IFFR KINO #36: The Spooky Bunch

Event

Year round 2021

Nothing screams ‘cult’ like an army of ghosts. And nothing screams ‘quality’ like Ann Hui, one of Hong Kong’s most renowned filmmakers. Her ghost film The Spooky Bunch from 1980 screened at IFFR in 1995, in a tribute to film star Siao Fong Fong.

A down-at-heel Cantonese opera company arrives in Cheung Chau to perform for a rich man, who wants to marry off his nephew Dick to the star of the company, Ah Gee (Siao Fong Fong). The uncle believes there is a curse on his family and is convinced that the marriage can end the curse. 

As soon as they arrive, the company is thwarted by a female spirit, Catshit, who turns out to be the precursor of a whole army of spirits sent to pester the uncle and one of the older actors. Only then do Ah Gee and Dick find out that the danger has nothing to do with a curse, but a crime committed by Ah Gee's ancestors. 

After a career in TV, Ann Hui switched to feature-filmmaking in 1979. Since then, she has gone on to become the most decorated filmmaker in her own country: she was awarded Best Director no less than five times at the Hong Kong Film Awards, something no other filmmaker has ever achieved. IFFR honoured Hui in 2020 with the programme Ordinary Heroes: Made in Hong Kong, a reference to her perhaps most successful film Ordinary Heroes.

Sunday, 12 December, 15:00 hours, KINO Rotterdam.

Get your tickets via KINO Rotterdam

Organised in collaboration with Hong Kong Film Archive, Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Event

Year round 2021