Much-loved Hong Kong films by Tsui Hark, Angie Chen and Sun Chung were among the highlights at the 40th edition of the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, which concluded on June 28.
Held annually in the historic town in northern Italy, Il Cinema Ritrovato is one of the world’s leading festivals with a focus on restored films. Every year it hosts screenings of more than 500 restored works for a diverse audience comprising cinephiles, archivists and film professionals. Many of these films were restored at the laboratory of L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna. The institute’s Hong Kong chapter, called L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia, opened in 2015. It is the first 4K-film-restoration facility in Asia.
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The films by Tsui screened at the festival are a testament to his range. The selection included the wuxia — a fantasy genre set in ancient China and delineating the adventures of martial-arts heroes — film The Blade (1995) as well as the action-comedy Peking Opera Blues (1986).
Warner Bros and The Criterion Collection recently released a new 4K-restored version of The Blade on Blu-ray, also screened at the festival. In the program, film critic Alberto Pezzotta notes that The Blade was filmed in “a style never seen before”, describing the film as “realistic, raw and turbulent” and one that added a twist to familiar wuxia tropes “through sudden shifts in narrative speed and the use of ellipses”.
Film critic and curator Li Cheuk-to, who introduced Peking Opera Blues before its screening, described the work as a “genre-bending film” located somewhere “between thriller, opera, action, and comedy”. Li highlighted the “camera angles and montages that create a perfect comedy”, as well as the film’s action scenes, which are “very spectacular, in the most inventive way”. The film follows three women from very different backgrounds. Their lives become intertwined when they attempt to overthrow a corrupt military governor.
Among the other Hong Kong films screened was Big Bad Sis (1976), directed by Sun and produced by Shaw Brothers Studio. The restored version was commissioned in 2026 by Arrow Films, together with L’Immagine Ritrovata and Dragon Studio laboratories. Big Bad Sis is a feminist tale about workplace abuse suffered by women employed in factories. Arrow Films producer James Flower describes the film as featuring “rough-and-tumble fight choreography by the late Tong Kai”, as well as a “groovily eclectic soundtrack — featuring composer and multi-instrumentalist Giuliano Sorgini, and curated by Frankie Chan”.
Chen was present at the screening of her film My Name Ain’t Suzie (1985). The piece is meant to be a response to the exoticization of the life of a Hong Kong sex worker in the hugely popular Hollywood film The World of Suzie Wong (1960), by presenting a more realistic picture of the seamier side of ’50s Hong Kong.
In My Name Ain’t Suzie, the story is told “from the woman’s point of view and a Hong Kong point of view”, thus creating a story that is less “sugary and happy, but more realistic”, Chen said, dedicating the film to her mother, “who inspired me to be the woman I am today”. The 2K restoration of the film conducted at L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia was commissioned by the North American film distributor Kani Releasing. Some of the newly restored Hong Kong films have already been secured for international distribution.
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The Golden Princess film production and distribution company, which ceased activity in 1995, owned the rights to 156 titles until Shout Studios acquired them in 2025. For the first time since their theatrical releases, many years ago, these movies will be seen by viewers in the United States in theaters as well as via streaming.
Arrow Films has acquired the United Kingdom distribution rights of the 4K-restored Peking Opera Blues. After their screenings in Bologna, these films are expected to secure a wider distribution across the world.
The writer is a freelance contributor to China Daily.
