Film Distribution

As a media non-profit organization whose mission is to connect communities together through media, Asian Media Access believes that one of the best ways for communities to understand one another is through film. Film is the most accessible of the contemporary art forms. Through its images and sounds, film can teach us so much while entertaining us.

Through film distribution, Asian Media Access has discovered that film is one of the best medium to achieve our goal of promoting Asian arts and cultures. our films are very popular with art houses, higher educational institutions especially the East Asian Studies, Cultural Anthropology, and Film Studies Departments.

Asian Media Access has assembled together few timeless Hong Kong films for distribution. The films are an eclectic mix, everything from comedies to dramas, fantasy to action and a kung fu movie thrown in for good measure. Together these movies display the depth and range of Hong Kong filmmaking. They also spotlight exceptional talents like directors Tsui Hark, Stanley Kwan and Clara Law, actors Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, Tony Leung, Brigette Lin and Joey Wang, and martial artists Samo Hung, Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah.

The following original 35mm Hong Kong movies are available for rental from Asian Media Access:

For more info on renting films please email amamedia@amamedia.org

The Actress (a.k.a. Center Stage)

starring: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Kar-fai, Carina Lau, Cecilia Yip
director: Stanley Kwan (1992, 126 minutes)
Awards: 1991 Taiwan Golden Horse Awards Best Actress Award, Best Cinematography Award; 1992 Berlin Film Exhibition Best Actress Award; 12th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actress Award, Best Cinematography Award, Best Art Direction Award, Best Original Film Score Award, Best Original Film Song Award, Best Picture Nominee, Best Director Nominee, Best Screenplay Nominee, Best Costume & Make-up Design Nominee.

All the Wrong Clues

Starring: George Lam, Teddy Robin, Karl Maka, Eric Tsang
Director: Tsui Hark (1981, 104 minutes)

The Village Voice calls All the Wrong Clues a "super stylish gangster comedy" that is directed by "the world's wittiest action director". All the Wrong Clues is a slapstick detective story about two former friends, Yoho, the private eye and ladies man, and Robin, the police inspector and gentleman. Both are hunting down the infamous gangster Ah Capone, but for different reasons. Yoho has been hired by Capone's mistress to nab him, but Robin arrests Yoho to prevent him from taking the case. A mysterious woman bails Yoho out of jail, and she turns out to be the wife of a rich old man being targeted by Capone. These plot twists all take place in the first twenty minutes, setting the tone for this non-stop laugher. The comic elements employed by Tsui Hark are credited with changing the direction of Hong Kong New Wave Cinema in the early 80's.

All the Wrong Spies

Starring: George Lam, Teddy Robin, Brigette Lin, Tsui Hark
Director: Teddy Robin (1983, 102 minutes)

Part two of the adventures of Private Eye Yoho and Police Chief Robin continue in All the Wrong Spies, the sequel to All the Wrong Clues. Yoho and Robin have finally smoothed things out with each other, and now they are working together to save the world from the Nazis. The Beast (the formula for the atomic bomb) is being transported through Hong Kong, resulting in Yoho and Robin being hired to steal the plans and keep them from falling into the hands of the Axis. However, it turns out that the Police Commissioner, Fat Chick, is holding the plans and he intends to give them over to Japan. Fat Chick's fiancee, Bridget, also happens to be Yoho's former love, and Yoho still hasn't gotten over her. To complicate things further, Robin has fallen in love with Bridget at first sight, all while she's trying to steal the plans for the Resistance. Director Tsui Hark does a stellar job directing as usual, but also look for his bit appeance. A job well done by Tsui Hark in this movie!

Eastern Condors

Starring: Yuen Biao, Samo Hung, Yuen Wah, Joyce Godenzi, Corey Yuen
Director: Samo Hung (1987, 97 minutes)

A group of Chinese convicts in American prisons are promised freedom if they take on a mission to destroy a Vietnamese weapons silo. However, the U.S. government is surreptitiously using the group as a decoy in a suicide mission. Initially criticized for its excessive violence, especially directed towards women, Eastern Condors is a war movie that exposes the nitty-gritty toughness of soldiers of war, reminiscent of elements in the classic The Dirty Dozen. Hong Kong Action Cinema says that Eastern Condors is "the best Chinese war movie to date (1995)."

