The Hong Kong Film Archive is marking its 25th anniversary with a free exhibition that traces the city’s cinematic heritage. “Hong Kong Film Archive Stories: Treasure Hunting for 25 Years” is being held at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin.
The experience opens with a luminous tunnel of Hong Kong screen legends, instantly signaling film’s enduring presence in everyday life. Beyond it lies a collection of early Hong Kong cinema materials, including posters, stills and keepsakes spanning silent-era productions, Cantonese opera adaptations and the rise of martial arts and crime classics. A rapid-fire compilation of vintage trailers captures decades of aesthetic and technical change in just a few immersive minutes.
Resplendent costumes punctuate the galleries, highlighting the craft of filmmaking and the labor of countless anonymous wardrobe teams. Nearby, the “Hall of Honours” brings together awards generously donated by directors, actors and producers, spanning local prizes to international trophies, turning abstract reputations into tangible metal and glass. The exhibition does more than put materials on display. It also pulls back the curtain on the Archive’s day-to-day work – from tracking down fragile prints to restoring films that might otherwise have been lost. In recorded interviews, filmmakers speak openly about projects that nearly collapsed and the small decisions that kept them alive. A timeline charts key restorations, screenings, and public programs over the past 25 years.
The Archive’s publications show how its research has evolved over time, often in step with the growth of the collection. To keep the experience engaging and lively, interactive installations invite visitors of all ages to try their hand at matching sound effects to film clips or experimenting with simple moving-image techniques, reminding us of the craft that links analogue filmmaking to today’s digital cameras; computer-generated imagery, or CGI; and sophisticated editing tools – technologies once considered unimaginable.
Open until March 2027, the exhibition does more than mark a milestone. It underscores the scale of what is at stake – 1.3 million pieces of film history – and the ongoing effort required to safeguard them and prevent their loss.
Bernard Charnwut Chan is the chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District
