Long before K-dramas, Japanese anime and Bollywood movies became instruments of modern soft power, Hong Kong films were the leading Asian force on the big screen.

In the 1980s and 90s – the golden age of Hong Kong cinema – the city was the world’s third-largest film producer, with more than 200 releases annually, and the second-largest film exporter. But there’s a lot more to our cinematic history, which stretches all the way back to the “flickers” of the 20s.

To mark its 25th anniversary, the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) is celebrating with a special exhibition. Held at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin until March 29, 2027, this in-depth showcase features artefacts that span a century, beginning with the 1926 silent film Join the Army and Live, to offer a curation “of notable historical and cultural significance, inviting visitors to revisit the golden age of the screen”.

At the entrance, attendees are greeted with a photo tunnel of Hong Kong movie stars while inside, a sequence of historical trailers details the development of local films. Also on display are impressive set costumes from yesteryear that highlight the artistry that goes into filmmaking, including outfits worn by Li Lihua in Red Rose, the Songstress (1952) and Zhang Ziyi in the 2004 wuxia film House of Flying Daggers.

This section also features historical records related to film costumes, detailing how the HKFA acquires, restores and preserves them.

Awards received by industry figures are collected in the Hall of Honours, dating from as early as 1958’s Silver Sail for Best Actor, won by Kwan Shan at the Locarno International Film Festival for The True Story of Ah Q, to William Chang Suk-ping’s Best Film Editing gong for Sons of the Neon Night at the 2025 Hong Kong Film Awards.

The exhibition also includes reflections from local filmmakers. From a selection of more than 100 clips is one featuring Tsui Hark, who talks about how he rejected the opinions of others to cast actress Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia as Dongfang Bubai, in Swordsman II (1992), the character being a male in the original novel. Lin’s performance became legendary for blurring the lines between sex, gender and power.