Clark County Historical Museum Presents Free Public Talk On Hong Kong-Singapore Cinema During The Cold War (Photo) -07/08/25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
VANCOUVER, WA — July 8, 2025
The Clark County Historical Museum invites the public to a fascinating afternoon talk, “Hong Kong Cinema and Singapore—The Cinematic Connection between Two Cities during the Cold War Era (1950–1965),” on Friday, August 2 at 2:00 p.m. at the museum (1511 Main Street, Vancouver, WA 98660). This program is free and open to the public.
Presented by scholar and filmmaker Dr. Grace Yan-yan Mak (麥欣恩), the talk will explore how geopolitical shifts in the 1950s redefined the landscape of Chinese-language cinema. With China increasingly isolated during the early Cold War period, Hong Kong emerged as a new cinematic hub, replacing Shanghai and expanding its cultural reach across Asia.
As British colonies, Hong Kong and Singapore were linked not only through political structures but also through a shared identity as part of the “overseas Chinese” world. This relationship was vividly imagined on screen, with Hong Kong films depicting Singapore and Malaya with familial warmth and symbolic closeness. Dr. Mak will delve into this “cinematic cultural ring,” which connected the two cities through shared audiences, institutions, and artistic visions.
Drawing from her extensive research and film analysis, Dr. Mak will examine key works by MP&GI (Cathay) and Kong Ngee Studio, exploring how Singapore and Malaya were represented in Hong Kong films, how this network evolved and eventually frayed, and how these portrayals helped shape Hong Kong’s cinematic identity during the Cold War.
About the Speaker:
Grace Yan-yan Mak (麥欣恩) is a Hong Kong–born scholar, writer, and filmmaker currently serving on the board of the Northwest China Council. She holds a Ph.D. in Chinese Studies from the National University of Singapore, with a research focus on Chinese-language cinema and modern Chinese literature. Dr. Mak co-founded Banyan Tree Movies and has taught at universities in Hong Kong and South Korea. Her academic and creative work includes over twenty scholarly articles, several screenplays, and the novel Black Box of Dreams. She is a former apprentice to acclaimed Hong Kong director Tsui Hark and a member of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society.
For more information about this event or the museum’s programming, visit www.cchmuseum.org or contact Sammuel Hawkins at outreach@cchmuseum.org.