The Grandmaster (2013) by Wong Kar-wai

Join CHSA for a special screening of The Grandmaster by Wong Kar-Wei.

In this film, director Wong Kar-wai brings his trademark romanticism to a telling of the life and times of Ip Man, the renowned Wing Chun master and Bruce Lee’s first kung fu teacher. Set in the turbulent 1930s-’50s, the film contemplates the role of martial arts amidst war. Joining the stellar cast is a who’s who of Hong Kong film greats, including action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping and longtime Wong Kar-wai collaborator William Chang taking on editor, production designer and co-costume designer duties.

The Way of the Dragon (1972) by Bruce Lee

Join us to on Bruce Lee’s birthday for a special screening of The Way of the Dragon [1972] and accompanied by a round table discuss on the subject of Bruce Lee’s enduring multicultural legacy.

The only complete film written and directed by Bruce Lee, The Way of the Dragon begins as a Chinese immigrant saga in Rome in the familiar scene of a restaurant – one where the owner and workers are trying to fend off extortionist bullying from mafia thugs – and ends up in a gladiatorial showdown in the Roman Colosseum. The finale is a kung fu duel for the ages. Lumbering Chuck Norris goes up against Lee’s trickster arsenal of squalling calls and float-like-a-butterfly footwork, before meeting the full force of Lee’s unleashed fist strikes and kicks, as stunning in the beauty of their rapid-fire execution as in their lethal power. The fight against the White Man comes away with chest hair no less.

Panel discussion will be moderated by program curator Cheng-Sim Lim. It will begin with the roots of Bruce Lee’s martial arts in Hong Kong and track how it travels to California and mixes with hip hop and a multicultural environment. 

Panelists include:

• • Adisa Banjoko – Hip Hop blogger and professional Jiu Jitsu teacher.
  • Anthony Chan – International martial arts champion and Chinese-American kung fu master.  
  • Jeff Chinn – Bruce Lee collector and consultant to the Bruce Lee Foundation.
  • Rahman Jamal – Founder of the Afro Bushido Academy, the Rap Force Academy and the Hip Hop Congress. 
  • Mandeep Sethi – Emcee, hip hop artist, and filmmaker.
  • Malik Seneferu – Artist and educator

猛龍過江（1972）導演李小龍
星期日，11月17日
下午2時至6時2
金星戲院
積臣街636號

The Orphan (1960) by Lee Sun-Fung

Bruce Lee grew up as a young Cantoese cinema star. The Orphan was the last film he made before leaving Hong Kong to study in the US. The teenage Lee plays a wild child whose thievery one day lands him in the path of a kindly headmaster. This film is extremely rarely screened anywhere outside of Hong Kong.

人海孤鴻
星期六，11月5日
下午5時至9時
金星戲院
積臣街636號

Red Heroine (1929) by Wen Yiming

Kicking off our Radiating Bruce Lee film series is possibly the earliest extant Chinese martial arts film. Red Heroine shows the genre not only goes back to the silent era, but that the woman warrior was striking for justice for her sisters even then. The film was so titled to reflect the original red tinting of the woman warrior’s costume, and is an example of the shenguai wuxiapian, the supernatural martial arts subgenre that Lee’s more “realistic” combat shoved aside for a time. In this case, the flying heroine wields sword and Daoist magic to rescue virginal lasses from a warlord’s debauchery.

金門銀光夢（2013）導演伍錦霞
星期六，10月29日
下午5時至9時
華人歷史學會位於Joice St 與 Clay街的停車場內

Golden Gate Girls (2013) by Esther Eng

Chinese American Women were pioneers in cinema is the US yet often shut out of Hollywood. The filmmaker Esther Eng embodies this trailblazing activity. Like how Anna May Wong has received recent recognition for her contribution to cinema, Esther Eng now needs similar recognition for her significant contributions. Join CHSA for our second installment of our film series with a screening of Golden Gate Girls accompanied by a guest talk from Louisa Wei on filmmaker Esther Eng. City University of Hong Kong professor and director of Golden Gate Girls Louisa Wei will speak about the pioneering Chinese American filmmaker Esther Eng (1914-1970) and her cultural milieu. Like Bruce Lee, Eng was born in San Francisco Chinatown into a family involved in Cantonese opera. Those connections eventually led Eng to cast the infant Bruce Lee in his first screen role (as a baby girl) in her film, Golden Gate Girl (2013).

The film Golden Gate Girls screened at Great Star Theater for its premiere. It is very much embedded in the history of Chinatown. Professor Wei will draw on the connection between Cantonese Opera and Bruce Lee’s family, connecting this work with the work of Lee Hoi-Cheun, Bruce Lee’s father the famous opera star and to the early work of Lee himself. 

Note: The talk will be inside in the CHSA learning center. The film will screen outside in the CHSA parking lot. Please dress warmly because this will be a nighttime outdoor screening.

金門銀光夢（2013）導演伍錦霞
星期六，10月29日
下午5時至9時
華人歷史學會位於Joice St 與 Clay街的停車場內