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| May 2000 Film museum makes debut Old movies never die - they are just being shown on the late, late show. But they also can be found in a new museum for old films... By Ritly Ma Local movies have been recording the yore of Hong Kong for so many years. However, all this time there has been no place to pull these collective memories together. The imminent completion of a museum complex in Sai Wan Ho will correct this deficiency. The museum is being organized by the Hong Kong Film Archive. In the past, watching movies was just a kind of entertainment for people. Gradually movies took their place alongside books and music as serious art forms. Meanwhile, mainstream and alternative movies have developed their own culture. And this caused a spark calling for the first official film archive in Hong Kong. Miss Angela Tong is the acquisitions manager for the Hong Kong Film Archive. Said she: “We hope to promote Hong Kong movies and preserve the culture of movies. This is the aim of the archive.” The construction of the five-storey museum is nearly complete. In November, it will become the permanent home of the archive. Prof. James Kenny of the School of Journalism and Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong thinks the museum came too late. Said he: “Many movies have been lost already and many of them were worth preserving. “The movie archive is a valuable asset of society. Students of film production can get to understand how movies evolve into their present state,” he said. He added that most movie directors in the United States are familiar with the history of films. Said he: “It is important because when you know more about the past, you can understand more of what you are doing. “History in this sense is not static. It can be resurrected through new movies.” Mr. Jason Keeto Chan, a movie critic, agrees with Prof. Kenny. However, he said that coming late is better than never coming. Said he: “Movies are the most sophisticated form of popular culture. “They have been developing for so long in Hong Kong, so an archive should have been built much earlier. “Promotion of movies now is mostly for commercial reasons. Promotion of culture is often neglected,” added he. The movie archive, he said, is a good place where people can get to know more about Hong Kong movies. Movie director Gordon Chan said the government spends most money and resources only on promoting movies for educational purposes, like building a museum. Said he: “Movie producers do not benefit directly from this. Working in the local film industry is still full of hardship. “This is the reason why the movie industry in Hong Kong is developing so slowly.” In the archive, there will be exhibition rooms, cinemas, movie libraries and a film warehouse. Citizens can stay there all day, appreciating exhibits, watching movies and reading magazines, both old and new. Visitors can also borrow soundtracks of movies and VCDs there. VCDs and soundtracks about movie making, editing, and lighting are also available. Said Miss Tong: “We have collected exhibits from local, as well as from Taiwan and Western countries.” Moreover, the archive also provides a large computer database for searching information about movies. “The archive is special in the sense that we collect a great variety of movie exhibits. We also have a large computer database,” said she. Up to now, information on 3,000 movies and 1,000 people in the film industry is recorded in the database for public access through the Internet. “Just type in what kind of information you want, and the information will be there for you,” said Miss Tong. While the archive is still under construction, the staff at the Hong Kong Film Archive are not free at all. To make the archive a success, the Hong Kong Film Archive conducts research, collects exhibits and classifies collected items. According to Miss Tong, collected exhibits include movie tapes, posters, magazines, print documents and still photos. Said she: “We have collected lots of old movie souvenirs. Some of them are as old as 50 years.” Added she: “We now have 3,500 movies and about 8,000 printed movie documents.” Collecting exhibits is not easy. It relies on donations from both local and overseas contributors, and buying and copying from originals. Besides, the Hong Kong Film Archive also collects exhibits from old cinemas and movie studios. Said Miss Tong: “They are great sources of exhibits.” The staff has also visited Chinatown in San Francisco and bought lots of movies, posters and handbills of the 1950s. “Handbills are exceptionally valuable. They are booklets that include information and synopses of movies. “Now they are no longer published,” said Miss Tong. Although collecting of exhibits involves great effort, the staff enjoys it. Said Miss Tong: “The workload is not light, but the satisfaction is great when a ‘treasure hunt’ is successful.” Members of the local movie industry are also very willing to help. Actor Chow Yun Fat and actress Josephine Siao donated their awards to the museum. Mr. Chuo Lam also donated movie souvenirs collected by his father. After years of seclusion, the movies, the magazines, the posters and booklets that once fascinated generations of people, are coming together again. So are local citizen's collective memories. |
Mr. Andy Lau Tak Wah, one of stars in contemporary movies.
The movie posters used for promotion today serve the function of recording the history of Hong Kong films for future generations.
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