Policy and creative strategies: Hong Kong CEPA films in the China market

Abstract

This article examines the creative strategies of Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) films in engagements with the China market under the framework of CEPA introduced in 2004. One of the aims of CEPA for the film sector is to boost co-production between Hong Kong and the mainland. In the past 10 years, CEPA has dramatically changed Hong Kong cinema’s relationship with China in that major film directors have moved to produce CEPA films to tap into the rapidly growing mainland market. This shift has been considered as part of HKSAR’s overall mainlandization and subsequent disappearance of a distinct local identity. This article revisits this view by presenting two case studies to see if indeed Hong Kong CEPA pictures are devoid of Hong Kong elements. The case studies analyze textual elements of two CEPA blockbuster films, The Mermaid (dir. Stephen Chow, 2016) and The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D (dir. Tsui Hark, 2014). Citing the intertextual allusions to the directors’ old works seen in these two films, the authors argue that the market advantage granted by the CEPA scheme in effect allowed Hong Kong filmmakers to revive and extend signature creative strategies of Hong Kong cinema, despite censorship constraints.

Keywords:

• CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement)
• Hong Kong cinema
• Chinese film policy
• The Mermaid, The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D

View correction statement:

Erratum

Acknowledgement

An early draft was presented at a symposium “Film Policy in Transition: Globalization, Digitization, and the Rise of Protectionism” held in King’s College, London, May 2017. The authors thank the organizers and audience at the conference. Data collection was supported by research funds of Lingnan University and Hong Kong Baptist University.

Notes

1. Interview with Poon Hang Sang, renowned cinematographer and production designer, 31 August 2017.

2. Interview with Norman Chan, senior producer, 30 August 2017.

3. See the opening credits of The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D, 2014.

4. The revolutionary roots of Tsui’s film are discovered by a foreigner, a young Chinese living the good life in America. He finds the model opera much as Tsui himself did, on watching model opera films in New York when they transited U.S. stages and screens in 1970. See the film’s link on China’s Baidu wiki: https://baike.baidu.com/item/智取威虎山3D/6058278?fromtitle=智取威虎山&fromid=12797772. Retrieved on 20 August 2017.