The name Jackie Chan is synonymous with urban action cinema. Chan’s films are a unique blend of mime, martial arts, stunts and slapstick comedy. He is involved in all aspects of the filmmaking process, from directing and producing to writing, acting and action choreography.
Drawing on his training at the Chinese Opera Academy in Hong Kong, Chan features the comedic use of props in many of his action sequences — ladders, fans, fabrics, bowls and chairs all have a role to play. His use of physical comedy has been compared to the great film comedians of the silent era.
9 – 28 February 2007
The Jackie Chan screening program provides audiences with the rare opportunity to appreciate Chan’s films in depth and on the big screen in their original 35mm Cantonese versions, as well as his work as actor, director and action choreographer. Films are screened at various times on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 9 and 28 February.
The special documentary Traces of a Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family provides a rare glimpse into Chan’s private life and family history, and will be presented on Wednesday 14 and 21 February.
The film program includes:
Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (She Xing Diao Shou) 1978 / Ages 15+
Drunken Master (Jui Keun) 1978 / M
The Young Master (Shi Di Chu Ma) 1980 / M
Project A (A’gai Waak) 1983 / PG
Police Story (Ging Chaat Goo Si) 1985 / M
Armour of God (Long Xiong Hu Di) 1986 / M
Project A Part II (A’gai Waak Juk Jaap) 1987 / M
Police Story 2 (Ging Chaat Goo Si Juk Jaap) 1988 / M
Miracles (Qiji) 1989 / PG
Armour of God II: Operation Condor (Fei Ying Gai Wak) 1990 / PG
Police Story 3: Supercop (Jing Cha Gu Shi III: Chao Ji Jing Cha) 1992 / M
Drunken Master II (Jui Kuen II) 1994 / M
Traces of a Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family 2003 / All ages
New Police Story (San Ging Chaat Goo Si) 2004 / M
Tickets are available from the Gallery Store Modern, GoMA, during gallery hours and from the Australian Cinematheque Box office 30 minutes prior to each session. Single admission $7 adult, $5 concession. For further information, phone (07) 3840 7303.
1.30pm Saturday 10 February 2007 / Cinema A
Join film writer Adrian Martin and Chinese cinema specialist Mary Farquhar for a forum that explores the APT5 media gallery display and screening program, highlighting the influence of Chinese theatrical arts and cinematic traditions on Jackie Chan’s unique brand of action comedy.
5.30pm Friday 23 February 2007 / Cinema B
Adrian Martin and Mary Farquhar will discuss some major themes in Asian action cinema and Jackie Chan’s unique position within Hong Kong cinema and internationally.
7.00pm Friday 9 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 98 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: YUEN WOO-PING / ACTION DIRECTORS: YUEN WOO-PING, TYRONE HSU HSIA, COREY YUEN KWAI / PRODUCER: NG SEE-YUEN / SCRIPT: NG SEE-YUEN, CHOI GAI-GWONG, TSAI CHI-KUANG, JACKIE CHAN (UNCREDITED) / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHANG HAI / EDITOR: HUNG YIU-POON / ART DIRECTION: YUEN TAN TING / MUSIC: CHOU FU-LIANG / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, SIU TIEN YUEN, JANG LEE HWANG, DEAN SHEK, ROY HORAN / PRODUCTION CO: SEASONAL FILMS CORPORATION / RIGHTS: SONY PICTURES RELEASING, AUSTRALIA / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
After an unsuccessful run at the box office with Lo Wei’s productions during the 1970s, Jackie Chan was loaned to Ng See-yuen to work for his rival production company Seasonal Films. Based in part on a script by Chan, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow gave Chan a chance to set a new tone for kung fu films by introducing comic elements. In nineteenth-century China, Chan plays Chen Fu, a bullied orphan who is befriended by an old master trained in the Snake-fist style of fighting. When Eagle-claw fighters from Manchuria begin a senseless killing spree, Chen Fu is inspired by the movements of his cat to redevelop the techniques of Snake-fist, to defend of his life and that of his Master Fu.
