The renowned Hong Kong director was in town last month for the Asian Film Awards and to attend Cat Power’s performance at The Script Road Concerts. Wong Kar-Wai tells CLOSER why he decided to shoot part of In The Mood for Love and 2046 in Macau.
He’s one of the most well known filmmakers, not only in Asia, but around the world. Wong Kar-wai, who spent almost six years preparing his latest film, ‘The Grandmaster’, recently came to Macau to receive seven prizes at the Asian Film Awards gala evening.
‘Best Director’, ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Leading Actress’ (for Zhang Ziyi as a Kung Fu master in northern China) were some of the categories taken by ‘The Grandmaster’.
In the same week he was here, Indie music star Cat Power was in town to perform at The Script Road Concerts at the Venetian Arena. The American singer was part of Wong’s ‘My Blueberry Nights’ cast and soundtrack, and the director decided to extend his stay in Macau to attend the concert and pay homage to Cat Power by offering her flowers at the end of the show.
“As I see it today, there are three centres of filmmaking in China: Beijing, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These three places share common interests and retain different distinct voices”, Wong Kar-wai tells CLOSER.
And what about Macau ?
“I shot parts of ‘In The Mood for Love’ and ‘2046’ in Macau. What interested me was not the gambling or triad relations, but the remnants of Macau’s colonial past”, he reveals.
‘The Grandmaster’, his latest work, is a Kung Fu film, but the director doesn’t think Hong Kong cinema should be labeled after this genre.
“Though Kung Fu films have been a major genre of Hong Kong cinema, they were never its foundations. What Hong Kong cinema was known for was its freedom of expression and the variety of films Hong Kong filmmakers made. Ever since 1949, Hong Kong cinema has been a centre of filmmaking, exporting to all Chinese-speaking communities. I believe there are many values in the past that should be revisited. Those values will be the core in the future of our city.”
Wong Kar-wai prefers not to talk about upcoming projects, but goes on to explain what is so special about Hong Kong cinema.
“What makes Hong Kong cinema so remarkable is its variety and different voices, not any one individual filmmaker.
Will he ever try to work on a ‘political script’?
“If there is a ‘political script’ that is worth the effort”, he answers.
