MEMOIRS OF A SUPERFAN, VOLUME 5.5: KIT HUI ON FOG (Asian American Film Festival)

Source: http://festival.asianamericanmedia.org/2010/03/memoirs-of-a-superfan-volume-5-5%C2%A0-kit-hui-on-fog/

March 18th, 2010

Kit Hui’s FOG premiered at the Kabuki and Viz this weekend.  I loved this film for its understated, subtle poignancy.  Before the festival, I had an email exchange with Kit Hui, who makes her writing/directing debut with this film.

RC:  What is your background in filmmaking?

KH:  I was a Comparative Literature major at UC Berkeley, and by chance I took a film class with Loni Ding and a class on Asian Cinema just before graduation, both transformed my movie-going experience and inspired me to become a filmmaker.  I started taking classes at FAF and made my first short in SF.  Eventually I moved to New York City and worked for Killer Films and later for Jeff Levy-Hinte (Antidote Films), made another short during then.  A few years later, I applied and got accepted into the MFA Film program at Columbia University, majoring directing.  I’ve made a few shorts in film school, including MISSING, and since then I’ve been working and developing my feature projects, and for a period of time, I also worked with BBC2 on a documentary series about Chinese in Britain. 

2005 Inaugural Film Competition Winner Kit Hui (The Rose Group)

Source: http://www.therosegroup.org/caffc/past_competition_winners_kit_hui.htm

Kit Hui is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program. Prior to studying at Columbia, Hui worked at Killer Films as the post-production assistant on Boys Don’t Cry, and assisted producer Jeff Levy-Hinte at Antidote International Films during the development and production of Wendigo, Laurel Canyon and Thirteen. Mentored by filmmaker Tom Kalin (Swoon, Savage Grace), she made a number of short films while at Columbia, most notably her 35mm thesis film, “Missing”, which will premiere at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival, and a Super 16mm film, “A Rainy Day”, which won the Best Cinematography Award at the International Student Film Festival at Buenos Aires and continues to travel to numerous film festivals. Her feature screenplay “The Untitled Flies Project” was selected for the 2004 Scriptnaked Project Development Workshops funded by the UK Film Council and she was chosen to participate at the 2005 Berlinale Talent Campus.

Report and Testimonial 2005 Inaugural Film Competition Winner Kit Hui (The Rose Group)

Source: http://www.therosegroup.org/the_rose_group/reports_and_testimonials_3.htm

In early May 2005, I was one of the three fortunate filmmakers to have been awarded the Top Prize at the China-American Film Festival, organized by The Rose Group. I, along with the other filmmakers, was flown to Beijing, China for a week to attend the Beijing Student Film Festival (BSFF) where my films “A Rainy Day” and “Missing” were screened. In addition, we were also the American delegates to talk about five American classic films, Gone with the Wind, Easy Rider, Taxi Driver, Fargo andPulp Fiction, chosen by BSFF.

Q&A with ‘Fog’ director Kit Hui (Examiner)

Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/q-a-with-fog-director-kit-hui

September 18, 20101:14 AM MST

Director Kit Hui’s film “Fog” will open at the ID Film Festival in Los Angeles next month. She recently answered a few questions for Examiner.com:

What inspired you to make “Fog”?

The inspiration came from a documentary I saw about a young man who was found wandering outside a hospital entrance, having suddenly lost all his memory. I was intrigued by this man and his search for his identity. I thought it’d be an interesting concept if this story is set in Hong Kong, which at the time the city was preparing for its tenth anniversary celebration of the handover. Plus, I know Terence well, having worked with him on “Missing”, I thought he’d be good for this role, so I began to develop the script.

The film was shot in Hong Kong. Do you think the environment is more supportive to filmmakers than the US?

SFIAAFF 2010 Reviews: ‘Fog’ (Hyphen)

Source: http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2010/03/sfiaaff-2010-reviews-fog

Submitted by Lisa Wong Macabasco on March 10, 2010 – 10:14am

Fog
Directed by Kit Hui

“Memory can be very fragile,” says a doctor in Kit Hui’s slow, moody film Fog. “Sometimes it’s out of our control.”

