Beijing Visitor Guide

A centrepiece of M+’s Moving Image Centre A centrepiece of M+’s Moving Image Centre, M+ Cinema comprises three houses with 180 seats, 60 seats, and 40 seats. Its programmes will feature a wide range of moving image works, including feature films, documentaries, experimental cinema, video art, restored classics, and newly discovered or rarely seen films. 

Curated within original frameworks that resonate with the themes that are evident throughout the museum, M+ Cinema programmes are cross-disciplinary in nature. They respond to the museum’s exhibitions and collections, as well as critical issues of our time. 

Audiences can look forward to programmes that establish new connections between different artistic disciplines and the creators behind them, moving stories from different parts of the world, and compelling immersive audio-visual experience. M+ Cinema, together with the museum’s other moving image spaces including Grand Stair, M+ Facade and the Mediatheque, contribute to the diversity of viewing experiences that enrich the audience’s encounter with and appreciation for visual culture at M+. 

Purpose-built screening spaces with designer features and technical facilities M+ Cinema was designed by world-renowned architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. The three cinema houses feature seats by Italian furniture maker Poltrona Frau and are furnished in distinct purple, green, and blue colour fabrics by Danish design company Kvadrat, famous for their innovative and elegant Scandinavian design. 

Equipped with digital and analogue 16mm and 35mm projection facilities and a Dolby 7.1 sound system, films will be screened as closely as possible to their original formats.

Inaugural edition offers a new take on Hong Kong cinema and the international avant-garde

Featuring seventy works from Hong Kong and around the world and close to 100 screenings, the inaugural edition at M+ Cinema presents thematically curated programmes, premieres of restored classics, documentaries on art, M+ collection works, and other special screenings. 

These include:

Hong Kong: The Establishing Shot

Hong Kong: The Establishing Shot, one of the inaugural thematic programmes at M+ Cinema, celebrates the city's illustrious cinematic heritage as well as its iconic urban landscape through the lens of its filmmakers. 

In direct dialogue with the exhibition Hong Kong: Here and Beyond in the museum’s Main Hall Gallery, this thematic programme presents the city's ever-evolving capacity as an activated stage where time, space, and action intersect in compelling narratives. 

This programme is centred around three facets: the notions of disappearing landscapes and collective memory; everyday stories of various communities; and a close study of the action films genre. This thematic programme will launch on Friday, 10 June 2022.

Performing the Image

The thematic programme of Performing the Image consists of six screening programmes that explore contemporary artists’ performative interventions and gender related investigations. 

Spotlighting two significant M+ Moving Image Collection areas, they give a comprehensive insight in how social activation and moving image practice are intrinsically connected and how the medium has developed alongside and in response to larger societal issues. Iconic figures such as Nam June Paik, Martha Rosler, and Tracey Moffatt are placed in dialogue with emerging filmmakers such as Shen Xin, Simon Liu, and Wong Ping to take viewers on an energising journey through the history of international video art. This thematic programme will launch on Friday, 8 July 2022. 

Opening Films On the occasion of the opening of M+ Cinema, the 4K restored versions of Days of Being Wild (1990) by Wong Kar Wai and Xiao Wu (1998) by Jia Zhangke will have their Hong Kong premieres. A total of twenty-eight screenings of Days of Being Wild will be held from June to August 2022 exclusively at M+ Cinema while three screenings of Xiao Wu will be held in June 2022.

Film Course: Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (2018) sponsored by CHANEL

Directed by Mark Cousins, the documentary serves as a guided tour of the art and craft of film in forty chapters. 

It uses over 700 film extracts from across twelve decades and five continents, all by women creators. M+ Cinema will screen the documentary in seven parts that are two-hours each, complemented by two one-hour sessions of discussion between a local filmmaker and a critic, offering a one-of-a-kind learning experience. 

This film course will be launched on Saturday, 2 July 2022.

Special Screening: DAU. Natasha (2020) and DAU. Degeneration (2020)

An epic and multidisciplinary international film project created by Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, DAU combines film, science, performance, spirituality, social and artistic experimentation, literature, and architecture. 

The filmmakers rebuilt a Soviet research facility that became the largest film set ever constructed in Europe, generating fourteen films, including DAU. Natasha and DAU. Degeneration. Both won critical acclaim and provoked discussions. DAU. Degeneration will be screened for the first time in Hong Kong in the M+ Cinema. 

The Special Screening will be launched on Saturday, 3 September 2022.

Makers and Making

Featuring thought-provoking and sophisticated documentaries about visual art, design, architecture, film and performance, the recurrent Makers and Making series gives audiences behind-the-scenes access to some of the most captivating creative minds of our time. Focused on stories behind creative practices, it dissects the process of art making and offers insights into personal and collective stories which contribute to a broader view of visual culture. 

The first selection of three films offers a biographical sketch of Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, a moving portrait of Finnish architects Alvar and Aino Aalto, and a portrait of leading American film critic Pauline Kael. Each documentary will be launched on a Wednesday evening, starting from Wednesday, 15 June 2022.

Screen Encounters: Yau Ching x Yvonne Rainer

The recurrent Screen Encounters series invites notable creative practitioners to select and present a moving image work that has been influential in the development of their career and/or practice. 

The inaugural series welcomes Hong Kong–based writer, poet, filmmaker, and video artist Yau Ching, who has chosen a pioneering influential film by American avant-garde dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer. This series will be launched on Saturday, 3 September 2022.

M+ pre-show commissions

M+ has engaged artists Simon Liu and Florence Lee to produce a set of pre-show commissions. 

These works address questions and ideas around the collective viewing experience and will be shown at screenings and selected events at M+ in the coming two years. Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, emphasises the importance of M+ Cinema for the museum, ‘As a museum of visual culture, moving image is one of the three key disciplines that M+ collects, exhibits, and interprets. 

M+ Cinema will be established as the new cinema destination in Hong Kong and contributes to cultivating a richer cinematic culture in the city and beyond, celebrating all facets of the moving image for cinephiles and new audiences. I am very excited to share that with the opening of the M+ Cinema, the museum can now bring a more comprehensive visual culture experience to our visitors.’ 

Doryun Chong, Deputy Director, Curatorial and Chief Curator, M+, remarks on the curatorial framework of M+ Cinema, ‘Featuring both historic and contemporary works, M+ Cinema programmes resonate with the M+ Collections, respond to ideas in our exhibitions, and ultimately spark an exciting dialogue between moving image and the adjacent fields of visual culture, such as visual art and design and architecture. We hope to inspire our audience’s curiosity and understanding of the moving image as one of the most dynamic aspects of contemporary visual culture.’ 

Silke Schmickl, Lead Curator, Moving Image, M+, elaborates on M+ Cinema’s inaugural offerings, ‘We are thrilled to present the curatorial vision of M+ Cinema to our audiences. Featuring seventy works from Hong Kong and around the world, our inaugural edition celebrates extraordinary film artists and renowned works in thought-provoking thematic and artist-focused screenings. Public programmes, including conversations between filmmakers and curators, performances, and a film course offer moments of shared artistic experience, intellectual exchange, and unique learning opportunities.'

For M+ Cinema's details, ticketing information and programme introduction, please refer to the appendixes or visit the M+ website.