Week 26/2026

Although she had a rather short career, Hong Kong film director Tang Shu Shuen was a pioneer of arthouse cinema in her region and far beyond. With her 1968 film Dong fu ren (The Arch), she explores the tragic tension between the rigid rules of the early Qing dynasty on the one hand, and innate human desires on the other. The protagonist who harbours this tension is a wealthy widow who teaches at the local school and is deeply respected by her peers — so much so that the village has opted to build her an arch, a symbolic architectural gesture. However, when a cavalry troop passes through the town, she faces difficulty suppressing her feelings for the captain, a soldier with a love for poetry.

In the upbeat cult film Linda Linda Linda (2005), recently restored in 4K, four young girls anxiously prepare for their graduation festival, where they will be performing with their band. In this heartwarming ode to youth and friendship, Japanese director Nobuhiro Yamashita portrays typical teenage tribulations, such as petty fights and awkward crushes, in a humorous yet sensitive way.

Also recently restored in 4K is the Nouvelle Vague classic Une femme est une femme (1961) by Jean-Luc Godard. Anna Karina, a familiar face in Godard’s films, plays the exotic dancer Angela who desperately wants a baby but is also looking for love. Her husband Émile, with whom she has a tumultuous marriage, is not very enthusiastic about fatherhood. Luckily, his best friend Alfred is. This playful feature, with several nods to both the comedy and the musical genre, is a light-hearted meditation on desire, following its characters as they engage in silly arguments, and perform slapstick-like numbers.