One of seven films in contention for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival’s Narrative Competition, Fog is the story of Wai (Terence Yin), a young man who has lost his memory in an accident and struggles awkwardly to both piece together his previous life and etch out a role in his new life. Set in 2007 Hong Kong, the film is backgrounded by the ten-year anniversary of the city’s handover of rule from the United Kingdom to China—like Wai, the city is undergoing a transitional moment, full of uncertainty about the future and doubts about the past.

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell writes about “transactive” memory, or the premise that we store much of the information in our memory within other people. Gladwell said in a 2000 interview in The Atlantic:

Fog (Film Threat)

Source: http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/22475/

In the compelling drama “Fog,” Wai (Terence Yin) is a young man in Hong Kong whose memory was erased by amnesia. It is not clear just how this came about, nor is it certain whether he will be able to regain his capacity to remember. His attempts to link back to what he cannot recall inevitably fail to ignite distant memories – wandering through his old high school and watching videos from his late teen years generates nothing in the way of recognition or nostalgia.

EIFF – Fog (Wu) Review 17/06/10 (Ali Quaile)

Source: http://aliquaile.com/2010/06/18/eiff-fog-wu-film-review-170610/

JUNE 18, 2010 Ali Quaile

4/5

Kit Hui’s first feature-length film is a haunting exploration of one man’s confrontation with the devastating effects of amnesia. Convincingly acted by Terence Yin who plays the lead character Wei, the audience are faced with the anguish and confusion of a quest into the inexorable.

The cause of Wei’s amnesia is never mentioned but this becomes unimportant as instead it creates an emphasis on his character and internal struggle. His search for personal identity with no notion of the context of social norms leaves him struggling against a constant battle of dejection and alienation.

Fog (Wu) Review – Edinburgh Film Festival (Hayuguys)

Source: http://www.heyuguys.com/fog-wu-review-edinburgh-film-festival/

by Martyn Warren – Jun 23, 2010

Being a writer, producer and editor for her directorial debut, Kit Hui’s film Fog has finally been premiered in the UK at the Edinburgh Film Festival, after two years in the making.

I am glad to say that this is one of my favourite films this year with its simple, beautifully shot character-driven approach to storytelling.

Twenty-something Wai (Terence Yin) is immediately introduced to the audience, suffering from a great amount of memory loss and trying to find out who he is; a simple plot which helps us to identify with Wai trying to discover himself with the help of his family and friends, building up a strong relationship with the people who he obviously never really had a relationship with previously.

Fog (2009) Film Review (Eye for Film)

Source: http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/fog-film-review-by-keith-hennessey-brown

Reviewed by: Keith Hennessey Brown

Against the backdrop of the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to mainland rule, amnesiac Wai pieces together his past life, and discovers that he had a wife and child.

There are certain films that invite certain theoretical interpretations. Todd Haynes’ [Safe], with its phenomenological bracketing of the titular term implying the need to suspend judgement of what safety is for the duration of the film, is one obvious case in point.

Movie Review – Fog (2009) (A Place for reviews)

Source: http://aplaceforreviews.blogspot.hk/2010/06/eiff-premiere-fog-2009-in-fog-main.html

BY BRANDON KIRBY AT 11:59 AM

In “Fog,” the main character, Wai (Terence Yin), confronts his ex-girlfriend, a woman who he doesn’t remember. His problem? He is currently in treatment for his condition of amnesia. She tells him, “Not everyone can rewind and reset like you.”

This phrase is essential to writer and director Kit Hui’s film as we follow Wai through his struggle with recovering and coping with his loss of memory. In losing his memory, he moves through life as if a statue only being stimulated by bouts of drinking, smoking, drugs and sex. It’s as if he’s lost all emotion, as well. A devastating secret of his past, however, triggers the deepest of emotion and sends him on a path to really learn something about his own personal history.