Iceman Cometh (a.k.a. Time Warriors)

Starring: Yuen Biao, Maggie Cheung, Yuen Wah
Director: Clarence Fok (1989, 115 minutes)

Yuen Biao, playing Ming dynasty swordsman Ching, is ordered by the emperor to capture his former martial arts colleague, the rapist-killer Fung. Ching tracks down Fung and is ready to capture him until Fung uses two Buddhist artifacts that transport them into present-day Hong Kong. Ching survives by latching on to a prostitute, played by Maggie Cheung, while Fung works his way in a circle of robbers. Ching struggles with his ideas of loyalty and is faced with a harsh dilemma in his final confrontation with Fung.

Lady Reporter

One of Cynthia Rothrock's earlier works in Hong Kong, where she got her movie career as a crime fighter off the ground. A female FBI agent encounters difficulties while posing as a journalist, but is eventually successful in tracking down some illusive counterfeiters.

Starring: Cynthia Rothrock
Director: Mang Hoi (1987, 91 minutes)

A counterfeit ring in Hong Kong has drawn the attention of the FBI, requiring them to send an undercover agent (Rothrock) to Hong Kong. Rothrock poses as a newspaper reporter, and is personally caught up in the case when the counterfeit ring kidnaps her friend's father. In one fight scene, the action was so intense that Rothrock and a Thai opponent had to wear iron arm guards to prevent themselves from crippling each other.

Mr. Vampire

The original hopping corpse movie that spawned a host of similar movies. Great comedy, good fights, black magic funs, and a few hopping vamps. A must see for any Hong Kong movie lovers.

Starring: Lam Ching-Ying, Chin Siu-Ho, Ricky Hui Koon-Ying
Director: Ricky Lau Koon-Wai (1985, 99 minutes)
Awards: 5th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Original Film Score Award, Best Picture Nominee, Best Director Nominee, Best Supporting Actor Nominees (Lam Ching-Ying and Billy Lau), Best Screenplay Nominee, Best New Performer Nominee (Billy Lau), Best Cinematography Nominee, Best Art Direction Nominee, Best Action Choreography Nominee, Best Film Editing Nominee, Best Original Film Song Nominee.

The film that is regarded as spawning the vampire craze in Hong Kong cinema, Mr. Vampire is an interesting mesh of comedy, horror, and kung fu. A Taoist priest and his two students, Chou and Man Choi, are in charge of a mortuary. The wealthy Yam family has been having bad luck, and hires the Taoist priest to rebury their grandfather. Things go awry quickly, and the grandfather comes back to life as a vampire. The Taoist priest and underlings must find a way to stop the rampaging corpse, without becoming one. Considered "one of the most important films in the New Have Hong Kong cinema" by Hong Kong Film Connection, Mr. Vampire is a funny, exciting thriller that has set the Hong Kong standard of what a vampire is.

Mr. Vampire IV

Wanna get that washboard-like flat stomach? Forget the Abodominor! Watch this movie as your belly muscle gets its 90-minute workout. Even if you don't see any vampire until the movie is half way through, the comedy just gets better! Great fights, too!

Starring: Wu Ma, Anthony Chan Yau, Loletta Lee Lai-Chun, Yuen Wah
Director: Ricky Lau Koon-Wai (1987, 97 minutes)

This great series continues with a fourth installment. More slapstick comedy than horror, Mr. Vampire IV starts out with a new Taoist priest feuding with his neighbor, a Buddhist monk . Neither of them can stand living next to each other, so they try to irritate each other as much as possible. The antics of the priest and monk are added on to the bumbling acts of their mischievous disciples. As soon as nearby villages are threatened by vampires, the priest and monk put aside their differences to team up and stop the undead.

Prodigal Son

Starring: Yuen Biao, Samo Hung, Lam Cheng-ying
Director: Samo Hung (1981, 109 minutes)
Awards: 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards Best Action Choreography, Best Film Nominee, Best Director Nominee.

Leung Chang (Yuen Biao) is the well-known "Street Brawler", who has been undefeated in 300 fights. Unbeknownst to Leung, his father has been bribing all the opponents to lose . Once Leung foolishly challenges a Beijing Opera Performer (Lam Ching-Ying), he loses and begs to become a student of the martial arts master. Hong Kong Film Connection describes Prodigal Son as Samo Hung's most original work, "standing out from other Chinese films as the most effective exposition of the master/student relationship and the philosophy which many try to suggest lies behind the training rituals in these films". Great stylistic and realistic Wing Chun kung fu scenes.

Reincarnation of the Golden Lotus

Starring: Joey Wang, Eric Tsang
Director: Clara Law (1989, 99 minutes)
Awards: 9th Hong Kong Film Awards Best New Performer Nominee (Tan Lap-Man).

