MOOC

Hong Kong Cinema has a global reach. Let’s explore how it reached you… Perhaps you know the films of martial arts icons Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan or the heroic bloodshed films of John Woo.

Perhaps you are a fan of stars such as Maggie Cheung or Chow Yun Fat. Maybe you admire works by directors such as Wong Kar Wai.

Whatever you know and wherever you are we invite you to join us on a journey to consider how the local and the global intersect to make Hong Kong cinema an integral part of popular culture around the world as well as a leading force in the development of world cinematic art.

In this course you’ll learn how flows of capital, people, technologies, ideas and creativity circulate and shape the cultural industry of filmmaking, resulting in transnational co-productions and cross-cultural co-operations. You’ll see how these dynamic processes are inflected in characterization, plot development, and space-time configurations on Hong Kong screens.

Our location in the cultural crossroads of Hong Kong allows us to introduce you to film professionals such as director Mabel Cheung and Andrew Lau, producer John Sham, film festival director Roger Garcia, and other guests, talking candidly about the industry.

During your weeks with us you’ll see demonstrations of martial arts choreography, participate in close analysis of film techniques, investigate Hong Kong global stardom, uncover the reasons for the worldwide appeal of genres such as the kung fu film, and nurture a comparative and critical understanding of issues of gender, race, migration. Best of all you’ll partner with leading researchers in the field to appreciate Hong Kong’s contribution to world cinema.