AND you thought Hong Kong movies were all about triads, hookers and some bloke called Wong Fei-hung? If producer Ma Fung-kwok has his way, people might start taking them a bit more seriously.
Ma is the man who made a lot of noise about bringing quality back to the local industry, then helped produce the sleeper I Have A Date With Spring early this year. The low-budget nostalgic drama, directed by Clifton Ko Chi-sum and featuring a largely unknown cast, grossed $22 million at the box office and prompted a re-run of the stage play from which it was adapted.
He has teamed up with Spring Time Film once again on a movie called One Of The Lucky Ones, which is all set to repeat the same success if the response to its test screenings is anything to go by.
Again, the film doesn't rely on box office stars and it has probably the most worthy subject matter of any recent Hong Kong movie. One Of The Lucky Ones is adapted from the autobiography of Lucy Ching Man-fai, Hong Kong's first blind woman social worker. Ching was also the first blind woman in China to have received a formal education in Guangzhou, Macau and then Hong Kong. Her book has been translated into several languages, including German and Dutch, and a play.
The film tells how Ching, who came from a once well-to-do family, and her self-less amah, Ah Wo, overcame prejudice from both society and family and stuck together through thick and thin for half a century. The original story was a real 10-handkerchief number and the film version is also guaranteed to get tear ducts working overtime.
Today, Ching and Ah Wo, who is now in her 90s, live in Los Angeles. Hui Fan, the veteran actress who plays Ah Wo in both the play and the film, went to the same school in Guangzhou as Ching.
