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Overseas Treasures III: Southeast Asia Being one of the Hong Kong film industry's major markets and favourite spots for location shooting, Southeast Asia is almost a second home for many Hong Kong film industry insiders, such as producer Chua Lam. Chua Lam's father, Mr. Chua Boon-hean, lived in Singapore, and through his work associated with Shaw Borthers, kept a collection of rare screenplays. The scripts were finely bound into hard-cover volumes. After obtaining agreement from the Chua family, a huge part of his collection is now in the safekeeping of the Archive. In addition, during a visit to Japan by our Senior Manager Ms Cynthia Liu, two rare Hong Kong films were discovered at the Kawakita Foundation. With the Foundation's kind donation, these two classic pictures starring Li Lihua - What Price Beauty? (1954) and Blood Will Tell (1955) now also come under the Archive collection. Preserving Film Heritage: Searching with a Mission Ms Angela Tong, Manager of the Acquisition Section, has witnessed how film acquisition develops at the Archive for the past two years. She has clocked up an experience which allows her to grasp the historical significance of preserving Hong Kong's film culture. Below is an interview with Ms Tong. Q: There are so many film materials. Apart from the film prints themselves, there are printed materials, posters, stills, etc. How do you go about collecting them? A: We follow leads given to us either by insiders within the film industry or local and overseas friends who give us information. For example, in the case of King Hu's The Valiant Ones (1975), we learned that the negative of the film was still placed in a laboratory in Hong Kong through a friend of Mr Law Kar, programmer in the Hong Kong International Film Festival. We conducted investigations of our own to establish the veracity of this information, then we contacted the late director himself to get his consent. After agreement had been established, we then proceeded to arrange it to be donated to the Archive. It's more or less the same for other acquisitions.
Q: What is the biggest difficulty faced by the Acquisition Section? A: The Film Archive was established somewhat late in the day and over the years, many films have been lost. In contrast with many other countries, we have a lot of gaps to fill. Unlike some countries which demand legal deposit, Hong Kong does not have such a law and that's why we have to take the initiative ourselves to contact the film production companies and explain to them our work and the kind of facilities we have, etc. There's a long way to go for film preservation. Sometimes, the companies might have the misunderstanding that once a film is delivered to the Archive, they will no longer be able to use it or retrieve it. In fact, the owner can retrieve the film where necessary so long as the adhere to the principle "preservation". The rights naturally still belong to the owner. Q: Are there any unforgettable moments that you have come across? A: Acquisition is like looking for treasure. Your instincts have to be sharp. Once there's a lead, you have to follow it up immediately. We do come across a lot of happy surprises. My most profound impression was the generous donation by Mr Kwan Hon-chuen, son of the late Kwan Tak-hing, who donated many of the materials relating to his father's career and he has now become a good friend of the Archive. Recently, he came across a stack of well-preserved handbills of Hong Kong films from the 60s in San Francisco, and this is now in the Archive's possession. There's also Mr Cheng Fat-ming, a collector, who would buy film stills with his own money and then donated them to the Film Archive. Another person I admire is Miss Dorothy Au, a fan of the actress Hsia Moon. She told us she was very fond of her private collection but in order to let others share in it, she generously donated it to the Archive. Such selfless spirits have given us a lot of encouragement. Enormous support has also been shown by film companies such as Sil-Metropole Organisation, which readily authorise us to acquire films under their ownership. Because of our work, we come across a lot of veteran producers and film workers who are all very friendly. They regularly call us up and ask us out for tea or lunch. Such are bonuses of our regular acquisition work! Q: The Acquisition Section is regarded as the Archive's front line with its extension to the outside world. Do you feel being involved in a mission? A: The Acquisition Section does often take a pro-active role. In the beginning, our department often faced up to a brick wall, so to speak. Many film companies found us annoying because it meant extra administration work for them, whether it was donation or deposit. In time, they came to feel that our work was
Page 1 and 2: Acquisition is comparable to a game
Page 3 and 4: Local Treasures II: The Collection
Page 5: The Orphan thus acquired was an Eas
Page 9 and 10: We witnessed the decay of many film
Page 11 and 12: Handbills of 1960s Hong Kong pictur
Page 13 and 14: y Frank Bren Editor's Note: The deb
Page 15 and 16: Five Cinema Shows in Year On August
Page 17 and 18: The right to use 'Cinematographe',

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