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Cannes to Celebrate Wong Kar-wai’s ‘In The Mood For Love’

Editorial use only. No book cover usage.Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jet Tone/Kobal/Shutterstock (5877167c)Tony Leung, Maggie CheungIn The Mood For Love - 2000Director: Wong Kar-WaiBlock 2 Pics/Jet ToneFRANCE/HONG KONGScene StillForeign
Jet Tone/Kobal/Shutterstock

The Cannes Film Festival is to screen a restored version of Wong Kar-wai‘s “In The Mood For Love,”  20 years after it first premiered on the Croisette.

The festival will play a restored, 4K version of the timeless Hong Kong-set romance that starred Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung as a journalist and a secretary whose spouses are having an affair, and who over time recognize that they have feelings for each other. It will be shown as part of the Cannes Classics sidebar.

The festival said it expects Wong to attend the Cannes screening.

The May 2000 original played in Cannes’ official selection and in competition, earning Leung the best male actor award that year. The film, noted for its stunning costumes and colourful cinematography also picked up the Grand Prize of the Superior Technical Commission for DoPs Christopher Doyle and Lee Ping-bing, and for William Chang Suk-ping, the film’s editor, costume and production designer.

Wong won the best director prize at Cannes for 1997 “Happy Together.” But it was “In The Mood For Love” that made Wong a household name globally and inspired numerous film school courses. In 2016, it was voted the second best film of the 21st century by a panel of critics assembled by the BBC.

The 4K restoration of the film made from the original negative was led by Criterion and L’Immagine Ritrovata under the supervision of Wong. After the festival, the restored film will enjoy select theatrical re-releases, starting in the summer of 2020, in France and other international territories.

Distributors include: Janus Films (U.S., U.K., Australia/New-Zealand), The Jokers Films (French-speaking territories), Koch Films (German-speaking territories), Avalon DA (Spain), Leopando Filmes (Portugal), Inoekino (CIS), Asmik Ace (Japan), Catchplay (Taiwan) and NK Contents (South Korea).