Last Thursday Re-Dock went to the Pagoda Centre to have an informal chat about our forthcoming A Small Cinema Chinatown. A group of dancers and young musicians took time out from practising and listened to our quick presentation about ASCC.
Aided by Ming Wang our translator for the afternoon, we asked the children and adults about their memories of cinema and what films they would like to appear beneath the Chinese arch. To our surprise some of the children had never been to the cinema before, whilst others had some fascinating stories to tell. Everybody at the meeting was given a memory slip and we had some great replies including ‘I remember when I went to watch Kung Fu Panda for my birthday. We had a popcorn fight all the way through. By the end of the film I didn’t even know what the film was about!’.
When we initiated the project we were concerned that choosing a Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee film may have been too obvious a choice, however after discussing the project with many different people the likes of ‘Police Story’ and ‘Drunken Master’ are repeatedly put forward. As for more contemporary cinema, Stephen Chows films ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ and ‘Shaolin Soccer’ have also been well regarded.
All of the research obtained on the day was extremely valuable and we felt really welcome at the Pagoda centre. The children from the youth orchestra had great enthusiasm for the project and although most of which may be a little young to watch the films on the night, we are looking at alternative ways of including them elsewhere. More on that to follow.
The details of which film we have selected will be announced in the next few days, so keep checking the blog for more information. We hope you are as excited about the project as we are.
A Small Cinema - It's the little things that count 