Free screening: The Last Osmanthus Blossom (Irvine, Ca) | 29 May 2024

[FWN Adm]

The documentary film "Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom" 《白孃孃：一朶遲桂花》will be screened for free at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) on May 29th, following its premiere at the Asian Pop Up Cinema.

Director Isabel Wong will personally attend the post-screening discussion! 

Rebecca Pan is an icon of the Hong Kong music world and one of the city's earliest boundary-pushing cultural pioneers. Her early career as a singer and her later success as an actress is well-known, but arguably the most important milestone of her oeuvre—the first ever Chinese-language musical, Pai Niang Niang (1972)—was thought to have not been captured on film and faded into obscurity. This work used the Broadway musical model to adapt the famous Chinese myth Legend of the White Snake. Bringing together Eastern and Western theatrical styles, the musical combined Chinese traditional music, dance, costume, and stage design with modern Western concepts. Despite this bold attempt, the work was ahead of its Ome and was not a commercial success.

Regarding music, Joseph Koo, who had returned from study abroad that year, was invited to participate in music creation. His contribution also led to the cooperation between Joseph Koo and James Wong, and they wrote their first piece, "If Loving You Means Hurting You." In April 2023, however, a partial film record of the performance was miraculously discovered. The restored surviving footage has become the finale of this documentary film, "Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom," bringing the saga to a flawless conclusion.

Free tickets and more information are available here: Free tickets & Information

Host: HKOS (Hong Kong On Screen)
Producer：Artcanteen 藝術糧倉
Acknowledgements： Rebecca Pan Productions 、One Cool Film Productions Ltd