Skip to content
30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025

Patrick Tam

Patrick TAM (1948, Hong Kong) is one of the directors from the Hong Kong New Wave, a flourishing period for the Hong Kong film industry during the eighties. Like many other figures from the movement, Tam began his career at Television Broadcast Limited, where he could experiment freely with TV dramas. Tam often questions dominant social norms and is interested in how Hongkongers experience the clash of Communist and Western cultures. Patrick Tam is considered the mentor of Wong Kar-wai and edited two of his films, one of which won him an award at Golden Horse Film Festival.

Filmography

Ming jian/The Sword (1980), Ai sha/Love Massacre (1981), Lie huo qing chun/Nomad (1982), Xue er/Cherie (1984), Zui hou sheng li/Final Victory (1987), Xue zai shao/Burning Snow (1988), Sha shou hu die meng/My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1989), Fu zi/After This Our Exile (2006), Baat Bou Bun/Septet: The Story of Hong Kong (2020, omnibus film)

More info: Wikipedia, Patrick Tam

Patrick Tam at IFFR

  • Election

    The whole of criminal Hong Kong turned upside down because of a stick with a dragon’s head. Choosing a new gang leader at one of the gangster strongho

    • Film Maker in Focus: Johnnie To
  • After This Our Exile

    Very atmospheric film. In a beautifully designed Asian past, a boy watches as his parents make a mess of their lives.

    • Cinema of the World: Time & Tide
  • A Witness Out of the Blue

    An incompetent detective needs some help in a murder case from the sole witness: a parrot. Amusing police thriller from Hong Kong.

    • Voices Main Programme
  • Ashes of Time

    To pay homage to Leslie Cheung (1956-2003), the festival is screening Wong Kar-wai’s melancholy martial arts classic, in which the inn keeper Cheung m

  • Ashes of Time Redux

    For Ashes of Time, Wong Kar-wai swapped the conventions of the wuxia genre for his beloved theme of love and loss. The film can also be regarded as a

    • Signals: Water Tiger Inn
  • Septet: The Story of Hong Kong

    Seven prominent filmmakers from Hong Kong join forces for a loving, nostalgic homage to their city.

    • Harbour