The Making of "No.7 Cherry Lane" (A Film by Yonfan)

I almost forgot to mention this detour. 

I didn't have much time on my last visit to the Southwest Popular/American Cultural Association (SWPACA) in Albuquerque to attend other people's talks, but I did decide to drop in on "Film Studies 1: International Cinemas in Focus - Wed, 02/22/2023."  The session was a bit disorienting.  The airline system nationwide was bollixed by snowstorms, so almost all the scheduled speakers weren't able to get to Albuquerque in time.  There was just one speaker and one presentation:  "Rendering Hong Kong on an Animated Stage: A Life Action Film Director’s Perspectival Approach and Strategies," by Tze-yue G. Hu, Independent Educator.

Hu mostly wanted to talk Hong-Kong-born motion picture director Yonfan.  Hu described Yonfan's sensitivity to Hong Kong's culture in almost-mystical terms, particularly in regards to his beautiful film "No. 7 Cherry Lane."  

Here is a video on the making of that film.  I particularly like the outtakes, and the many animators hard at work on their screens.

 

I notice that Yonfan also directed the 2001 Hong Kong film "Peony Pavilion."  I'd really like to see that film.  Bill O'Brien and I saw a theatrical production of "Peony Pavilion" at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall, around 1999.  I was impressed with the technical aspects of the show.  The actors carried personal cameras, and emoted into them, while their images were broadcast on many large-screen television sets around the stage.  Plus, there was a huge Plexiglas cuboid object that doubled as a bed and a water-filled underground cavern.

I nearly-embarrassed myself too.  Sitting in the front row as the show began, I suddenly smelled smoke.  There were more than a thousand people in Zellerbach Hall.  I decided I would never be able to escape a fire by fleeing with the audience through their exits.  I determined my only path to survival was to jump onstage and flee out the back of the theater.  I was mentally preparing to jump onstage in front of a thousand people when the smoke's character suddenly changed from wood to incense.  There was no out-of-control fire!  The actors were lighting incense to enhance the Chinese mood!

Thankfully I didn't act on my panic.

I need to see Yonfan's movies.