Hong Kong SAR new wave cinema in face of neoliberalisation and mainlandisation

Abstract

Hong Kong film dominated Sinophone cinemas until the mid-1990s, when conditions protecting it from regional competition were gradually eroded and Chinese and other Asian cinemas began to challenge its prominence. Hong Kong cinema also needs to adjust to the China market imperative, global industry restructuring and the resulting neoliberal policy reactions from the Chinese and Hong Kong governments. The recent seeming revival of Hong Kong film is often attributed to the rise of Hong Kong-China co-productions, but these developments have put the ontology and sustainability of Hong Kong cinema in question. In order to qualify for market privileges of Hong Kong-China co-production, films need to tailor cultural content to Chinese censorship parameters, but such “mainlandized” co-productions find the more liberal sinophone communities of Hong Kong and South-east Asia hard to penetrate. It is thus pertinent to evaluate (1) if Hong Kong-China co-productions tend to address the relation of Hong Kong to China in more vertical, national and Sinocentric manners, (2) if intra-local and inter-local quotidian sensitivities can continue to be attentively portrayed in Hong Kong films, and (3) if connections with local, Asian and critical audiences need to be given up to make a decent China market viable.