5 March 2021 (Hong Kong) – The 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival is proud to present four newly-restored masterpieces by WONG Kar Wai, marking the 30th anniversary of Jet Tone Films.
Featured in this unique programme, entitled Starting Afresh: 30th Anniversary of Jet Tone Films, are Fallen Angels (1995), Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love (2000), and 2046 (2004) – all digitally restored in 4K to the version initially envisioned by WONG. Just like the 2008 transformation of Ashes of Time (1994) into a Redux version, these new restorations are testimony of WONG's uncompromising quest for perfection, often applying the latest technology to achieve the optimal sound and vision that were unattainable in the past.
For the first time, WONG will present Fallen Angels in CinemaScope, an aspect ratio that he had intended for the film initially, exaggerating the distance between characters with extreme wide-angle cinematography and intensifying the sense of alienation. In the new version of Happy Together, he had shortened some of Tony LEUNG Chiu Wai's monologues while accentuating its visual metaphors saturated in deep and meaningful tones.
Exquisitely restored last year, the new 4K version of In the Mood for Love evokes an intoxicating nostalgia yet a fervour of romantic longing in the perfection of its aching music soundtrack and gorgeous camera work. Reinvented from a different vantage point, 2046 invites audiences to explore a new dimension of a mythical place where nothing ever feels the same.
The festival will showcase each of the four films only once at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's recently-upgraded and 4K-enabled Grand Theatre. These screenings represent a rare opportunity for fans and new audiences to appreciate these restored WONG Kar Wai classics on the big screen.
The 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival will adopt a new hybrid format for the first time, featuring screenings and audience-engagement events simultaneously in-theatre and online from 1 to 12 April. The festival will unveil its full programme on 9 March. The public can purchase tickets online (http://www.hkiff.org.hk/), through all URBTIX outlets (for screenings at Cultural Centre, City Hall, Arts Centre and Tai Kwun only) or MCL Cinema's website, mobile ticketing app and K11 Art House box office (for screenings at K11 Art House only) from 18 March.
WONG Kar Wai's Masterpieces in 4K Restoration
1995 Fallen Angels (7:15 pm, 3 April)
1997 Happy Together (10 pm, 2 April)
2000 In the Mood for Love (7:35 pm, 2 April)
2004 2046 (9:40 pm, 3 April)
