The "Hong Kong Cinema Retrospective" section of the annual Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) has been since the late 1970s organising topical programmes and publishing accompanying catalogues, laying the foundation for methodic studies of Hong Kong cinema predicated on the retrieval of dissipated film prints, compilation of filmographies, and erudite papers contributed by scholars and critics. Beginning from 1994, the Film Programmes Office has been replenishing the IFF catalogue list by putting out new editions of out-of-print titles. This endeavour is now relayed to the Hong Kong Film Archive, the mission of which is to systematically acquire, verify and study our film relics.

Aside from the revision of content, supplement on and update of film personnel profiles, drawing from comprehensive and vigorously researched references such as the recently published Hong Kong Filmography Volumes I-IV (1913-1959) and other first-hand information, a recension of the "Filmography of Cantonese Cinema (1946-1959)" is also undertaken. Post-war re-releases once thought of and thus entered as new releases due to insufficient information available at time were discerned. Glossaries of "Personalities" and "Companies" are presented with a new column of English names, if any, sourced from official material, journals, magazines, etc published at the time as an alternative reference for the readers to the Pinyin system adopted by the first edition for transcribing names of personnel and companies in the main text.

My thanks to Mr Li Cheuk-to for supplying the original set of photographs, which enhances the quality of the illustrations, Mr Yu Mo-wan for supplementing profiles of film workers with his thorough research, and the collator Miss May Ng for her hard work and contribution. To them and all who contributed to the project, thank you.

Angela Tong
Head, Hong Kong Film Archive
October 2003