Benjamin Brodsky was a Russian-born American who made frequent trips to Asia in early 20th century, making films in China and Japan and reputedly setting up businesses such as distribution, exhibition and other enterprises. He supposedly teamed with Lai Man-wai, Lai Buk-hoi and others to make Stealing a Roast Duck and Zhuangzi Tests His Wife, works that different parties had separately regarded as Hong Kong’s first fiction film. A colorful figure with an amazing entrepreneurial spirit, Brodsky had also made documentaries. 

While Stealing a Roast Duck and Zhuangzi Tests His Wife cannot be found, some of Brodsky's documentaries had been located. This programme presents those he made in China as well as a documentary about him.

1909 is a mythic year for Hong Kong cinema. The short film Stealing a Roast Duck was supposedly made that year, marking the beginning of Hong Kong cinema. Although no solid evidence had been produced to support that claim, many had considered 2009 the centenary of Hong Kong film. 

In the West, filmmaking was already much evolved in 1909, with sophisticated storytelling and technical advances in the cinemas of America and Europe. This programme presents a sample of films from that year, providing reference when contemplating early Chinese cinema. Titles were chosen from the "A Hundred Years Ago" series first presented in the 2009 Il Cinema Ritrovato of Bologna, Italy. (Shown with A Page of History)

Hong Kong had gone through great changes in the past hundred years, both culturally and physically. Much of the changes had unfortunately not been well documented and moving images of the then colony’s early years are extremely rare. This program includes three collection of shorts, donated to the Hong Kong Film Archive by Ms Dolores Wang Chuen Chu, whose family members risked their lives safeguarding them during the Japanese Occupation.