The rupture in Hong Kong cinema: Post-2000 Hong Kong cinema(s) as both a transnational cinema and a national cinema

Fangyu Chen

doi:10.34019/1981-4070.2020.v14.30238

Abstract

This paper traces artistic and ideological discrepancies between the young generation of Hong Kong filmmakers and their predecessors – the established generation who contributed to the glory days of Hong Kong cinema during its economic boom. By tracing studies of national cinema and transnational cinema in the last three decades, the author argues that current Hong Kong cinema has split into two: a transnational cinema represented by the established generation of filmmakers; and a national cinema that is driven by the emerging generation who struggles for better preservation of Hong Kong local culture and their own cultural identities. To conduct the research, 47 people were interviewed including13 established filmmakers, 16 young filmmakers and18 film students from 3 universities in Hong Kong. The three groups of respondents generally represent three perspectives: that of the established film practitioners, who have a vested interest in the current co-production era; that of the emerging young film practitioners, who above all crave a flourishing local film market and whose productions exhibit stronger Hong Kong cultural identities; lastly, that of the, who were predominantly born in the 1990s and have the most extreme views against mainland China and whose filmmaking ideologies and practices foreshadow the future of the industry.

Highlights

This paper traces artistic and ideological discrepancies between the young generation of Hong Kong filmmakers and their predecessors – the established generation who contributed to the glory days of Hong Kong cinema during its economic boom
The two forces of power are led by two generations of Hong Kong filmmakers separately – the established generation whose career started from the 1970s to 1990s and the young generation who entered the film industry after the 2000 when Hong Kong cinema has gradually turned to the co-production era
As Chu (2003) explains well, the shared cultural tradition with the mainland encouraged Hong Kongers of that generation to regard China as a motherland. Their imagining of themselves as part of the Chinese national community can be seen in their generous donations to mainland China whenever there were natural disasters, their cheering of Chinese Olympic athletes, their protests against the Japanese claiming sovereignty of the Diaoyutai islands, and their strong support for the Beijing students during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Chu describes it as a dual cultural identity – equal parts Hong Kong and China (CHU, 2003)

Summary

Fangyu Chen

Hong Kong cinema in the recent two decades has featured two intertwining yet contradicting powers: the domination of Hong Kong/Mainland co-productions and the emerging of many critically successful local productions. Szeto Mirana May and Chen Yun Chung term the rising cinematic impact as the “Hong Kong SAR New Wave,” wherein the directors are seeking an alternative route out of the hegemonic co-production ecology and dedicating to the production of local films (SZETO; CHEN, 2012). When compared to their predecessors, the younger generation of filmmakers after 2000 shows greater engagement with civic issues, less consideration of the mainland market and capital, and stronger desire to tell local Hong Kong stories. The generational gap will be scrutinized from three major dimensions: economic, cultural and political

Economics as a fundamental difference

Different cultural affinities with mainland China

Political contexts are the key

Findings

Conclusion