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| Happy Easter! A typical exhibit at a sparkling megamall |
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| One of the amazing restaurants in Hong Kong has a fabulous aquarium - don't think this was for eating! |
Hong Kong is a mega-mall city full of mirrors and
contradictions: stunning skyscrapers, beautiful old hills. Life drilled up ~ not unusual to find a
pub on the 5th or 105th floor … and down into glistening subway malls or ancient
tunnels and caves.
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| Some of the thinnest skyscrapers I've seen! |
So it’s a great place to bring James Broughton’s fusion of
West and East, male and female, fast and slow, this and that – into the world
outside the United States.
It’s an honor to be part of a festival with over 300 films
from 68 countries, showing in various places around this polyglot Asian citystate. And to be part of a festival that
honors film as film, that brings such films as Broughton’s “The Bed” and “The
Golden Positions” to audiences in the original 16mm format. Indeed, it’s the first festival to
mount a 2013 centennial retrospective of 8 of Broughton’s 23 films, along with
our new documentary, “BIG JOY: The Adventures of James Broughton.”
When I met the festival’s director, Roger Garcia, in New
York at Independent Film Week in 2011, he knew Broughton’s films (as an
experimental filmmaker himself) and immediately warmed to the idea of a
retrospective. He also offered
introductions to other festivals which might consider doing the same.
Now, my first time in Hong Kong, it amazes me to see the
program Roger and his colleagues have assembled. So many truly insightful and beautiful films. So much diversity. Lots of courageous choices. I walk around amazed at the endless
shopping opportunities, both for festival films and for everything from motor
parts to duck gizzards, cameras to bling.
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| Amazing veggies at the wet market |
At the same time, thanks to connections made through the
Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of
Minnesota, I’ve had a chance to give two lectures at City University of Hong
Kong’s Creative Media Center, one on the future of journalism (The Sixth W:
What’s Possible Now?) and one on the move from journalist to documentary
filmmaker (focused on my experiences with BIG JOY).
The festival screened two programs of Broughton films before
our international premiere Monday night and a second screening (with
extraordinary surround sound) Wednesday. The audiences were mostly small, but
passionate. Reactions to the film continue to be deep, and the goal Eric Slade
and I set forth, to create a film that both inspires and informs, is manifesting
in sometimes surprising and wonderful ways.
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| Raymond Phathanaviragoon grills me about Broughton's children |
Questions included why his family was left in what seemed
like shambles, how he incorporated music (before or after the picture? – both,
but mostly after), whether he knew other experimental filmmakers such as
Kenneth Anger and Stan Brakhage, and why he isn't better known, given how influential he was on many counts - poetry, experimental film, and hippie zaniness.
(I'm wearing his shirt & hat)
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| On Thursday after our final screening, Lydia Tanji took me on a tour of the city that included a fabulous tea room near Hong Kong Park |
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| Bamboo construction materials add a wild flair to this building. Christo would approve! |
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| I have never experienced more shops and shopping in my life Funny I resisted this store! |
1 comment:
What an amazing opportunity to share this film/experience/artist with a city with such parallel flares for daring, flamboyance, and complexity.
Congratulations!
Bill Moyer
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