The original camera negatives of The Arch had been considered lost since the 80s. Drawing upon its screening and exhibition histories, the curatorial team traced the life of the film via several film archives and film development laboratories around the world. Chanel Kong, M+ Curator of Moving Image, will share the findings from the team’s archival and print-based research for The Arch, and describe the decision-making process in using the earliest extant screening copies for this restoration project. She will be joined by colleagues from UK-based Silver Salt Restoration, who will explain how the availability of materials and sources relate to different approaches in film restoration.

This talk is hosted by Chanel Kong, M+ Curator of Moving Image, in English.

Mark Bonnici, managing director of Silver Salt Restoration, has had over a decade of experience in film restoration management. His first project was Underground (1928) from the BFI National Archive. One of the earliest UK films to undergo digital restoration, it laid the foundation for the archive’s subsequent efforts. Bonnici was also involved in numerous celebrated restoration projects including The Beatles: Get Back (2021) and The Hitchcock 9.

Anthony Badger, head of restoration of Silver Salt Restoration, was in charge of digital restoration at various European film studios. Well versed in the different tools of his profession, Badger was involved in restoring Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn (1939) and The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (1953).

The films in the M+ Restored project epitomize the creative experimentation and technical innovation of what has come to be known as the Hong Kong New Wave. This event invites Richard Peña, former Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and former Director of the New York Film Festival, and Li Cheuk-to, Curator-at-Large of Hong Kong Film and Media, M+ and former Artistic Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival to discuss the motivations that form New Wave cinemas, and the Hong Kong New Wave in particular. Identifying socio-cultural markers and historical influences that contribute to the New Wave’s perceived shifts from the mainstream, Peña and Li consider how filmmaking, film culture, and spectatorship are shaped as much by film festivals and criticism as by perceptions of regional and global cinema.

This conversation will be conducted in English.

Richard Peña is Emeritus Professor of Film and Media Studies at Columbia University, where he specialized in film theory and international cinema. From 1988 to 2012, he was the Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Director of the New York Film Festival. At the Film Society, Richard Peña organized retrospectives of many film artists, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Abbas Kiarostami, King Hu, Ritwik Ghatak, Fei Mu, Yasujiro Ozu, Nagisa Oshima and Amitabh Bachchan. A frequent lecturer on film internationally, in institutions such as Princeton, Harvard, La Sorbonne, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Georgetown University Qatar.

When the M+ team found the original camera negatives of Love Massacre earlier this year, it marked a breakthrough for this restoration project. This visually tantalising movie features the use of an intense palette for emotional expression and bold experimentations in cinematography and art direction. Brian Lai, director of cinematography of Love Massacre, will discuss his work with the curatorial team to reproduce key elements of the film’s original aesthetics through colour choices and image reconstruction.

This talk is hosted by Janis Law, M+ Project Coordinator, Moving Image, in Cantonese.

Cinematographer Brian Lai took part in many Hong Kong New Wave films. Love Massacre garnered Best Cinematography at the 18th Golden Horse Film Festival. In 1985, Hong Kong 1941 won him Best Cinematography at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards. Lai became involved in advertising in the late 80s.

The history of film has spanned over 130 years. As a medium for creation and a carrier of images, it continues to be an important and well-recognized methodology for production, projection, and preservation and used in a variety of ways in many industries and artistic fields. This workshop will showcase film formats used in modern cinema, including professional 35mm and amateur 8mm films. Participants will engage interactively to learn about the history of film invention and projection, as well as enjoy a screening of 16mm film.

This workshop is hosted by Janis Law, M+ Project Coordinator, Moving Image, in Cantonese. For participants aged 16 or above.