEST 100” in Japan. In recent years, he initiated and advocated a research about local Brutalist architectural history for three years, funded by Design Trust and Leigh and Orange. The 2021 exhibition “BRUTAL! – Unknown Brutalism Architecture in Hong Kong” successfully attracted public attention and more than 20 media reports. The exhibition won the Annual Award of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, the Golden Pin Award in Taiwan, and the Judging Award of the Dezeen Awards in the United Kingdom. Bob Pang has been invited to share his research at M+, Tai Kwun in Hong Kong and C20 Society in London.
放映及座談 Screening & Sharing
「空間電影宣言」 A Spatial Cinema Manifesto 導演 Director：吳家龍 Kal Ng 剪接 Editor：吳家龍 Kal Ng
2023｜香港 Hong Kong｜彩色 Colour ｜30min 粵語對白，英文字幕 Cantonese with English subtitle
It is a review of spatial films through the period of film history since Andre Bazin proposed ‘A Myth of Total Cinema’, a reflection of the present state of such a trajectory when virtual reality is happening and may redefine the experience of cinema once again.
7/5 (日 Sun) ｜7:30 pm ｜ 香港藝術中心 古天樂電影院 Hong Kong Arts Centre, Louis Koo Cinema
Love Letter
The Moon Has Risen
Forever a Woman
The Wandering Princess
Girls of Dark
Love Under the Crucifix
