logologo
MovieVerse© 2024
Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceContact Us
Made with ❤️ by Thathsara
movie poster
Lai Man-wai: Father of Hong Kong Cinema
Sign in to create your own watchlist

Lai Man-wai: Father of Hong Kong Cinema

Jan 1, 2002
2h 20m
★ 0.0

Overview

In the life of Mr. Lai Man-wai, he had seen the most turbulent times of recent Chinese history. From the fall of the Qing Dynasty to the founding of the Republic, from the Sino-Japanese War to the founding of the People’s Republic. With a patriotic spirit, he joined the revolution and used the theatre to promote the revolutionary course. For a ‘stronger China’, and ‘education for all’, he chose film as his life long goal and career. Lai was more than the father of Hong Kong cinema was; he was also one of the pioneers of the Chinese cinema. He made Hong Kong’s first short fiction film ‘Zhuangzi Tests His Wife’. He opened the first Chinese owned cinema, the New World Cinema, in Hong Kong…. In the several decades, Lai had devoted his life and fortune in writing this glorious inaugural chapter in early Chinese film history. The technical enhancement, the introduction of foreign techniques and equipment were all part of his contribution to the Chinese cinema.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Dragon Ray Motion Pictures Ltd.

You may also like

Trip to Asia: The Quest for Harmony
10.0

Trip to Asia: The Quest for Harmony

Feb 28, 2008

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia: Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage. The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions, and in the words of one of its musicians is, “an island, a democratic microcosm – almost without precedent in the music world - whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition, compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence... .” Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world.

Be Water
6.8

Be Water

Jan 25, 2020

In 1971, after being rejected by Hollywood, Bruce Lee returned to his parents’ homeland of Hong Kong to complete four iconic films. Charting his struggles between two worlds, this portrait explores questions of identity and representation through the use of rare archival footage, interviews with loved ones and Bruce’s own writings.

Do Not Split
7.4

Do Not Split

Jan 24, 2020

The story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, told through a series of demonstrations by local protestors that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear on the scene.

Comrades
6.0

Comrades

Jan 10, 2020

Young people are protesting on the streets of Hong Kong in order to bring about change. Air soaked with tear gas, the dark uniforms and loud commands of the police officers in the colourful umbrella sea of the protesters. In the midst of the action, the film documents a brand new protest movement.

Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down
7.7

Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down

Nov 9, 2019

This anthology film, whose Chinese title begins with a romantic name for human excrement, premiered internationally at Rotterdam and won Best Screenplay from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. A variety of Hong Kong people wrestle with nostalgia when facing an uncertain future. Their stories give way to a documentary featuring a young barista turned political candidate.

YAYA
7.0

YAYA

Dec 9, 2018

YAYA is a story about a filmmaker who explores the complex relationship between his family and the domestic worker who spent decades away from her family in the Philippines to raise his. This documentary is a tribute to all the domestic workers in Hong Kong, who has served as the backbone of Hong Kong's economy by unleashing a substantial female workforce into the economy and taken care of so many lives with love and care. You are all heroes in the hearts of the Hong Kong people. - Justin Cheung, the director

We Have Boots
7.0

We Have Boots

Jun 10, 2020

The Umbrella Movement of 2014, also known as the Occupy Movement, paved the way for Hong Kong’s current upheavals, but unfolded in significantly different ways. This creative documentary focuses on the intellectual, political, and discursive underpinnings of the social and political actions of 2014, before fast-forwarding to 2019. A range of thoughtful and engaged intellectuals, students, scholars, activists, and artists including Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, Ray Wong, and Agnes Chow (many of whom are facing imprisonment for their democratic activism) articulate a range of philosophies, viewpoints and emotions, set against Hong Kong’s spectacular urban background of skyscrapers, night lights, and street-occupying mass movements.

Hong Kong Hustle: The Chinese Cinema Odyssey Of Stephen Chow
0.0

Hong Kong Hustle: The Chinese Cinema Odyssey Of Stephen Chow

Nov 26, 2024

The first feature-length documentary to explore the career of Stephen Chow; featuring collaborators, critics, and academics. Produced for the Shout Factory release of his classic work on Blu-ray, "The Stephen Chow Collection" released in 2024. Fans will learn how Chow went from Hong Kong's TVB to feature film riches, with his peculiar brand of localized comedy, to becoming one of the most successful brand names in Mainland China, including the blockbuster reception for his comedy "The Mermaid" in 2016.

