Featured image above: The Fate of Lee Kan movie still
The Shadow of Katana, Guns, Swords – Martial Arts, Samurai, and Western Film Festival will be held from August to September, featuring a collection of 25 classic films in the martial arts, samurai, and western genres, categorized in five sections, namely “The Aesthetics of Violence”, “Literary Flavours in Action Films”, “Western Guns and Eastern Swords”, “Heroines” and “Special Screenings”. Martial arts, samurai, and Western are signature film genres in Chinese-speaking regions, Japan, and America, respectively. Cowboys, horses, and six-shooters in Western films, sharp swords in samurai films, and swordsmen in martial arts films are all vivid images in global films. They are characteristic and influential to one another. There are also been hybrid film works in recent years.
The festival selects 25 outstanding martial arts, samurai, and Western films for audiences in Macao. These works include grand classics, metaphorical breakthroughs, and fascinating post-modern hybrids that exhibit similarities and differences across three genres.
The Shadow of Katana, Guns, Swords – Martial Arts, Samurai, and Western Film Festival is held at the Cinematheque Passion. During the festival, a number of films will be screened, including Harakiri directed by the famous Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi, which received the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, and Once Upon a Time in the West, an epic Spaghetti Western film, which allows the audience to review classical films and introduces outstanding pieces to young spectators from the novel and interesting perspectives.
Two post-screening talks will be held during the Festival. On 28 August, local scholar Professor Lei Kun Teng and local writer Tai Pei will talk about literature and film after the screening of the film Warriors from the Magic Mountain. On September 5, local director Chan Nga Lei and local film reviewers Leng Wu Chio and Lei Ka Hon will take the audience to the world of martial heroes, cowboys, and samurais after the screening of the film Sukiyaki Western Django.
When: July 31–September 28, 2021
Where: Cinematheque Passion, 13 Travessa da Paixão, Macau
How much: MOP $60 per person
For more information and ticketing, check the organizer’s official website
