randian | 燃点

[press release]

M+, Hong Kong’s new museum for visual culture, unveils a new ongoing series that showcases a diverse range of moving image works in the context of a single cinema screen. Taking place three times a year, each programme is conceived to explore a specific theme over a single weekend.

The first programme “M+ Screenings: Visible Places” will take place on 15 to 17 January at Broadway Cinematheque. Curated by Yung Ma, Associate Curator of Moving Image at M+, it will present works by 13 internationally renowned artists and filmmakers, including Mak Tai Kit’s Wicked City, Jia Zhangke’s 24 City, Sarah Morris’ Miami, Christian Petzold’s Yella, and Cao Fei’s La Town.

A key feature of M+ Screenings: Visible Places is its diversity of programming – animations, artist moving image, documentary and feature films examine how experiences, memories, and desires of our lived environments are (re)invented and (re)imagined on-screen. Taking Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities as its starting point, the programme focuses on the ways we see cities and places we have lived and experienced.

“Language and words are probably too concrete to fully express how we see the lived environment. Perhaps a better way to reflect on the pasts, presents, and possible futures of place is by making fictions, fantasies, alternatives, and the surreal visible,” said Yung Ma.

The programme begins with Wicked City (1992) by Hong Kong director Mak Tai Kit, adapted from the Japanese anime of the same name, and set in Hong Kong prior to the 1997 handover. Combining elements of science fiction and action movies, Wicked City presents a portrayal of the unease that characterised Hong Kong during the transition period.
Other acclaimed works featured include She Said Why Me (1989) by the pioneering Hong Kong video artist/experimental filmmaker May Fung; La Town by Cao Fei (2014), selected for the 56th Venice Biennale and the 2015 BFI London Film Festival; Zhou Tao’s Blue and Red (2014), Winner of First Prize of the Jury of the Ministry at the 61st Short Film Festival Oberhuasen, and selected for MoMA’s 44th edition of New Directors/New Films; Jia Zhangke’s 24 City (2008), which was in the prestigious Official Competition at the 61st Cannes Film Festival, and the award winning Yella (2007), directed by Christian Petzold, a leading figure of the Berlin School (See annex for full details).

After four years of successful exhibitions under the series title Mobile M+, the launch of M+ Screenings marks another significant chapter in the evolution of M+ and builds upon 2015’s acclaimed Mobile M+: Moving Images exhibition and screening programme, which was recently awarded the accolade of Best Exhibition of the Year (Contemporary Chinese Art) at the 2015 TANC Prize by The Art Newspaper China.

“One of our goals for M+ Screenings is to highlight the diverse nature of moving image, which is important for understanding and appreciating this particular field. We are developing a number of upcoming screenings, each with a different theme – I am sure the scope will only grow as this series evolves, which I hope will keep its contents timely, relevant, and interesting for Hong Kong’s cinema- going public.” says Dr Lars Nittve, Executive Director of M+.

The Shortcut to the Systematic Life: City Spirits (2005) (by Tsui Kuang-Yu, Duration: 8 minutes)

La Town (2014) (by Cao Fei, Duration: 42 minutes )

Wicked City (1992) (by Mak Tai Kit, Duration: 96 minutes)