About

BAMPFA and San Francisco’s Roxie Theater will launch a retrospective of films by Wong Kar Wai, one of the most internationally acclaimed directors of the past thirty years. BAMPFA and The Roxie are co-presenting the Bay Area premiere of Janus Films’ nationally touring retrospective of the Hong Kong auteur, which will become available for online streaming on both venues’ websites beginning December 11. The series features 4K restorations of seven of Wong’s most beloved films.



One of the most celebrated directors in contemporary world cinema, Wong first emerged as a major presence on the global film festival circuit with his 1994 feature Chungking Express, a film whose visually sumptuous cinematography and elliptical narrative structure would become hallmarks of his singular style. Steeped in cinematic influences that range from classic Hollywood to Hong Kong genre and European art films, Wong’s work explores the existential complexities of change, desire, memory, love, friendship, and self-realization—often through impressionistic storytelling techniques that evoke the elusive quality of memory. In masterpieces like In the Mood for Love and Days of Being Wild, Wong’s camera maps the physicality of his protagonists and the inanimate objects that become proxies for absent lovers, embedding the erotic power of delayed gratification in every frame.



BAMPFA and The Roxie’s joint series includes many of Wong’s greatest works, all of which have been newly restored by Janus Films in pristine 4K digital presentations. Films in the series include In the Mood for Love, As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, and The Hand, the latter screening in a previously unseen extended cut.
This event is co-presented with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, San Francisco.