Revolution of Our Times
8.3

Revolution of Our Times

Nov 22, 2021

Throughout Hong Kong’s history, Hongkongers have fought for freedom and democracy but have yet to succeed. In 2019, a controversial extradition bill was introduced that would allow Hongkongers to be tried in mainland China. This decision spurred massive protests, riots, and resistance against heavy-handed Chinese rule over the City-State. Award-winning director Kiwi Chow documents the events to tell the story of the movement, with both a macro view of its historical context and footage and interviews from protestors on the front lines.

Home and a Distant Archive
0.0

Home and a Distant Archive

May 1, 2021

A poetic, experimental portrait of four Hong Kong women in London working to digitise records of the handover agreement between the United Kingdom and China. Impressionistic and precise, personal and expansive, Cheung's elegant, eloquent work decodes history and how politics are enacted.

Age of Valiant
0.0

Age of Valiant

Jan 27, 2020

At the forefront of most of Hong Kong's demonstrations, 'frontliners' (aka 'the valiant', yung mo in Cantonese) are the black-clad, masked, often armed youth willing to use violence against the HK government and its heavily-armed police force. Willis Ho's remarkably revealing doc approaches from the inside, giving them voices and offering understanding, not judgment.

Snowden's Great Escape
7.3

Snowden's Great Escape

Jan 12, 2015

Tells the story of how Edward Snowden managed to evade capture by the US. For the first time Snowden tells the story of how he managed to escape so that not to have to spend the rest of his life in an American prison.

Bruce Lee: Tracking the Dragon
4.8

Bruce Lee: Tracking the Dragon

Oct 25, 2016

Bruce Lee expert John Little tracks down the actual locations of some of Bruce Lee's most iconic action scenes. Many of these sites remain largely unchanged nearly half a century later. At monasteries, ice factories, and on urban streets, Little explores the real life settings of Lee's legendary career. This film builds on Little's earlier film, Pursuit of the Dragon, to present a comprehensive view of Lee's work that will change the way you see the films.

Hong Kong Fooey
0.0

Hong Kong Fooey

Invalid Date

HongAFI nominated director, Charlie Hill-Smith’s first documentary, is a telling insight into the complexities that face modern China. In 1997 the most free market city of earth was consumed by the last great communist state, but who is China? What is China? Travel from Hong Kong to Beijing to Tibet to grab a warts and all snap shot of the Middle Kingdom as it rises to become the great power of the twenty first century.

New Chinese Cinema
0.0

New Chinese Cinema

Apr 9, 1989

Tony Rayns presents the work of the 'Fifth Generation' and other innovative filmmakers who emerged during the 1980s in China.

No Image Available
0.0

Heiße Ware aus Hong Kong

Jan 1, 1973

Made for German TV documentary about the early craze of Hong Kong Martial Arts Cinema. While critical on the subject and not too well informed, it nevertheless offers some interesting insights into the Hong Kong film industry of that days.

Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema
5.4

Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema

Jun 4, 1998

An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.

Rather Be Ashes Than Dust
0.0

Rather Be Ashes Than Dust

Oct 4, 2024

Memories of his four-year journey focused on the Hong Kong protests. Narrated in the first person, is rich with reflections and contemplations, most intertwined with feelings of guilt.

A Savage Christmas: The Fall of Hong Kong
10.0

A Savage Christmas: The Fall of Hong Kong

Jan 12, 1992

The documentary, using the dramatization of fact, makes the case that the Canadian government knowingly sent two unprepared infantry battalions to help defend Hong Kong in late 1941, fully aware that they may have been on a doomed mission. The C Force, consisting of about 2000 soldiers from the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada (from Quebec City) were, with the other British, Indian and Hong Kong troops, attacked on December 8, 1941 and overwhelmed by Japanese troops, leading to numerous casualties and the surrender on Christmas day. The Canadians would spend more than 3 and half years as prisoners of war, in horrible conditions. Part of "The Valour and the Horror" mini series.

Cinema Hong Kong: The Beauties of the Shaw Studio
7.0

Cinema Hong Kong: The Beauties of the Shaw Studio

Jan 3, 2003

Hong Kong cinemas had a wide range of glamorous female stars during the golden age of the 60's and 70's. The series will take the audience on a sentimental journey to the good old days and once again look at the expansive epic costume dramas and huangmei operas in which actresses played both the male and female roles. Rare interviews with Sir Run Run Shaw, stars Ivy Ling Po, Shaw Yin Yin, Tanny Tie Ni and Cheng Pei Pei are also featured.

Cast

No Cast found.

Lai Man-wai: Father of Hong Kong Cinema Trailers

No Trailers found.