1920s Shanghai silent film director Hou Yao first ventured into sound cinema in Hong Kong during the 30s. Incident in the Pacific centres on two lovers who defend their country fearlessly against the Japanese. This wartime epic not only sets its sights on the salvage of China but raises a shout against Fascist aggression. The newly digitised Fortress of Flesh and Blood sees a patriotic scholar forgoing the pen for the pistol, leading his students to the war front. Hou Yao is no ordinary filmmaker; his "national defence" cinema is distinctly different from the realistic and leftwing premise of his Mainland counterparts. While based on real life, his works are larger than life as well, featuring a mixture of suspense and romance plus the animated turns by chou (clown) masters in Cantonese opera. An auteur-director who also plays his own characters, his assertiveness is a far cry from other Mainland productions which tend to be clichéd and propagandist. This might be due to the fact that he made such films in Hong Kong, a highly commercialised city where entertainment matters above all else.

Guest Commentator: Lau Yam

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