One of the most erotic movies in Hong Kong cinema, Reincarnation of Golden Lotus explores the many lives of the legendary Golden Lotus. Sex symbol Joey Wang stars as the cursed Golden Lotus, who is reincarnated in present day Shanghai. In China, she is raped and labeled promiscuous. Hoping to escape this life, she marries a Hong Kong businessman and tries to start a new life. Lotus is unable to reciprocate the love of her husband, and is instead drawn to his chauffeur. When the chauffeur rejects Lotus, she turns to a maniacal fashion designer to satisfy her. This whole vicious circle has been played out in the past, as we see in flashbacks, and again ends up in tragedy, with Lotus never attaining love. Wang drips with sensuality throughout the movie.

Righting Wrongs

A maverick lawyer and a hard-nosed detective join forces to bring a criminal to justice, but their unorthodox methods draw criticism from the establishment. GREAT FIGHTS and STUNTS of Jackie Chan movies' caliber.

Starring: Cynthia Rothrock, Yuen Biao
Director: Corey Yuen Kwai (1986, 100 minutes)
Awards: 6th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominee (Wu Ma), Best Action Choreography Nominee.

Offered the main fighting villain spot in Jackie Chan's Armour of God, Cynthia Rothrock instead chose the co-starring role, opposite Yuen Biao, in Righting Wrongs. Rothrock stars as the tough cop Cindy, who is tracking down Hsia Ling-Ching (Yuen Biao). Hsia, a Hong Kong prosecutor, has become a vigilante after a series of murders have been perpetrated, including the assassination of his master. The movie, with its bleak undertones, deviates greatly from the average Hong Kong kung fu action flick. The darkness of the movie culminates in the deaths of the two protagonists, leaving the audience completely shocked.

Rouge

Starring: Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, Alex Man, Emily Chu
Director: Stanley Kwan (1988, 96 minutes)
Awards: Awarded 1987 Taiwan Golden Horse Awards Best Actress Award, Best Cinematography Award, Best Art Direction Award; 8th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Picture Award, Best Director Award, Best Actress Award (Anita Mui), Best Film Editing Award, Best Original Film Score Award, Best Original Film Song Award, Best Actor Nominee (Leslie Cheung), Best Screenplay Nominee, Best Cinematography Nominee, Best Art Direction Nominee.

The critically acclaimed Rouge studies a tragic love affair from the 1930s and a more, placid, everyday one from the present. Anita Mui stars as Fleur, a courtesan who is in love with Chen-Pang (Leslie Cheung). Chen-Pang's parents are wealthy landowners who do not approve of Fleur, and thus do not allow them to marry. Fleur and Chen-Pang agree to commit suicide, in hopes that they will meet again in the afterlife. The movie then jumps to the 80's, where Fleur has returned as a ghost searching for Chen-Pang. Fleur stays with a couple during her quest to find Chen-Pang, until she realizes that he did not die with her. A subtle, anti-commercialism theme underlies Fleur's confusion of what Hong Kong has become, and what has turned out with her relationship.

Spooky Encounters

Starring: Samo Hung Kam-Bo
Director: Samo Hung Kam-Bo (1980, 104 minutes)

Screened at the Cannes film festival, Spooky Encounters is the Hong Kong 80's classic that sprung forth the genre of kung fu horror. Cheung's wife is having an affair with the richest man in town. In order to get rid of Cheung, the merchant hires a Taoist priest to use his vampire-controlling magic to kill off Cheung. The final duel in Spooky Encounters is rated by Hong Kong Action Cinema as the great Samo Hung' second best fight scene ever, only next to his historically famous encounter with Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon.

Zu, Warriors from Magic Mountain

Starring: Yuen Biao, Samo Hung, Adam Cheng, Brigette Lin
Director: Tsui Hark (1983, 97 minutes)
Awards: 3rd Hong Kong Film Awards Best Picture Nominee, Best Actress Nominee (Brigitte Lin), Best Art Direction Nominee, Best Action Choreography Nominee, Best Film Editing Nominee.

Renowned for it's ground-breaking special effects, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain is a political commentary concerning the constant in-fighting that plagued Imperial China. Private Ti is fighting in another clan war when he runs off and meets Ting Yen, a powerful martial arts master. The Disciples of Evil have been amassing while the Chinese fight among themselves, and Ting takes it upon himself to combat these forces. Ti volunteers to help, and the entourage that comes together, including the Countess (Brigitte Lin), provides a formidable challenge to the Evil Disciples. A classic fantasy that put Tsui Hark on the film scene, the special effects are considered the most innovative in the Hong Kong early 80's.