Martyrs is a powerful French horror thriller, which was just released today in the local theaters with a 16+ rating and a warning, because of its extreme violence. A few months ago, the French Film Commission even gave it a 18+ rating, which is very rare for a movie without any sexual content.


At that time,  a manisfestation was organised in Paris to protest against this decision. And this is where I shot Martyrs contre la Censure (Martyrs vs Censorship),  a short documentary featuring Martyrs' director, Pascal Laugier and one of the main actresses, Morjana El Alaoui.


MARTYRS VS CENSORSHIP

Frédéric Ambroisine (Sep. 3rd, 2008)

Because of the very bad health of the DVD market in France right now, I'm doing less and less DVD extra features about Hong Kong movies. This year, I directed a few short documentaries about only two Hong Kong movies, which will be released in DVD in France by CTV International on September 4th, 2008 : Shamo 軍雞, directed by Soi Cheang 鄭保瑞  and Mad Detective 神探, co-directed by Johnnie To  杜琪峰 and Wai Ka-fai 韋家輝.


On Shamo, there will be a 20-minute interview of Soi Cheang, that I did in April 2007, during the post-production of the movie (Actually, I already used 26 other minutes of this interview for the French DVD of Dog Bite Dog 狗咬狗, which was released in October 2007).


On Mad Detective, there will be two short documentaries of 13 minutes each. The first one is an interview with the main actor of the movie, Lau Ching-wan 劉青雲, done during the 10th Far East Film Festival in Udine (Italy). The second one was also shot at the Far East Film, during the seminar "Milkyway Image. Beyond Imagination", featuring Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai, Lau Ching-wan, Kelly Lin 林熙蕾 and Lam Suet 林雪, Ding Yuin-shan 丁雲山 from Milkyway Image and Far East Film Hong Kong programmer Tim Youngs. Here is an excerpt of the Lau Ching-wan documentary (Music by d.e.v.i.a.n.c.e. : instrumental version of the song "Coquille Vide")...

Frédéric Ambroisine (July 31st, 2008)

The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter 五郎八卦棍  is my favorite kung-fu movie starring Gordon Liu 劉家輝 and directed by Liu Chi-liang 劉家良. That’s a fact. I can even say, If I have to watch only one kung-fu movie on a desert island for the rest of my life, It'll be The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter.

 

Gordon Liu 劉家輝, on the set of The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter

Actually, it's not only a martial arts movie with the most skillful, original, ferocious and spectacular action choreography ever made, it’s also a very strong historical drama set during the Song dynasty, about the legendary and patriotic warriors of the Yang family. Betrayed by a corrupted official, almost all the male members are killed by the Tartars.

 
The Yang Brothers

Only two of them survive : The 6^th brother (Alexander Fu Sheng 傅聲)  succeeds to go back home to his mother (Lily Li 李麗麗) and sisters (Kara Hui 惠英紅  and Yeung Jing-Jing 楊菁菁) but, traumatized by the experience, he’s falling into madness.

 
Kara Hui 惠英紅 (left) is the Yang#8

The 5^th brother (Gordon Liu) takes refuge in a Taoist temple and tries to become a monk. But the abbots don’t want to, because they think (and they’re right)  that his spirit is still full of vengeance...

 
Gordon Liu 劉家輝 : The Warrior ad The Monk

The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter story – which is a prequel to another Shaw Brothers production masterpiece : The Fourteen Amazons 十四女英豪  - is quite sad and touching, and unhopefully, the behind-the-scenes story of the movie was tragic as well.

 
Alexander Fu Sheng 傅聲

The shooting, which started in 1981, was interrupted in July 1983, because of Fu Sheng, who died in a car accident. Finally, the story was changed and the movie was released in Hong Kong seven months later.

 
The 8 Diagram Cast & Crew on the set (June 1981)

In France, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter was never released in theathers like The New One-Armed Sworsdsman 新獨臂刀 or King Boxer 天下第一拳, and it was not as popular as The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin 少林卅六房, but I’m glad that Wild Side Films allowed me to do a “big” documentary, Au Coeur des 8 Diagrammes (It’s 26 minutes only, but features several people who worked on the movie, not just one or two interviews) for the French DVD release.

 

So, between 2003 and 2004, I succeeded  (with the help of of Celestial Pictures, Patty Keung, File Ip, Hester Yip, Mabel Wong) to find and interview in Hong Kong and France, most of the main 8 Diagram cast, like Gordon Liu, Kara Hui, Lily Li, Yeung Jing-jing and also Hsiao Hou 小侯 and Robert Mak 麥德羅, who got killed in the impressive opening scene.

Kara Hui 惠英紅

Lily Li 李麗麗

Yeung Jing-Jing 楊菁菁

Hsiao Hou 小侯

Robert Mak 麥德羅

I’ve even had producer Lawrence Wong Ka-yee黃家禧, who's rarely accepting interviews from what I've heard.

 
Lawrence Wong Ka-yee 黃家禧

I also included an interview excerpt of wuxia movie queen Cheng Pei-pei 鄭佩佩, who’s not  in The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, but plays the same character of Lily Li (Mother Yang) in the 2004 TV series Legendary Fighter Yang heroine.

 
Cheng Pei-pei 鄭佩佩

Here is an excerpt of the documentary with an opening where I could enjoy making my own trailer + an interview excerpt with Gordon Liu.

Gordon Liu 劉家輝 in Deauville (2004)  

This interview was done in France  during  the Asian Deauville Film Festival, and we only had an interpreter who speaks Mandarin (otherwise, it would be in Cantonese like the other interviews of the documentary). Enjoy...

Frédéric Ambroisine (July 20th, 2008)

Frédéric Ambroisine (July 17th, 2008)

I've always wanted to meet the Taiwanese director, writer and producer Joseph Kuo 郭南宏, but never had the chance to. Yesterday, my dream became reality, cos' there's a tribute to him right now in Paris during the Paris Cinema Film Festival.


Mr Kuo did yesterday afternoon, a 2-hour masterclass seminar about his experience of the last 50 years in the Taiwan and Hong Kong film industry. He could have talked for hours, but had to go to the cocktail organized by the festival and The Goverment Information Office of Tapei. That's where I grabbed him like a real geek and made him signed a lot stuffs like DVD covers and lobbycards.



I'll write more about him another time cos' I have to go to the screening of two of his movies in a couple of hours :  the very rare The Swordsman of All Swordsmen 一代劍王 (1968), his first martial arts movie (a Taiwanese wu xia pian starring Polly Shan Kuan 上官靈鳳, procuded by the same company of Dragon Gate Inn 龍門客棧), and Born Invincible 太極氣功  (1978), a kung-fu flick with Carter Wong 黃家達 and Lo Lieh 羅烈 . Tomorrow, I'll interview Mr Kuo during 45 minutes (to talk about 50 years in the film industry, it's way too short !) and will watch too other movies of him on big screen, Sorrowful to a Ghost 鬼見愁 (1970) and the mega-cult Shaolin kung-fu movie, 18 Bronzemen 少林寺十八銅人(1976).




Frédéric Ambroisine (July 8th, 2008)