E-WAVE
THE TV FILMS OF PATRICK TAM
It is hard to imagine TV series such as ‘Seven Women’ could be aired – for its heavily westernised style and visual language, the way the plot is brought forward and the creator’s perception of the contemporary society. Compare to the much more literal approach widely adopted nowadays, this 1970s creation looks more like an art-house movie. ‘Surreal’ as it seems.
In the 70s, the competition started to grow fiercer among TV stations; therefore it was a golden time for innovation. TVB set up its ‘film team’, approaching TV programmes in the manner of feature films. It was proved to be a space for new ideas and attracted many into the TV industry. That is the reason why so many great practitioners and work appeared then, forming the ‘new wave’ that revolutionalised Hong Kong film industry. Patrick Tam stood out from the rest of them, with ‘Seven Women’ being one of his most important work. Others, such as ‘CID’ and ‘13’, remain avant-garde to many audiences even now. ‘E-Wave: The TV Films of Patrick Tam’ is going to take place in Hong Kong Film Archive, showing a selection of twenty film as an investigation of the Hong Kong TV culture and the starting point of ‘new wave’.
Text: Ron Lam | Translation: dilettante | Update: 13 Aug 2008
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