1.00pm Sunday 11 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 111 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: YUEN WOO-PING / PRODUCERS: NG SEE-YUEN / SCRIPT: YUEN WOO-PING, HSIAO LUNG / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHANG HUI / EDITOR: PAN XIONG / ART DIRECTION: YUEN-TAI TING / MUSIC: ZHOU FULIANG / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, SIMON YUEN SIU TIN, HWANG JANG LEE, DEAN SHEK TIEN / PRODUCTION CO: SEASONAL FILMS CORPORATION / RIGHTS: SONY PICTURES RELEASING, AUSTRALIA / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
Southern Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, the most portrayed character in martial arts cinema, is given a comic twist in Drunken Master. Heavily influenced by director Yuen Woo Ping’s use of kung-fu comedy in Drunken Master’s unofficial predecessor Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978), Jackie Chan plays Wong Fei-Hung as a mischievous teenager. The film broke Bruce Lee’s box office record and is remembered especially for its depiction of ‘drunken boxing’ — a fighting method aided by a state of complete intoxication.
3.30pm Saturday 10 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 101 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: RAYMOND CHOW, LEONARD HO / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, LAU TIN-CHEE, TUNG LU, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHEN CHING CHUEH / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / ART DIRECTION: HUANG HSUN CHANG / SOUND: CHOU SHAO-LUNG / MUSIC: FRANKIE CHAN, GUSTAV HOLST / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, WEI PAI, TIAN FENG, SHEK KIN, LI LILI / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN HARVEST COMPANY, LEONARD HO PRODUCTIONS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
After an unsuccessful bid at Hollywood success in the late 1970s, Jackie Chan returned to Hong Kong to write, direct and star in what many consider his farewell to the traditional kung-fu film. Alongside Shaw Brothers Studio star Wai Pei, Chan plays an orphaned brother caught up in a case of mistaken identity. The Young Master was Chan’s first major directorial project for Golden Harvest and established his mastery of action direction, as well as his inventive use of props in action choreography inspired by ten years of Chinese opera training.
1.00pm Saturday 24 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 106 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS/ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: RAYMOND CHOW, LEONARD HO / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHEUNG YIU JO / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / ART DIRECTION: PAN YUANHE, ZHAN FUXING / SOUND: MICHAEL J. FOX, TODD BECKETT / MUSIC: LI XIAOTIAN / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, SAMMO HUNG, YUEN BIAO, WONG MAN-YING / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN HARVEST COMPANY / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT / SCREENING FORMAT: DIGITAL BETACAM
Set in colonial Hong Kong,Project A follows the story of Dragon Ma, a coastguard sergeant attempting to stop a group of marauding pirates. Joined by Peking opera students Samo Hung and Yuen Biao, this film showcases Jackie Chan’s virtuosic comic timing and slapstick humour. The slapstick comedy in Project A pays homage to the great silent film comedians, and Chan’s spectacular fall from a clock tower draws inspiration from Harold Lloyd’s stunt in Safety Last (1923).
2.00pm Saturday 17 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 101 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: RAYMOND CHOW, LEONARD HO / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHEUNG YIU JO / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / ART DIRECTION: HUANG RUIMIN / SOUND: TERRY DESLING / MUSIC: LI XIAOTIAN / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, LIN CHING-HSIA, MAGGIE CHEUNG, CHU YUAN / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN HARVEST COMPANY / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT
In Police Story, Jackie Chan plays Ka Kui, an honest and self-effacing Hong Kong police officer assigned to take down a local crime syndicate. Modernising the kung-fu genre, Police Story showcases some of Chan’s most famous stunts. Nicknamed ‘glass story’, the shattering finale in a Hong Kong shopping mall features Chan’s celebrated six-floor descent down a pole covered in lights and through a glass roof. The extreme stunts and resulting injuries sustained in the filming led him to establish the Jackie Chan Stuntmen Association.
1.00pm Sunday 25 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 97 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS: JACKIE CHAN, ERIC TSANG (UNCREDITED) / ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: LEONARD HO, CHUA LAM / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG, SZETO CHEUK-HON, LU JIAN, JOHN SHEPPARD / CINEMATOGRAPHY: PETER NGOR, BOB THOMPSON, ARTHUR WONG, CHEUNG YIU JO / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / ART DIRECTION: WILLIAM CHEUNG, ZHANG KAILIN, MA PANCHAO / SOUND: GARY ULMER / MUSIC: LI XIAOTIAN / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, ALAN TAM, GUAN ZHILIN, MARIA DELORES FORNER / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN HARVEST COMPANY, GOLDEN WAY FILMS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT
In a nod to Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films, Jackie Chan plays Asian Hawk, a fortune hunter who travels to central Europe to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend from an evil cult. Chan’s stunt work in Armour of God proved near-fatal, with a leap in the opening sequences leaving him with permanent hearing impairment. This event resulted in the film’s original director Eric Tsang leaving the production and Chan assuming the role.
