In 1973, Phoenix Cine Club was established, preceding the existence of the Hong Kong International Film Festival or Hong Kong Arts Centre. It was a group set up by Hong Kongers, with a more local identity than the expatriate-run Studio One film club, to bring in arthouse films from abroad. Among the ten or more films that the Phoenix Cine Club selected to screen in their first year was Jerzy Skolimowski’s Deep End (1970). This screening introduced the Polish director to Hong Kong cinemagoers for the first time. At first glance, the film seems like a typical coming-of-age romance: a fifteen-year-old boy named Mike works at a public bath in London, where he becomes infatuated with his colleague, a woman ten years his senior. Gradually, the tone of the film becomes darker, leading up to a shocking denouement. Skolimowski captures Western youth culture of the 1960s from his Eastern European vantage point, demonstrating his mastery of colour and symbolism, and perfectly casting the male and female leads.

The screening on 14 October will be followed by a panel on the history and achievements of the Phoenix Cine Club. Speakers will include past club presidents May Fung and Chan Ting Ching, as well as long-time club member Chan Ho Pang. The panel will be moderated by M+ Curator-at-Large of Hong Kong Film and Media, Li Cheuk-to. The talk will be held in Cantonese.

Jerzy Skolimowski (b. 1938, Poland) is a film director, scriptwriter, actor, dramatist, and painter. Beginning as a screenwriter for Andrzej Wajda’s Innocent Sorcerers (1960) and Roman Polanski’s Knife in the Water (1962), Skolimowski made his directorial debut Walkover in 1965 and won the Golden Berlin Bear for his Belgian film The Departure (1967). He subsequently moved to Western Europe, where he made films primarily in English. Notable films of his from this period include Deep End (1970) and Moonlighting (1982).

After living in Los Angeles for over 20 years, where he became a painter, he returned to Poland, as well as filmmaking after a 17-year hiatus, with Four Nights with Anna (2008), followed by Essential Killing (2010), and 11 Minutes (2015). In 2016, he received the Golden Lion for Career Achievement at the Venice Film Festival. His latest film EO (2022) was awarded the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.