Cinema classic: Tso Kea's Pipa's Lament, based on Charles Vidor's Love Me or Leave Me, will be shown at the HK International Film Festival.

Chinese and Western literary classics by Ba Jin, Cao Yu, Dickens and Tolstoy inspired many Hong Kong filmmakers in the 1950s and '60s. Talented directors and screenwriters such as Lee Sun-fung, Lee Tit and Chum Kim produced marvellous melodramas adapted from such works.

As a contribution to this year's HK International Film Festival, the Film Archive has organised a retrospective, Novel * Drama * Melodrama, for film buffs to appreciate the classics and the crossover culture. The performances of Ng Cho-fan, Pak Yin, Cheung Ying, Mui Yee and other silver-screen stars made the adaptations vivid portrayals of the stories of their era.

From April 6 to May 30, the archive will showcase 40 Cantonese and Mandarin literary adaptation films produced in the 1950s and '60s.

The retrospective comprises two sections. In the first instalment, 25 Cantonese classics will be screened from April 6 to 30. The second series, from May 1 to 30, will feature 15 Mandarin classics including Grace Chang's early comedy The Story of a Fur Coat, Hsia Moon in A Widow's Tear, Betty Loh Ti in The Eternal Beauty and Li Hanxiang's Blood in Snow.

Activities heighten awareness of cinema-literature interaction

A two-month exhibition and related workshops will complement the screenings, as will a seminar and publication on director Lee Sun-fung. The activities aim to enhance audiences' understanding of the interactive relationship between Hong Kong cinema and literature.

The exhibition at the archive from April 9 to June 6, will trace the literary origins of Hong Kong melodrama of the 1950s and '60s through pictures, artifacts and moving images with in-depth analysis on the individuality and style of Cantonese cinema masters. Admission is free.

Lee Sun-fung widely acknowledged

Lee Sun-fung was an outstanding director of Cantonese melodrama. He excelled in adapting Chinese and Western literary works - both classic and contemporary masterpieces for the screen. Film workers widely acknowledged his achievements.

The archive's new publication, The Cinema of Lee Sun-fung, will be published next month in Chinese and English. The director's notes are particularly valuable, giving readers a glimpse of how filmmakers of his time deliberated on filmmaking and attempted to strike a balance between the real world and the ideal.

Five of Lee's works will be screened, including three with newly translated English subtitles:

* It Was a Cold Winter Night (1955), an adaptation of Ba Jin's famous Cold Nights;

* Sunrise (1953), based on Cao Yu's play of the same title; and,

* the tragic melodrama Anna (1955), adapted from Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Ticketing details

Tickets for Novel * Drama * Melodrama are $30. Internet bookings can be made at www.urbtix.gov.hk. Counter sales will start from March 25 at URBTIX outlets. Tickets for the second part of the retrospective will be on sale from April 1.

Detailed information on the festival and various discounts can be found in the festival booking folder distributed at all URBTIX outlets, or in the Profolio available in mid-March. Enquiries can be made at 2734 2900, or browse the websites www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp or www.hkiff.org.hk.