Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan and action master Johnnie To are headed to Canada to take part in the Toronto International Film Festival’s "A Century of Chinese Cinema" showcase this summer.
Chan will be at TIFF’s Bell Lightbox from June 12-14 and To from July 12-13 as both participate in talks, panels and mentorships associated with the landmark collaboration between TIFF, the China Film Archives, the Hong Kong film Archives and the Chinese Taipei Film Archives.
Also bound for Toronto is Chinese director Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine), Nansun Shi, executive director of the Hong Kong genre film powerhouse Film Workshop, and long-time Wong Kar Wai collaborator Christopher Doyle.
Besides the showcase of around 80 mainland Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese film titles, "A Century of Chinese Cinema" will include a major art exhibition featuring a commission by the Shanghai-based visual artist and filmmaker Yang Fudong and Doyle.
As the major studios and other foreign producers look to get their tentpole movies into the massive Chinese market, TIFF is using the June 5 to Aug. 11 program as a chance to spotlight an Asian film legacy, and future, from the perspective of regional artists.
"A Century of Chinese Cinema" will also be followed by TIFF hosting the return of the Asian Film Summit during its upcoming 2013 edition in September.
The summer film showcase is also expected to follow its Toronto run at Bell Lightbox with additional engagements with the UCLA Film and Television Archive, the British Film Institute in London and The Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne.