New Hong Kong Cinema : Transitions to Becoming Chinese in 21st-Century East Asia

The trajectory of Hong Kong films had been drastically affected long before the city’s official sovereignty transfer from the British to the Chinese in 1997. The change in course has become more visible in recent years as China has aggressively developed its national film industry and assumed the role of powerhouse in East Asia’s cinematic landscape. The author introduces the “Cinema of Transitions” to study the New Hong Kong Cinema and on- and off-screen life against this background. Using examples from the 1980s to the present, this book offers a fresh perspective on how Hong Kong-related Chinese-language films, filmmakers, audiences, and the workings of film business in East Asia have become major platforms on which “transitions” are negotiated. Introduction: the new Hong Kong cinema, cinema of transitions and East Asia Cinematic journeys and journeying in new Hong Kong films Outsider characters: Chineseness, and Hong Kong screen imagination and imageries Hong Kong filmmakers: authorial vision, self-inscription and social underdogs Ethnic Chinese film audiences: the red cliff experience in East and Southeast Asia Film policies and transitional politics: the newest East Asian film business network Conclusion. The trajectory of Hong Kong films had been drastically affected long before the city's official sovereignty transfer from the British to the Chinese in 1997. The author introduces the "Cinema of Transitions," using examples from the 1980s to the present, to study New Hong Kong Cinema and on- and off-screen life against this background.