No-one’s ever really gone: Johnnie To and the next generation of Hong Kong filmmakers
by Dan Krátký
Looking back at the years 2009–2019 in Asian Cinema, there have been many exciting debuts, genres, and tendencies, yet one aspect stands out to me in particular: the transformation of Johnnie To Kei-Fung, cult director, genre expert, and co-founder of the Milkyway Image production company. Back in the ’90s and early 2000s he was able to direct two and sometimes four films a year. In the last decade, he has only directed nine films while his last—Three—was in 2016. The question is clear: Have we lost Johnnie To? Luckily no, but in the years 2009–2019 his position in the Hong Kong and, consequently, Chinese cinema structures has transformed. He has utilized his status as an esteemed director to diversify and open these structures and it has been a fascinating transition.
With necessary simplification, the contemporary discourse of film criticism usually considers To’s filmography in three blocks, to which I would like to add a fourth. First, there was television work for TVB (Television Broadcasts Limited) such as The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983) or The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1985). Later he would make genre films for Cinema City Enterprises and Shaw Brothers. While The Eighth Happiness (1988), All About Ah-Long (1989), and others do not get much attention, this was an important phase in which To would establish his reputation as a reliable feature film director. The third block might be what we call the “To essentials”—after founding Milkyway Image with his screenwriter Wai Ka-Fai they created the signature production pattern of switching between locally popular romantic comedies—Needing You... (2000) or Turn Left, Turn Right (2003)—and action/thriller genre films such as The Mission (1999) or PTU (2003). This part of his career took him to Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and many more internationally acclaimed film festivals.
To has been inclined towards producing through his entire career. Milkyway was not only the company that gave him artistic freedom; he also expanded into producing films for others—usually younger and ambitious—filmmakers. He gave opportunities to his former assistant directors Patrick Leung and Patrick Yau, screenwriter Wai Ka-Fai, Derek Chiu, Tsang Kan-Cheung, or Soi Cheang. In the years 2008 and 2009 To even produced a series of five spin-offs to his own PTU.
His ambition was to play a part in discovering new talent. However, the biggest role he had to play was yet to come because in the last decade To has transitioned from a producer to so-called godfather.
In 2005 he founded the Fresh Wave Short Film Competition in cooperation with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, to inspire young emerging filmmakers to work on new projects. Then, in 2010 To—chairman and founder—helped create the Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival, an annual event where amateur filmmakers can showcase their work and obtain financial support and mentoring. This project was not restricted by any form of censorship; therefore, artists were free to explore any topic they desired, even the Umbrella Movement or a dystopic future under the rule of China.
Take Frank Hui Hok-Man, Jevons Au Man-Kit, and Vicky Wong Wai-Kit for example. Hui was the first to win Fresh Wave in 2005/06 with a short film Wasted; Au followed the year after with Merry X’Mas, and Wong received a prize for best cinematography in 2010 for The Decisive Moment. To connected these three talented artists and helped with producing a crime anthology feature film set in 1997 called Trivisa (2016). Yet it was not your traditional filmmaking process; it took much more than a year to complete it, while To was the mentor.
This cooperation proved successful because both Au and Wong established themselves as full-time filmmakers. Wong went on to television with April Star (2017) and Au became festival favorite with Distinction (2018), which she wrote with 2017 Fresh Wave contender Ashley Cheung. More talent came later. The 2010 winner Lai Yan-chi Mo followed her short 1+1 with a feature N+N two years later while working on documentary 1918 (2015) with 2011 awardee Yuen Chi-him. Jun Li, who was given a prize for best film and best director, shot his feature film Tracey in 2018. Others—such as Michelle Hung Tsz-ching or Happyheart Li—continue to make shorts. Not all the contenders transitioned to feature films; others have even struggled to secure financial support for a second film. However, these are individual examples—the importance of New Wave stretches beyond them.
Johnnie To managed to create an institutional form of mentorship and inspiration, an annual showcase of emerging and amateur filmmakers, a marketing instrument which sends films and directors abroad, and a guidance system with clear rules. He used to operate as a producer discovering talent or new styles in well-known directors, but in the last decade he has managed to institutionalize mentorship on a platform dedicated to the annual exploration of a brand-new group of young artists. In his journey through the Hong Kong film industry To has switched roles quite often, but it is only in the last decade that he has established himself as the true godfather of the new Hong Kong cinema. He’s an aesthetic and industrial beacon that guides young emerging directors while strengthening his own position as one of the most esteemed directors in Asia. To was never truly gone; he only diluted his auteur persona to create strong foundations for the future generations of Hong Kong cinema. A godfather indeed.
Dan Krátký is an MA student in Film and Audio-visual Culture Studies at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. His main research interests are narrative and stylistic tendencies of Hollywood, Hong Kong and Chinese cinema, Japanese Tokusatsu Eiga, and film festival programming.