For more than three decades, Stanley Kwan's films have regaled audiences with their dramatic content and richly imaged characters. Mathew Scott caught up with the filmmaker on the sidelines of a retrospective show of his films.

Sometimes we choose our own paths in life and sometimes they seem to be somehow chosen for us. The story Stanley Kwan tells of his childhood suggests that in his case it could have been the latter. Growing up in Sham Shui Po of the 1960s, the young Kwan would do his homework at the table used for lunch and nightly meals, often looking out the window to gaze at a building.

It was a cinema.

"It was quite amazing," says Kwan. "There was a little alley between our window and the cinema and we looked out right at the entrance to the male toilet. It was a big theater, showing Cantonese cinema, Josephine Siao's films. But at 5:30 there was a 'leisure time' session where they showed cowboy films, John Wayne and all that.

"There was another cinema quite close that showed all the Shaw Brothers films. Wuxia, musicals, love stories," says Kwan. During his primary school years he would put money in a piggy bank and go to see a film as soon as he had saved enough to buy a ticket.

"I guess it was sort of fate that I would end up in films," says Kwan.

Earlier this month a retrospective of Stanley Kwan-directed films was screened to packed houses at Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) - proof of how Kwan's own scenario has played out in the decades since his boyhood days of compulsive movie-watching.

The festival featured six of the director's acclaimed films, including his cut of 1991's Centre Stage, which brought its star Maggie Cheung the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival, a first for a Chinese actress. There is also Rouge (1987), which scooped best film, best actor and best actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and showcased the unique talents of Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung.

The New Wave connection

On the evening we met at HKAC for the interview, Kwan was waiting to take questions from fans following a screening of Centre Stage but chose to skip watching the movie.

"The festival makes me feel old," laughs Kwan. "I seldom watch my own films. Once it is done, it is done. When a film is finished that is the end of its life for me. So when I do a Q&A I just respond. I know there will be questions I have answered before: 'Why did you mix in real documentary footage of Ruan Lingyu in Centre Stage?' But I am very happy that there is still interest in my films, and that people want to know more about them."

Kwan emerged as a filmmaker at the tail-end of Hong Kong's New Wave movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s, honing his craft by working in production for directors such as Ann Hui, Patrick Tam and Yim Ho as they charted new ground for local cinema. Films such as Hui's The Story of Woo Viet (1981) - on which Kwan worked as assistant director - focussed on very "Hong Kong" stories, in this case a refugee struggling to escape his past, and were filled with street-level sights and sounds of the city.

What Kwan says he learned was how a director's personality - and personal circumstance - influence the stories they tell.

"I learned a lot from all of them," says Kwan. "Ann works a lot on the script, developing characters. I think the characters in my films have Stanley Kwan elements - my sexuality, my identity as a gay member of the community, influence my characters and the stories that go around in my head."

Despite his childhood fascination with what went on inside cinema theaters, Kwan initially considered a science degree. It was much later that he joined the talent factory that the TVB Studios were at the time, a place where those New Wave directors got their start - and were given surprising freedom to explore their own methods of storytelling.

"Things were tough for my family financially," says Kwan. "But despite that they paid for me to go to a really good school (Pui Ching Middle School). I liked movies but I was going to be a science major."

Kwan joined a drama program during a summer holiday - after finishing Form Five. It turned out to be a decisive moment for him.

"My mother felt quite sad when I switched attention to drama but she respected my decision. I never thought I would make films, I thought I wanted to be an actor. I got very good grades when I started acting training at TVB. But when I saw myself on screen, even in very small parts, I would tell myself, 'Stanley Kwan, come on. You are not photogenic!'"

After Kwan received his degree in acting he was asked if he might like to try life on the other side of the cameras. With the likes of Hui and Tam in full creative flow at the time, it was an easy decision to take.

"I was so impressed by the TV series they were shooting," says Kwan. It was different from studio-style filmmaking. "The film language was unique. The attention was on humanity and the drama."

Those influences were infused into Kwan's own work when he started directing with 1985's Women, starring Cora Miao as a woman coming to terms with her own feelings. But there's no escaping the rich textures and the theatrical leanings that combined to help form the unique Kwan style. The now 61-year-old's films come centred around fully developed and richly imaged characters. Even in his first films he seemed to have an innate ability to bring the very best out of the actors with whom he worked.

At Q&A sessions Kwan is, almost always, faced with inquiries into the lives of Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung, whose lives came to tragic ends. Luckily, Kwan was able to bring out some of their best works before tragedy struck.

Kwan says he works closely with scriptwriters toward developing a deep understanding of the characters in his films. The next step is to find an actor who is a perfect fit for the role.

"When we get that person we work together on the character. I think it is important to build trust with the actors. I tell them everything about myself, every private little detail. In return I ask my actors to tell me something private. Trust is very important. It leads to honesty and you can see that on the screen and share with the audience."

(HK Edition 06/21/2019 page10)