TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chicago's Asian Pop-Up Cinema will screen some of the martial arts director Hu Jinquan’s (胡金銓) signature works.
Chicago's Asian Pop-Up Cinema Season 13 is showing 30 films from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and China. The festival will run from Sept. 15 to Oct. 12.
Four martial arts classics directed by Hu, who was known as King Hu, will be screened for six days beginning on Sept. 22.
According to a press release from the Taipei Cultural Center in New York, the four restored wuxia classics are "Dragon Inn," "A Touch of Zen," "Legend of the Mountain," and "Raining In The Mountain."
The movies will be available online in the United States, while "Dragon Inn" will also be screened at a drive-in theater on Sept. 28.
The Hong Kong and Taiwan-based Chinese film director brought Hong Kong and Taiwan cinema to new technical and artistic heights.
"Dragon Inn" set box-office records in Taiwan, Korea, and the Philippines in 1967. It was later selected for Cannes Classics in 2014 and 2015, as was a "A Touch of Zen."
Praised as an "extravagantly talented visual stylist," Hu was inspired by his love of Peking opera. His unique style of blending action and aesthetics influenced directors such as Hong Kong’s Tsui Hark (徐克) and Taiwan's Ang Lee (李安).
"Hu cast women in stronger, more central roles than the studio had before and conveyed a palpable sense of Buddhist precepts,” according to Janus Films, which holds the rights to “Dragon Inn” and “A Touch of Zen.”
"Hu imbued his action with a compositional depth and maturity,” the company added. “Rather than relying on special effects, he focused intently on the physicality of his performers.”
Director Hu (Taipei Cultural Center in New York photo)
