First Night Nerves

Hong Kong, China | 100 minutes | 2018 | Fiction | Cantonese and Mandarin | English and Chinese Subtitles | PG
中国香港 | 100 分钟 | 2018 | 虚构 | 粤语、普通话 | 中英文字幕 | PG
Canadian Premiere 加拿大首映

Two Sisters is a new play, written and directed by the trans woman Ouyang An, which will have its first night in Hong Kong’s venerable City Hall soon. In the last seven days of rehearsals many hidden tensions rise to the surface, sparked by the longstanding rivalry between the two lead actresses Yuan Xiuling (a stage veteran making her comeback a year after the death of her faithless husband) and He Yuwen (a smart movie actress making her stage debut).

电影《八个女人一台戏》全片在香港拍摄，并以香港大会堂为主背景，拍出一份浓浓的香港情怀。关锦鹏导演再次邀得亚洲天后郑秀文担任女主角，并首度与梁咏琪合作。这也是郑秀文与梁咏琪继《百分百感觉》后，相隔22年再合作。电影强劲的演员阵容还包括百花影后白百何、冻龄女神赵雅芝、香港实力女演员商天娥、金像奖提名最佳女配角周家怡、金马奖最佳新演员齐溪、香港男演员林保怡、甘国亮等。

《壹世人两姐妹》是由欧阳鞍（甘国亮饰）担任编剧及导演的一出新话剧，此剧将在满载历史盛名的香港大会堂首演。而两名女主演袁秀灵（郑秀文饰）——长久隐退的天后，决定在其不忠的丈夫离世后再度复出，以及何玉纹（梁咏琪饰）——其作为一位当红的电影演员，将首次挑战戏剧舞台，随着最后七天的彩排，她们过往的恩怨纠葛逐渐显露，也使排练氛围越发紧张……

Born in 1957, Stanley KWAN graduated from the Hong Kong Baptist College with a degree in mass communications. He once landed a job at Hong Kong’s Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) before working as production assistant for Ann HUI (A Simple Life) and other Hong Kong directors. His debut feature, Women (1985), starring Chow Yun-fat, was a major box office success. As a key figure in the Hong Kong Second Wave, Kwan constantly explores the power of female protagonists and their romantic struggles with sympathetic eyes, and such directorial credits include Rouge (1987), Full Moon in New York (1989), Center Stage (1992), Red Rose White Rose (1994) and Everlasting Regret (2005). His documentary, Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema (1996), will also be screened at our festival on August 17.

关锦鹏出生于1957年，毕业于香港浸会学院，获得大众传播学学位。 他曾在香港电视广播公司（TVB）工作，随后担任起许鞍华（《桃姐》）等香港导演的制片助理。 他的首部长片，周润发主演的《女人心》（1985），取得了不俗的票房。 作为香港电影新浪潮第二波的代表，关锦鹏以充满同情的眼光，不断探索女主人公的力量以及她们的情感挣扎。他的作品包括《胭脂扣》（1987）、《人在纽约》（1989）、《阮玲玉》（1992）、《红玫瑰白玫瑰》（1994）和《长恨歌》（2005）。他的纪录片《男生女相：华语电影之性别》亦于8月17日在本届木兰电影节举行放映。