The godmother of Hong Kong art film, Tong Shu-shuen, offers a delightful peek into our obsession with mahjong in Sup Sap Bup Dup, produced by the Mandarin film star Jeanette Lin Tsui. The title refers to a special and very rare way to win a round, in which all the tiles are different and have no relationship to each other. The film is accordingly a compilation of seemingly unrelated anecdotes that, together, provide an ironic look at our society through the characters’ involvement with the mahjong.

The print shown in this screening is a restoration in progress. Different versions of the film, with various lengths and omissions, had been in circulation, all of them in ruinous conditions. In 2008, the Hong Kong Film Archive borrowed the best available copy from First Distributors and struck a new print by performing extensive color adjustment. However, as far as we can determine, key scenes are still missing and we await discovery of new material before we can return the film to its original glory.

Post-screening talk with Sam Ho