3.15pm Saturday 24 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 101 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: LEONARD HO, RAYMOND CHOW / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHEUNG YIU JO / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / ART DIRECTION: EDDIE MA / SOUND: MICHAEL LAI / MUSIC: MICHAEL LAI / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, MAGGIE CHEUNG, DAVID LAM, ROSAMUND KWAN, CARINA LAU / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN WAY FILMS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT
Set on the eve of the 1911 revolution that overthrew imperial rule in China, Project A Part II follows Dragon Ma as he works to thwart a corrupt group of police officers. The film includes some of Jackie Chan’s most elaborately choreographed and staged fight scenarios, and ends with a spectacular sequence that recreates Buster Keaton’s famous falling house scene in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).
1.00pm Sunday 18 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 101 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: RAYMOND CHOW, LEONARD HO, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHEUNG YIU JO, LEE YAU TONG / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG, KEUNG CHUEN TAK, SHEK CHI KONG / ART DIRECTION: YUI MAN WONG / SOUND: JOHN ROSS / MUSIC: MICHAEL LAI / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, MAGGIE CHEUNG, BILL TUNG, LAM KOK-HUNG / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN WAY FILMS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT
As a result of all the damage caused in the first Police Story film, its sequel sees Jackie Chan’s Ka Kui demoted to traffic duty. Hounded by the mobsters featured in the first film and with new urban terrorists to battle, Chan delivers another series of raucous fight sequences and stunts, with an explosive finale set in a large abandoned fireworks warehouse. Police Story 2 was awarded best fight choreography at the Hong Kong Film Awards (1998).
1.30pm Wednesday 28 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 127 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE/ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: LEONARD HO / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG / CINEMATOGRAPHY: ARTHUR WONG / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / ART DIRECTION: MA PANCHAO / MUSIC: ZHOU QISHENG / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, ANITA MUI, DONG BIAO, WU MA, KE JUNXIONG, LUO LIE, RICHARD NG, GUI YALEI / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN HARVEST COMPANY, GOLDEN WAY FILMS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT
Set in 1930s’ Hong Kong, Miracles is an action–comedy remake of Frank Capra’s Pocketful of Miracles (1961). Jackie Chan plays naive country boy Kwok, who is appointed as the boss of a Hong Kong crime syndicate. Miracles pays homage to classic Hollywood gangster movies and musical melodramas and employs elaborate sets, costumes and camera work. Rich in slapstick humour, the film also features the unforgettable Anita Mui singing Rose, Rose, I Love You.
3.15pm Sunday 25 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 106 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: RAYMOND CHOW, LEONARD HO / SCRIPT: JACKIE CHAN, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG, FIBE MA / CINEMATOGRAPHY: ARTHUR WONG / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / ART DIRECTION: YUI MAN WONG / SOUND: ROBB BOYD, ERIC FLICKINGER, RICHARD FORD / MUSIC: CHRIS BABIDA / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, DO DO CHENG, EVA COBO DE GARCIA, SHÔKO IKEDA / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN WAY FILMS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT
In Operation Condor, Asian Hawk is hired to retrieve gold hidden in the Sahara desert by the Nazis during World War Two. Filmed in Morocco, Spain, the Philippines and Hong Kong, Operation Condor was in production for a full year and remains the most expensive of Jackie Chan’s directorial projects. An old Shaw Brothers Studio sound stage was converted into a massive wind tunnel for the film’s final fight sequence, which pays homage to classic windstorm battle in Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).
3.15pm Sunday 18 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR (DELUXE), 95 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE/MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/ACTION DIRECTOR: STANLEY TONG / PRODUCERS: LEONARD HO, JACKIE CHAN / SCRIPT: EDWARD TANG KING-SANG, FIBE MEI-PING, LEE WEI-YEE / CINEMATOGRAPHY: LAM KWOK WAH / EDITORS: CHUENG YIU CHUNG, CHEUNG KA-FAI / ART DIRECTION: YUI MAN WONG / SOUND: DEAN BEVILLE / MUSIC: RICHARD LO, LEE CHUNG SHING, CHAN OI LING, CHOW KWOK YEE / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, MICHELLE YEOH, MAGGIE CHEUNG, TSANG KONG, YUEN WAH / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN HARVEST COMPANY / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT, HONG KONG
In Police Story 3: Supercop, Jackie Chan’s Ka Kui works undercover to help capture a Malaysian drug lord. He is joined in the film by former ballet dancer and martial artist Michelle Yeoh, who came out of retirement to assume the role of a Mainland policewoman. Chan’s first female co-star to perform her own stunts, Yeoh is impressive, notably performing a motorcycle jump onto a moving train. At the time of production, Supercop was one of the most expensive action films made in Asia. In a Cantonese film first, the production recorded dialogue on location in synchronised sound rather than dubbing it in post production.
