Red Dust

Dir: Yim Ho
Scrs: Sanmao, Yim Ho
Prod Co: Tomson (Hong Kong)
Cast: Brigitte Lin, Chin Han, Maggie Cheung, Richard Ng
1990 | Colour | DCP | Mandarin | Chi & Eng Subtitles | 94min

The year is 1943. In the midst of war, writer Shen Shao-hua (Brigitte Lin) has a visit from one of her readers, Zhang Neng-tsai (Chin Han). It is love at first sight for both of them but their love is doomed to failure from the start because Neng-tsai works for the enemies. Award-winning director Yim Ho teamed up with real-life renowned writer Sanmao to develop the screenplay for Red Dust—the one and only screenplay written by Sanmao. This wartime love story takes place in northeast China where winters are cold and snowy. Costume designer Edith Cheung chooses dark tone colours for Shao-hua’s outer robes to accentuate the gloominess of the time and the place. But as Shao-hua matures from the simple girl who loves her man with all her heart to the worldly woman who plays with the heart of man, the design of her qipaos changes from loose to tight, and from plain to elaborate. No wonder Red Dust swept eight awards at the Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature Film Costume and Makeup Design.

Courtesy of Tomson (Hong Kong) Films Co., Limited