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Boat People
​
Tau ban no hoi

Ann Hui  •   Hong Kong  • ​  1982
109 mins  •  HD •  tbc
​In Cantonese, Vietnamese and Japanese, with English subtitles


​This powerful and controversial New Wave drama follows a Japanese photojournalist in post-war Vietnam who discovers the brutal truths of political repression and poverty.  

 “An explosive mix of youth, passion and drama” – Asian Movie Pulse
​
DIRECTOR: Ann Hui
PRODUCER: Xia Meng
PRODUCTION CO: Greenworld

SCREENPLAY: Dai An-ping
​PHOTOGRAPHY: Wong Chu-kei
EDITOR: Kin Kin
MUSIC: Law Wing-fai

WITH: George Lam (Akutagawa Shiomi), Season Ma (Cam Nuong), Andy Lau (To Minh), Mei-ying Jia (Le Van Quyen), Jun-yi Guo (Van Lang), Shu-jing Lin (Comrade Vu), Cora Miao (Nguyen's Mistress) 

FESTIVALS: New York


REVIEWS

“Criticized as sensational and opportunistic when it first premiered at Cannes, Ann Hui’s Boat People is now recognized as a masterpiece of the Hong Kong New Wave. Hui turns her humanist lens on the horrific conditions in postwar Vietnam, which led hundreds of thousands of people to step inside ill-equipped boats to seek safety in the late ’70s. A Japanese photojournalist on assignment to cover Vietnam’s progressive reconstruction discovers the truths of political repression and poverty, becoming entangled in the lives he documents — particularly a 14-year-old girl and her brother — and ultimately must decide to take action. At a time when Hollywood was building an industry on, and rewriting history through, filmic representations of ‘Vietnam,’ Hui’s film shed light on the humanity of those pushed to the margins of American cinema and history. Boat People stands as an important historical document of the Vietnamese diaspora.”

– Vinh Nguyen, TIFF Cinematheque
​

“Boat People is unquestionably one of the most important films in Hong Kong cinema, and yet it’s only with increasing distance that we begin to appreciate how infinitely evocative — as all great art is — this political thriller has managed to be… Irrespective of the political readings it attracted, Boat People remains first and foremost a masterful drama about the survival of people, who may be possessing even less control on their lives than they thought. Its tragic sense of fatalism is haunting.”

– Edmund Lee, Time Out Hong Kong


A scene from Boat People – Criterion Collection



FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Dunedin
​Wednesday, 29 April, 7.30pm

​Whanganui
Monday, 25 May, 7.00pm

Nelson   
Wednesday, 15 July, 6.00pm

Timaru  

Monday, 18 August, 6.30pm

Tauranga  

Wednesday, 16 September, 6.00pm

Hamilton  

Monday, 28 September, 6.30pm​

​Auckland 

Monday, 12 October, 6.15pm​

​Palmerston North   

Wednesday, 21 October, 6.00pm

Wellington  
Monday, 09 November, 6.00pm

Wellington 
Monday, 09 November, 8.30pm

HONG KONG CLASSICS >>

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New Zealand Federation of Film Societies  |  PO Box 9544, Te Aro, Wellington, NZ  
Phone: +64 4 385 0162  |  Fax: +64 4 801 7304  |  Email: [email protected]
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • SOCIETIES
    • AUCKLAND
    • HAMILTON
    • TAURANGA
    • NEW PLYMOUTH
    • WHANGANUI
    • PALMERSTON NORTH
    • CARTERTON
    • WELLINGTON
    • NELSON
    • CANTERBURY
    • TIMARU
    • OAMARU
    • QUEENSTOWN
    • DUNEDIN
    • WESTPORT
  • 2026 SEASON
    • MIKHAIL KALATOZOV
    • HONG KONG CLASSICS
    • MUSICAL NOT MUSICAL
    • 70s THRILLERS
    • CONTEMPORARY JAPAN
    • KIWI CINEMA
    • RETRO CLASSICS
    • CULT FAVOURITES
    • FRENCH CONNECTIONS
    • GERMAN CINEMA
    • WORLD CINEMA