Vitro Nasu

Chinese Box

On June 30, 1997, in Hong Kong, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time over Government House as Britain prepared to hand the colony back to China after ruling it for 156 years
Wayne Wang’s film “The Chinese Box starred Jeremy Iron & two great actresses from China, Gong Li & Maggie Cheung (M.C was happy to play this scarfaced woman – a departure. .The film took place during the transition, using the real footage, Prince Charles was there.. very emotional moment in history.

Ruben Blades singing here (excerpt from Chinese Box on youtube)

Fan Ho’s never-before-seen Hong Kong images on show in exhibition and new book

Fan Ho – (8-october-1937-19-june-2016), see more photos here.

Bruce Lee
(Bruce with IP Man)

Ann Hui (Hong Kong/Macao Filmmaker who won many lifetime achievement awards)
Maggie was directed by Ann Hui in Ann’s autobiographical film.

Autumn Moon directed by Clara Law

Full film of Autumn Moon by Clara Law here (Youtube)

Clara Law

Chinese surname shortage –
Two Tony from Hong Kong here..

In the middle is Tony Leung Chiu Wai and the bottom is Tony Leung Ka Fai

Aperture Solo Show

Controversial and renowned Chinese photographer Ren Hang died at 29. (British Photographer Journal)

Blouinartinfo

Ren Hang 任航 (1987-2017). (Poems in Chinese + a page on depression)

See more photos Mashkulture net

Empty Kingdom

Keith
and Tseng Kwong Chi

My mirrored glasses give
the picture a neutral
impact and a surrealistic
quality I am looking for.
I am an inquisitive traveler,
a witness of my time, and
an ambiguous ambassador.
Tseng Kwong Chi
1950-1990

Revisiting the Twin tower with Tseng Kwong Chi

Tseng and Herman Costa, Aids Memrorial (Photos of Eleven Good Men)
Tseng was 39 when he died.

See him at Grand Canyon

His imagery was always the curious, blank Chinese tourist. I would say to Kwong that you don’t fool me, I know, I can sense protest when I see it… this blankness was the way in which this culture at large expected him, as an Asian man, to exist. So he became a kind of a cipher, a smooth surface that because it was so impenetrable, this persona, it reflected everything!

Bill T. Jones

[TSENG’s work is like] a cross between Ansel Adams and Cindy Sherman.

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Fan Ho (wiki)

He died in San Jose, California on 19 June, 2016 of pneumonia at the age of 84

via Petapixel

Born in Shanghai, China, in 1931, Ho first picked up a camera at age 13 when his father gave him a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera. After moving to Hong Kong later in his teens, he began to document life on the streets of that bustling 1950s city. His remarkable street photos of Hong Kong would soon earn him international attention, exhibitions, and hundreds of photography awards.

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121 clicks –inspiratin from masters of photography

Fan Ho (homepage)

Fan Ho: finding love and light in 1950s Hong Kong – in pictures

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Photography – Afterworld by Peng Chun Yen

Afterworld means the world after death. These series of pictures were all taken inside a small pumping station in Taipei. Inside the station seems very desolate, which is out of tune with the urban cityscape of Taipei. The water stains caused by raindrops appear to create proof of life in the lifeless environment. In this barren landscape located inside a city, it is like walking on the road of the Afterworld, trying to find the next exit to reincarnation.
Photographs & Text: Peng-Chun Yen 顏鵬峻

Bruce Lee in Chinatown.

He made many films as a child actor. (youtube) He was a student of Philosophy and cha cha cha.

Master Sifu Bruce Lee “Jun Fan” Lee was born in the hour of the dragon on the year of the dragon, November 27, 1940 in San Francisco, California. “Jun Fan” translates to “return again”, his parents named him this with the hope he would return to America. At three months of age Bruce was taken to Hong Kong, but one day they would get their wish.”

Mao was a fan.

Jacky Chan on Bruce Lee.. the best story.

The Lost Interview.

(via)

Ip Man and Bruce Lee (Previous post)

His master, Ip Man, secretly enjoyed all Lee’s practical jokes.

Ip Man’s nickname for Bruce Lee was ‘upstart

Lee died within a year of his master, Ip Man.

He majored in Drama instead of philosophy.

He was a sleepwalker.

75 things you didn’t know about Bruce Lee.

Zhang Kechun born 1980 in Sichuan, China, is a artist currently based in Chengdu

Buddha

Photography of China

Thanks to Giulo Tosi

Winners at Cannes

The Assassin trailer here.

(Three Times)

“The main thing is for the actors to forget the camera. They have to act as if they are working in a documentary.”

Cinescope on Hou Hsieu Hsien – Master of Modern World

Hou Hsiao Hsien filmography here.

The director on long takes fast edits and a warrior in the shadows.

