Backer Hopes S.D. Is Ready for Hong Kong Film Festival

Bruce Lee was Hong Kong film, as far as American audiences were concerned, in the ‘70s. Now, Russell Chan, a Canadian film distributor born in mainland China and raised in Hong Kong, hopes the United States is ready for something a little, well, more artistic.

So he invested six months in what he bills as the first Hong Kong film festival in the United States. Speaking on the phone from Canada, he promised that the seven films--which are currently scheduled for only five U.S. cities, including San Diego--”really represent the best from Hong Kong.”

Each film in the series, which runs today through Dec. 2 in Sherwood Auditorium at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, is a West Coast premiere representing the work of a different director. Five are in Cantonese, two are in Mandarin; all will be shown with English subtitles.

The diversity of talents is reflected in the range of films. Chan’s personal favorite, “Homecoming,” will kick off the festival at 7:30 p.m. Variety, which reviewed the movie in Hong Kong, called this story about a young, attractive businesswoman in her 30s who leaves the city to visit childhood friends in the country “a sensitive story” with “marvelous acting.”

Other films include “Banana Cop,” a Chinese version of “48 Hours,” to be shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and “The Last Emperor,” the story of Po Yee, the last emperor of China, and his struggle to adapt to the life of a private citizen under the new Chinese government. “The Last Emperor” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25.

The films are the work of both new and experienced directors. The veterans are Kim Ho, who directed “Homecoming”; Li Hon-Cheung, director of “The Last Emperor,” and Leong Po-Chick, who made “Banana Cop.”

Silvia Chang, a well-known Taiwanese actress, not only stars in but also makes her directing debut in “Passion,” the story of two women talking about a dead man they both loved. “Passion” will show at 9:15 p.m. Friday.

Completing the festival are “Super Citizen”--the story of a man’s search for his missing sister in the brutal, but not quite hopeless, city of Taipei--at 9:15 p.m. Friday; “Love Unto Wastes,” about five alienated characters suddenly forced to confront a death among them, at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2, and “Law With Two Phases” (which Chan calls a bad translation of “Law With Two Faces”), showing that same evening at 9:15. “Law With Two Phases” is about two policemen combatting drug wars among Hong Kong’s vicious youth gangs.

Chan said it is “nothing short of a miracle” that he was able to put the festival together. Not only were a lot of time and up-front money involved to get film rights, but some of the directors who weren’t friendly with each other threatened to pull out when they heard their rivals were being included.

The financial strain on Chan’s small 5-year-old company showed in the lack of funds for U.S. promotion. The film curator for the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, Greg Kahn, said he only heard about the festival by reading enthusiastic reviews of the Toronto Film Festival in October, 1986. He tracked Chan down and obtained the package for the museum, making San Diego the second U.S. city to show the films, after Washington. From here, the films will go to Chicago, Minneapolis and Houston.

Chan said that, if the critical reception is positive, “We will be trying to be more involved in the U.S. market.”

In a way, he hopes to accomplish with these films what Bruce Lee did with his.

“I think he (Lee) is a successful performer. I wouldn’t say he is a great actor, but he is unique in what he does,” Chan said. “He is able to cross over cultures for people to appreciate what he does.”

Chan said he doesn’t see why his festival shouldn’t make a similar cross-cultural leap.

“To me, a good picture is a good picture, whether it is Chinese, Spanish, French,” he said. “Good art is something people in general should appreciate. That’s the definition of art to me.”