Reel Asian is thrilled to co-present five essential films at this year’s A Century of Chinese Cinema TIFF program!
This summer Toronto film fans will have the rare opportunity to discover more than 80 archive films from Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan at TIFF’s A Century of Chinese Cinema program. With so many selections to enjoy, Reel Asian has put together our list of must-see picks and hidden gems that we recommend and is proud to co-present the following five outstanding films:
FIST OF FURY (aka The Chinese Connection)
Friday June 14 – 9:00pm
Director Lo Wei, Hong Kong 1972
The one and only Bruce Lee is at his most ferociously pure (and vice versa) in this hyper-patriotic revenge fantasy about a Chinese kung-fu prodigy who wages one-man war against the Japanese villains who murdered his master. Legendary actress Nora Miao in attendance.
A TOUCH OF ZEN
Saturday June 15 – 7:30pm
Director King Hu, Taiwan 1971
Legendary director King Hu made his masterpiece with this breathtaking wuxia epic, the only martial-arts film ever admitted to competition at the Cannes Film Festival and a direct inspiration for Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
THE ARCH
Thursday July 4 – 6:30pm
Director Cecile Tang Shu Shuen, Hong Kong 1968
The groundbreaking, independently financed debut by the great director Cecile Tang anticipated the coming Hong Kong New Wave by more than a decade.
UPDATED June 19: Director Cecile Tang Shu Shuen in attendance to introduce the film!
LOVE ETERNE
Saturday July 13 – 1:00pm
Director Li Han Hsiang, Hong Kong 1963
Renowned Hong Kong actress Ivy Ling Po became a star in this smash-hit Huangmei opera film based on the legend of the Butterfly Lovers, a whirlwind cross-dressing romance known as the “Romeo and Juliet of the East.” Ivy Ling Po will be in attendance to introduce the film.
STILL LIFE
Thursday, July 25 – 6:30pm
Director Jia Zhangke, China 2006
A coal miner’s search for his long-lost wife and child and a nurse’s pursuit of her runaway husband intertwine in a slowly submerging village on the Yangtze River, in this elegiac modern masterpiece by Jia Zhangke.
For more about Reel Asian’s involvement with A Century of Chinese Cinema, visit our blog post. For your chance to win tickets to see the above films, sign up for the Reel Asian enewsletter here.
The full schedule is online and tickets are on sale now. Watch TIFF trailer here.