Adelaide’s Mercury Cinema will transform into a nostalgia of neon’s and culture, celebrating the history of Hong Kong with their gala screening of In the Mood for Love on Saturday 16th October.
Launching their week-long program, “Love and Neon” for OzAsia, the Mercury will become a neon lounge for remastered and rare film screenings from visionary director Wong Kar Wai, and will include a selection of independent Australian cinema. With this transformation, it’ll celebrate the cinematic world of one of the most celebrated Asian filmmakers of modern times.
Described by Hollywood Reporter as “the most gorgeously aching neon fever dream in cinema history” Wong Kar Wai says In The Mood For Love is “about the memory of my childhood, an era, a Hong Kong that’s been lost.”
Born in Shanghai in 1958, Wong Kar Wai’s cinema is intrinsically linked to urban spaces and city life. Across eleven feature films with regular collaborators William Chang Suk-ping and Aussie cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Wong Kar Wai has crafted a bold cinematic universe that is instantly recognisable, poetic, genre-defying and often imitated.
Opening night gala guests will experience the Mercury Cinema made over into a Hong Kong style lounge bar for this colourful red-carpet event, with champagne on arrival and a glamorous afterparty following the screening. Delicious cocktails, food and music of another era will transport cinema-goers on a hauntingly beautiful journey infused with neon and nostalgic atmosphere.
In addition to the selection of the director’s films, the Love and Neon program features three special screenings with filmmaker Q&A sessions. This will include Tony Ayre’s, The Home Song Stories and Clara Law’s Floating Life (Fu Sheng), plus the documentary film, Orientations: Chris Doyle Shaken But Not Stirred, about Wong Kar Wai’s long time Australian cinematographer, produced by Mercury CX CEO Karena Slaninka.
This eclectic event of colour, culture and film is one not to be missed, and will be a sure fire way to kick-off your OzAsia journey this year.
The Love and Neon opening night screening of In the Mood for Love is on Saturday 16th October, 6pm at the Mercury.
Find the Mercury Cinema and Lounge Bar at 13 Morphett Street, Adelaide.
Tickets to the OzAsia opening night at the Mercury can be purchased here.
See the full festival line-up and grab tickets at OzAsia Festival.
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