Series Site
October 23–November 28, 2026
Romantic yearning, swordplay, and specters of the past infuse these rarities and restorations, which capture important moments and movements in the creative arc of Hong Kong cinema. The series begins with T’ang Shushuen’s period drama The Arch (1968). This independent production—edited by Les Blank—has been restored utilizing a print from the BAMPFA collection. The Arch’s leading man, Roy Chiao, stars in another gem from the BAMPFA collection, King Hu’s wuxia classic The Valiant Ones (1975). Ann Hui apprenticed under Hu prior to her directorial debut, the eerie crime thriller The Secret (1979). She also worked in television with Patrick Tam, whom Hui called “the guiding spirit of the [Hong Kong] New Wave.” Tam’s first feature, The Sword (1980), reinterprets the martial arts films that dominated the market at the time. Hui and Tam were pioneers of what became known as the Hong Kong New Wave, alongside Allen Fong. Fong pushed formal boundaries with his newly restored fiction/documentary hybrid Just Like Weather (1986). Stanley Kwan also embraced hybrid storytelling with Center Stage (1991), his intimate account of the short life of silent film star Ruan Lingyu, played by Maggie Cheung.
Marking ten years since the Paul Kendel Fonoroff Collection for Chinese Film Studies was acquired by the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at UC Berkeley, Fonoroff will be back for his annual visit to present two rarely screened films: the family dramedy Our Sister Hedy (1957) and the teen melodrama Colorful Youth (1966).
—Jeff Griffith-Perham, Associate Film Curator