3.15pm Sunday 11 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 103 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTORS: LAU KAR-LEUNG, JACKIE CHAN (UNCREDITED) / ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: LEONARD HO, EDWARD TANG KING-SANG, ERIC TSANG, BARBIE TUNG / SCRIPT: EDWARD TANG KING-SANG, MAN-MING TONG, KAI-CHI YUN / CINEMATOGRAPHY: CHEUNG YIU JO, JINGLE MA, MAN-WAN WONG / EDITOR: CHEUNG YIU CHUNG / SOUND: CHONG-SING HO, EDDIE MA / MUSIC: WOO WAI-IAP / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, LAU KAR-LEUNG, ANITA MUI, TI LUNG, KEN LO, LO WEI KONG / PRODUCTION CO: GOLDEN HARVEST COMPANY / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: WARNER BROS PICTURES, USA
Drunken Master II sees Jackie Chan reprise the character of Wong Fei-Hung that confirmed his fame 16 years earlier. Stumbling upon an artefact-smuggling operation in 1915, Wong Fei-Hung uses his drunken-style of kung-fu to defeat the racketeers. The film sees 40-year-old Chan undertake some of his most energetic action sequences, under of the eye of veteran Shaw Brothers director Lau Kar-leung. However, major creative differences caused Lau to leave the production, and Chan assumed the role of director for the final elaborate fight, which alone took four months to complete.
1.30pm Wednesday 14 & 21 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 96 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE/MANDARIN (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: MABEL YUEN-TING CHEUNG / PRODUCERS: JACKIE CHAN, WILLIE CHAN, SOLON SO / CINEMATOGRAPHY: ARTHUR WONG / EDITOR: MAURICE LI / RESEARCHERS: HENRY NG, HEMAN PENG, CHEUNG WING HUNG, WANG BIAO / SOUND: KINSON TSANG / MUSIC: HENRY LAI / PRODUCTION CO: JACKIE & WILLIE PRODUCTIONS / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: JACKIE CHAN GROUP, HONG KONG
Mabel Cheung’s documentary provides a moving account of Jackie Chan’s family history. Beginning with the revelation that Chan has two brothers he has never met, the film recounts the experiences of his parents, who were refugees from the Cultural Revolution. Having spent four years in production, Traces of a Dragon combines interviews with archival footage and traces not only Chan’s family history, but also the history of modern China, colonial Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora.
7.00pm Friday 16 & 23 February / Cinema A
35MM, COLOUR, 123 MINS, HONG KONG, CANTONESE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR: BENNY CHAN / ACTION DIRECTOR: JACKIE CHAN / PRODUCERS: BENNY CHAN, JACKIE CHAN, WILLIE CHAN, SOLON SO, BARBIE TUNG / SCRIPT: ALAN YUEN / CINEMATOGRAPHY: ANTHONY PUN / EDITOR: CHI-WAI YAU / ART DIRECTION: SUNG PONG CHOO, CHING CHING WONG, OLIVER WONG / SOUND: KINSON TSANG / MUSIC: TOMMY WAI / CAST: JACKIE CHAN, NICHOLAS TSE, CHARLIE YOUNG, CHARLENE CHOI, DANIEL WU, WONG CHIEH / PRODUCTION CO: JCE ENTERTAINMENT, CHINA FILM GROUP CORPORATION / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: FORCE ENTERTAINMENT, AUSTRALIA
New Police Story departs from the original Police Story narrative and characters, with Jackie Chan playing a middle-aged inspector tracking a gang of cop killers. Director Benny Chan references video games and extreme sports in his treatment of fight and chase sequences set in the Hong Kong metropolis. Featuring young stars from the Hong Kong music industry, New Police Story is a dramatic update of Chan’s brand of urban action.
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Street address
Stanley Place
South Bank
Brisbane
Australia
Postal address
PO Box 3686
South Brisbane
Queensland 4101
Australia
Telephone
+ 61 (0)7 3840 7303
Fax
+ 61 (0)7 3844 8865
Opening hours
Monday to Friday 10.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday and Sunday 9.00am - 5.00pm
ABN
66 758 806 810
