Hong Kong on the Silver Screen (Catalogue & VCD)

Foreword

Where did the history of Hong Kong begin? Likely different people will come up with different answers. Perhaps we can, for a moment, put aside archaeology, history and sociology, and try to 'look at' Hong Kong history in a most straightforward manner. It's actually quite simple. We begin with the moving images of Hong Kong recorded on celluloid. In film Hong Kong started to exist in the late 19th century....

The exhibition 'Hong Kong on the Silver Screen' presents a video-mosaic of Hong Kong in motion from late 19th century to the present day. Other than the turn of the Century segment which is made up of actuality footage, the rest is culled from feature films. Here you can savour the life, the people and the history that film has immortalized, and compose your own narrative.

The exhibition covers three periods: the colonial days at the turn of the century to the end of the Japanese Occupation, the hardships of the 50s and 60s, and the rapid economic growth in the 70s to the ushering in of the new millennium. As part of the exhibition, there are two constructed sets simulating the living conditions of the 50s and 60s. A choice selection of movie stills guide us through life in Hong Kong over the century.