Stará čínská opera

My Next Step

November 2015 •Chinese

MY NEXT STEP follows a young Kunqu Opera artist YANG Yang(28 year-old) over the course of several years. It offers its audience a glimpse into the world of Kunqu, and a magnifying look into the ambivalence of a young man struggling to find a way out for a fading art.

Bamboo Theatre

September 2019 •

This film is a portrait of unique cultural space for Spirits, Gods and People. While permanent theatres are commonly built in most cosmopolitan modern cities, Hong Kong preserves a unique theatrical architecture, a Chinese tradition that has lasted more than a century - Bamboo Theatre.

My Way

December 2012 •English

When facing a path with no future or precedent success, will we ever choose to stay? Cheuk Cheung’s My Way explores the Cantonese Opera tradition of male Dan performers, men who play female roles, against the backdrop of a Hong Kong society increasingly putting less value on art. Although female performers have long been part of the mainstream of Cantonese Opera, the film follows the stories of two young men who are still fascinated by the art of the male Dan, striving to find their own way to carry on the practice. A moving and searching look at the struggle for identity, My Way is a colourful, musical and moving film which offers a unique and highly personal look at perseverance in the face of a changing society.

Havana Divas

February 2018 •

The story focus on Caridad and Georgina, who had learned the art of Cantonese Opera in Havana as a young age and performed as divas for over a decade before their lives were changed by Fidel Castro's revolution.

Opičí císař dostává zbraň v paláci Dračího císaře

January 1955 •Czech

She Sings for the World

August 2023 •Chinese

A Chinese Canadian son sets out to make a film on his mother, who was once known as the first ever Chinese Opera Singer to have performed Pingju Opera in English in late 1980's China.

Farewell My Concubine

January 1993 •Chinese

Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.

Ye Tang - The Peony Pavilion

January 2001 •German

Beijing Opera Go Go Go

Invalid date •Chinese

Zeng Hongqi, a rap-loving senior, is forced to lead the opera club for credits. Despite recruitment struggles and opposition from the student union president, an unexpected opportunity leads the club to a crucial competition.

The Magic Lamp

January 1964 •Chinese

Adapted from one of China's most well-known fairy tales, the Goddess of Mount Hua falls in love with a young mortal scholar Liu Yanchang and gives birth to a baby son, Chenxiang. When Chenxiang grows up, he seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding his mother whom he has never met.

Farewell to a Warrior

April 1976 •Chinese

Shaw production

The Grand Substitution

April 1965 •Chinese

With China under control of a weak Emperor, two officials compete to steer the future destiny of the land. Chiu believes the people are the future of China, while the diabolical Tu wishes to grind the people beneath an iron heel. Tu decides to take out Chiu's family, but one lone infant escapes.

The 7 Tyrants of Jiangnan

December 1962 •

A child learns martial arts in order to become a Kung Fu warrior. Features the Seven Little Fortunes, and is the debut film of Jackie Chan.

White Powder and Neon Lights

January 1947 •

This is the first 16mm Cantonese film in full colour, shot on 1940s state-of-the-art Technicolor film stock. Opera star Man-ha (Leung Bik-yuk) enjoys tremendous popularity during her performances in San Francisco, but drowns herself in the vices and temptations of the big city. Increasingly, she fails to show up for performances, almost causing the theatre to go bankrupt. When she sees her lover for the scoundrel that he is, she also sees the errors of her own ways and saves the theatre, restoring it to glory. Joseph Sunn Jue established the Grandview Film Company in Hong Kong during the 1930s and continued making films in the USA during wartime by collaborating with Chinese opera performers in exile there. Wong Hok-sing, an opera actor himself, directed, wrote and starred in this film. He staged a spectacular play-within-a-play at the end, not only to promote the art of Cantonese opera but also to boost solidarity among overseas Chinese through difficult times.

Baijin Long

January 1933 •

A wealthy man's son, who has a sinecure as a hotel owner, poses as a bellhop to win the affections of a woman guest with whom he has fallen madly in love, but who seeks a common man who is earning his own way. This first Cantonese-language talkie was based on a successful 1930 stage musical written by and starring Xue JueXian (Sit KokSin), the plot of which was in turn inspired by a 1929 silent Hollywood romance called "The Grand Duchess And The Waiter" which Xue admired. The film was produced not in Shanghai, by the Tianyi studio, headed by the eldest of the Shaw Brothers, Shao Zuiweng (RunJe Shaw), and was so successful in the Cantonese-speaking parts of China that Shaw moved the Tianyi company to British-administered, Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong to make more Cantonese films in the face of the right-wing Chinese Nationalist government's ban on Cantonese language in favor of Mandarin. A sequel to Baijin Long was made in 1937, and the film itself was remade in 1947.

The Rainbow Pass

January 1964 •

The Rainbow Pass is a Chinese Opera starring Sammo Hung in a child role

So Siu Siu

April 1962 •Chinese

The film opens with a travelogue, showcasing West Lake and the real Mainland Chinese locations used by the film to which only the Left Wing of Hong Kong Cinema had access to at the time. The title character is a young woman raised by her courtesan aunt in the West Lake scenic resort area in Hangzhou. Siu Siu is perused by a local Official, but falls in love with the son of the Prime Minister. They marry, but are separated by the Prime Minister who arranges another marriage for the son. Siu Siu remains at West Lake, where she regretfully uses the desire of the earlier Official to help another of the girls find happiness.

Demi-Haunted

October 2002 •

Wan Fei (Joey Yung) is a promising Chinese Opera singer who is secretly in love with Ho Fung (Nicholas Tse). She plans to sing for him from the stage, but, in a tragic accident, dies mid-song. Years later, Wan Fei's ghost returns, and finds that part of her spirit has been reincarnated in the form of Chor-bat (Eason Chan). Wan Fei still longs to sing her song for her lover, and, after much humorous confusion, her dream is fulfilled.

The Story of Qin Xiang-Lian

July 1964 •Chinese

The Story of Qin Xiang-Lian is a Hong Kong Chinese Opera musical starring Jackie Chan in a child role.

The Eighteen Darts (Part 1)

August 1966 •

The Eighteen Darts (Part 1) is a Chinese Opera Musical starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao in child roles.