The Taipei Cultural Center is pleased to welcome Subway Cinema’s popular series “Old School Kung Fu Fest,” which is now in its ninth edition. This year’s series focuses on Taiwanese director Joseph Kuo (郭南宏) and features eight newly restored films, including fan-favorites The 18 Bronzemen (少林寺十八銅人) and 7 Grandmasters (虎豹龍蛇鷹), from December 6-16 online and in theaters.
"9th Old School Kung Fu Fest: Joseph Kuo Edition" features nine Wuxia (武俠) films, all of which include new 2K digital restorations and English-language subtitles. The 36 Deadly Styles (迷拳36招), The 18 Bronzemen (少林寺十八銅人), Return of the 18 Bronzemen (雍正大破十八銅人), 7 Grandmasters (虎豹龍蛇鷹), and World of the Drunken Master (酒仙十八跌) will screen live at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), while Shaolin Kung Fu (少林功夫), Shaolin Kids (少林小子), The Old Master (師父出馬), and World of the Drunken Master (酒仙十八跌) will be available online.
“When Joseph Kuo talks about movies, he never mentions film or art. He keeps emphasizing that when you make movies, you need to respect two groups of people: the financier … and the audience,” Edwin W. Chen (陳煒智), a film researcher who worked with Kuo for an exhibition showcasing Kuo’s collection of historical objects, said with great admiration.
Edwin W. Chen depicts Joseph Kuo’s style as ever-changing because he has shifted gears between melodrama, Taiwanese dialogue musical films, and martial arts films along his career, finding success at every turn.
As a successful box office director, Joseph Kuo also knows how to follow market trends, as film critic Blade Po (蒲鋒) observes. In 1978, when Jackie Chan (成龍) and Yuen Wo-ping (袁和平) delivered their box office-shattering Kung Fu comedy Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (蛇形刁手) in September, Joseph Kuo imitated its storyline and action style to make 7 Grandmasters and released it in November. Similarly, soon after Drunken Master (醉拳) became a blockbuster in October 1978 in Hong Kong, Kuo jumped on the bandwagon by producing an imitation, World of the Drunken Master, a few months later.
Joseph Kuo, born in 1935, started his career at an early age as a Taiwanese dialogue film director. When he served in the army, he wrote One Night in Taipei (臺北之夜), the Taiwanese dialogue musical created for the famous singer Bûn-hā (文夏) w. The film proved to be a megahit, with 10 sequels following its massive success. Kuo has also served as his own boss, establishing Hong Hwa International Films (宏華影業) in 1973 and writing, directing, and producing dozens of movies under its banner until it shut down in 1992.
MoMI and Subway Cinema will co-present four titles available exclusively online from December 6-16, and five films in theaters from December 10-12. Edwin W. Chen and Blade Po are invited to record two special introduction videos for the fest. The group discussion will be offered online and the introduction for each film is exclusively for theater viewers.
For more information, please visit:
Subway Cinema at https://www.subwaycinema.com/initiatives/9th-old-school-kung-fu-fest-joseph-kuo-edition
MoMI at http://www.movingimage.us/programs/2021/12/06/detail/old-school-kung-fu-fest-joseph-kuo-online/