It took about a year to make the movie, including three or so months of shooting. They spent a month in Japan, Mr. Hou said, and the gorgeous exterior shots were shot in central China and Inner Mongolia, the site of a silver birch forest in which Yinniang has one of her fiercest battles. Mr. Hou said that he didn’t rehearse the film, which is fairly astonishing given the precision of the camerawork and how bodies move through his space in it. Instead, Mr. Hou sets up the two (Arri) cameras and lets the performs work it out. If it succeeds, then that’s the shot that they use. “But if it doesn’t,” Mr. Hou explained, he “will shift the image based on what they’re working with.” He doesn’t pressure them to be “so technical” when they’re shooting, and that’s the “way he’s always worked.”

Cafe Lumiere
Homage to Yasujiro Ozu, Hou Hsiao Hsien project

Cafe Lumiere (previous post)

Olivier Assayas and Hou Hsiao Hsien (via)

Oct 6 update : Legacy of Tienanman Square looms

Oct 5 update: news from Hong Kong..

Click to see large

IN PICTURES: On the front lines of the Hong Kong democracy movement

The first tear gas fired..

Message from Taiwan President

Exciting time.. second night (see more photos).

In the Mood for Smiles.

Click to see large
Michelangelo Antonioni : Born: September 29, 1912, Ferrara, Italy

Previous post – here

Wartime film idol, propaganda tool Rikoran dies at 94 Japan times

Japanese Actress Shirley Yamaguchi, Who Starred in ‘House of Bamboo,’ Dies at 94 (Variety)

Yoshiko Yamaguchi

photo via

Shirley and Charlie
(photo via)

photo via
See previous post

Hollywood reporter –

After her first marriage to Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi ended in the mid-1950s, Yamaguchi married Hiroshi Ohtaka, who was Japan’s ambassador to Burma, now Myanmar, and occasionally appeared on television. In 1974, she was elected to parliament’s Upper House as a member of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and served until 1992. She was among the contributors to a private atonement fund for Asian “comfort women” used as prostitutes for Japan’s wartime military.

Shanghai no Onna 1952 (youtube)

Caught Between China & Japan: Superstar Li Xianglan

She called China her fatherland and Japan her motherland.

(Scandal – directed by Kurosawa)

She was active in promoting relations with China and other Asian countries. One of her concerns was Japanese “comfort women” military brothels, an issue that still strains ties between Japan and its neighbours.

In her 1987 autobiography, Yamaguchi wrote she was shellshocked when she watched “China Nights” to prepare the book. “Why did I have to appear in such a movie and perform as ‘Chinese actress Ri Koran (Li Xianglan)’? I felt miserable realising this at this advanced age and I had sleepless nights for months.”

However, according to some Japanese bloggers, the movie was not widely taken as a pure propaganda film but was appreciated by many people in both Japan and China.

“I think song is something that helps shrink boundaries and distances,” Yamaguchi told public broadcaster NHK in 1985. “I myself suffered much as I was trapped in a war between two countries as long as I remember. Therefore I am determined not to tolerate any war.” (via)

Fan Ho (homepage)

Fan Ho: finding love and light in 1950s Hong Kong – in pictures

Fan Ho

Ho Fan (Chinese: 何藩) (born October 8, 1937) is a celebrated Chinese photographer, film director and actor. He has won over 280 awards from international exhibitions and competitions worldwide since 1956 for his photography

Tang Wei from Golden Era directed by Ann Hui (waiting to see this film – updated May 23, 2019)

Ann Hui (right) received Asian Filmmaker of the Year” Award
at Busan Film Fest

Ann Hui wiki

On 23 May 1947, Ann Hui was born in Anshan, Liaoning province, Manchuria to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother. In 1952, she moved to Macau, then Hong Kong at the age of five and attended St. Paul’s Convent School. Hui then received a Masters in English and comparative literature at the University of Hong Kong until 1972 and later, studied at the London Film School for two years. Before receiving her degree, Hui studied and did her thesis on the works of Alain Robbe-Grillet, a French writer and filmmaker.

Song of the Exile click to see large
Maggie Cheung (right)

One of her most personal work is Song of the Exile
is a 1990 Hong Kong-Taiwanese film, a semi-fictionalised autobiography directed by Ann Hui. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

A Simple Life
Deanie Ip and Andy Lau both won best actor/actress awards.

Roger Ebert reivewed a Simple Life

A Simple Life (A very moving film.. Ann Hui’s attention to details is amazing.)

Ann Hui has won Best Director (4 times) more than anyone else at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Deanie Ip is the oldest Best Actress recipient (64-years-old at the time of her win).

Inspired by the true story of producer Roger Lee and his servant, the film depicts the relationship between Roger (Lau) and Sister Peach (Ip), a woman who has worked for four generations of Roger’s family.