Dir. Dora Choi, Haider Kikabhoy
2023 | 77 mins | Hong Kong
Cantonese, English with English Subtitles

SHOWING TIMES:

• • Sat 24 Feb: 8pm

Convenient, tired and vapid, ‘East-meets-West’ is a cliché that has for decades been used to sell the ‘Hong Kong story’ to the world. Yet in the forgotten legend of Harry Odell, Hong Kong’s first impresario, a rediscovery of the city’s soul awaits.

Flamboyant and cigar-chomping, Odell was a Cairo-born, Shanghai-bred Russian Jew who stamped his mark on the cultural life of post-war Hong Kong. His hopeful, if chronically loss-making adventures pushed the cultural frontiers of his adopted home, capturing the open, dynamic and inclusive spirit of a bygone era to leave a legacy that resonates to this day. What began as a grassroot conservation campaign to save the iconic State Theatre in Hong Kong morphed into five years of research and interviews with those who witnessed Odell in action. The result: a film that is as much a study of one indomitable pioneer as it is a soul-searching journey of what defines Hong Kong.

Delivered in collaboration with The Exeter Hongkongers.

紀錄片簡介
歐德禮是一個時代,代表一個被遺忘的美麗舊香港。
他是叱吒一時的娛樂大亨,是皇都戲院前身 – 璇宮戲院的創辦人,五十年代戰後蕭條,他已一手引入多位國際
知名音樂家,永遠叼着一口雪茄見報寫專欄,演藝事業虧損慘重,卻為香港文化開闢了新天地,被稱為「香港
文化史前人物」。
但他的傳奇今天卻無人知曉。
有人不甘心,五年來鍥而不捨去翻查資料,上山下海用盡古怪方法尋覓歐德禮的後人,赫然發現跨時空的連
繫。
在那個白天上映黃飛鴻和林黛電影的大戲院,晚上有名家如 Isaac Stern、Fournier坐鎮,華洋雜處,雅俗共
賞,只此一家。標誌香港新時代的大會堂開幕,第一場演奏正是由歐德禮承辦。
五、六十年代那個消失的香港又再被看見:曾經如此兼容並包、不問身世、各種文化互相碰撞,那是香港和世
界的初戀。
讓我們記得這個故事。歐德禮和香港的傳奇,尚未完場。

VENUE: EXETER PHOENIX, STUDIO 74

*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>