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Vivienne Chow

Movie directors Pang Ho-cheung, Barbara Wong Chun-chun and Carol Lai Miu-suet are the three  contenders for  best new director at tonight's Hong Kong Film Awards.

But whoever  wins doesn't seem to matter as their emergence symbolises a new beginning  for Hong Kong cinema - the rise of indie power in the commercial industry.

Wong and Lai began as independent filmmakers, while Pang's films,  financed by mainstream film houses,   bear the indie spirit, says film critic Bono Lee.

'For a long time there hasn't been communication between the film industry and the indie world, but now it's possible for the two to join together,' says Lee. '[These three] belong to the first generation of directors jumping across indie and mainstream.'

The conventional way of becoming a film director is to start working as an assistant director or in other positions to receive industry training.

'But these three took up the director's post straight away after shooting indie films,' he says.

Pang started off as a film critic and a radio show  host. His novel Fulltime Hitman, published in 1998, was an overnight  success and  award-winning director Johnnie To Kei-fung made a screen adaptation, Full-time Killer.

Before making his debut full-length feature You Shoot I Shoot in 2001, he directed the short film Summer Exercise (1999). His  black comedy released last year, Men Suddenly In Black, earned applause from critics.

'Although Pang stays in the commercial framework, he dares to throw in innovative elements and play around with conventional genres,' says Lee. 'His films are not particularly ground-breaking, but they in some ways reflect certain social phenomenon, and he has a unique creative energy  lacking in Hong Kong's film industry.'

Lee says that Wong focuses more on the craftsmanship of filmmaking. 'From her debut docu-mentary, Women's Private Parts, to her last youth comedy Truth Or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat, she seems to be able to handle different genres very well,' says Lee.

While Lai shows a strong personality in her films, 'she has her own way of seeing the world, and packages her fantasy in dramas', says Lee.

Lai's first feature was Glass Tears, an acclaimed indie film shot in 2001. Last year Floating Landscape competed at the Venice International Film Festival and was a much bigger production with  stars such as Golden  Horse best actor Liu Ye and Karena Lam Ka-yan, who  was named best new-comer  at last year's HKFA.

'Some audiences might not accept the way  [Lai] tells a story, but Hong Kong cinema lacks directors like her. She's in a good position,' says Lee.

And the next up and coming indie director to watch, Lee says, is Wong Ching-po.  His new film Jiang-hu, starring Andy Lau Tak-wah and Jacky Cheung Hok-yau, will be out in about a month.

This  will be an interesting year for Hong Kong films.



Hail the indie spirit