Rebecca Pan is not only an icon of the Hong Kong music world but also one of the city’s earliest boundary-pushing cultural pioneers. Her early career as a singer and her later success as an actress are well-known, but arguably the most important milestone of her oeuvre—the first ever Chinese-language musical, Pai Niang Niang (1972)—was thought to have not been captured on film and faded into obscurity. This work used the Broadway musical model to adapt the famous Chinese myth Legend of the White Snake. Bringing together Eastern and Western theatrical styles, the production combined Chinese traditional music, dance, costume and stage design with modern Western concepts. Despite this bold attempt, the resulting work was ahead of its time and was not a commercial success. This year in April, however, a partial film record of the performance was miraculously discovered. The restored surviving footage has become the finale of this documentary, Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom, bringing the saga to a flawless conclusion.

The screening on 29 October will be followed by a talk on the pioneering musical and visual elements of Pai Niang Niang. Speakers include director Isabel Wong, musician C. Babida, and art director/director, Man Lim-chung. The panel will be moderated by M+ Curator-at-Large of Hong Kong Film and Media, Li Cheuk-to in Cantonese.

Isabel Wong is a screenwriter, director, multi-media producer, and curator. She has worked in television as a script reviewer for drama content and as a programme producer for variety shows. She has written more than 20 drama series, and she has produced music programmes and award ceremonies. In 2021, she was appointed Content Director of TVB Music Group, with a focus on album and concert production. She founded the studio Artcanteen and is passionate about documentary filmmaking. In addition to documenting the life of the legendary Rebecca Pan and the musical Pai Niang Niang, she is working on a documentary celebrating the achievements of Filipino musicians in Hong Kong.