My Name Ain't Suzie

Director: Angie Chen

1985 / 96min / DCP

Chen’s melancholy ensemble drama centers on the Lucky Bar, a magnet for American soldiers on leave in late ’50s Hong Kong. Written by John Chan (Nomad) and featuring the debut of the legendary Anthony Wong, this is a local’s gritty, clear-eyed response to the romanticized, exoticized version of the hostess bars presented in Richard Quine’s Hong Kong–shot The World of Suzie Wong (1960), following the daughter of a poor fishing family-turned-urbane golden girl and fellow lost souls drifting through the Wan Chai red light district. Hobbled on its initial release due to animosity coming from inside the foundering Shaw Brothers studio, My Name Ain’t Suzie is a wrenching work of love and abandonment newly restored and overdue for reappraisal.

Distributor: Kani Releasing

This new 2K restoration of My Name Ain’t Suzie was commissioned by Kani Releasing. The primary source for this restoration was the original camera negative; one missing shot from reel six was sourced from a print with burnt-in bilingual subtitles. Scanning was completed in 2K at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia (Hong Kong) on an Arriscan. The restoration and color grading were completed at qooop, Inc. (Tokyo). Scratches and other imperfections remain. Please approach with understanding and empathy.  Special thanks to Angie Chen, Pamela Lay, Katherine Connell, King-Wei Chu, Thibault Beneteau, Roger Garcia, Udine Far East Film Festival and Celestial Pictures (Gigi Ko, Angela Fung, Elton Lee)

Introduction by film scholar Xueli Wang on Saturday, July 18th