RIP Lau Kar Leung Sifu

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Alex Cheung Lau kar Leung Sifu

Hong Kong 25 June 2013 – This morning Hong Kong director Lau Kar Leung sifu passed away at age 76. He is a legendary Martial Artist who influenced the whole film industry in Martial Arts films, where his nickname ‘Kungfu Leung’ came from. He had been battling lymphatic cancer for two decades.


Gordon Liu and Alex CheungLau was the third child of Lau Cham (Lau Jaam, 劉湛), a martial arts master who studied Hung Gar under Lam Sai-wing, a student of Wong Fei-hung.[4] Lau, a fourth-generation direct disciple of martial arts legend Wong Fei-Hung and a lifelong practitioner of the Hung Kuen discipline, was most famous for his directorial efforts The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), starring Kill Bill’s Gordon Liu (Left picture), and Drunken Master II with Jackie Chan, which also won him the Best Action Choreography Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1994. He has a brother who makes a living in the film industry, actor/choreographer Lau Kar-wing, as does Gordon Liu, Lau’s pupil and godson to Lau’s father, Lau Cham. His nephew Lau Kar-yung (son of his older sister) is also an actor, choreographer and director as seen on the picture right. When he speaks, I can see that they have the same way of talking, the intonation is so similar.

Alex Cheung and Lau Kar Yung 2011

Lau began training students Hung Gar before the age of 5 and was already quite proficient in the style. Bruce Lee treated Lau as an elder uncle and asked him for advice in regards to his film career.

Lau’s directing work was characterized by a strict adherence to the principles of martial arts. He continued his work as action choreographer and director until 1994, when he made Drunken Master IIand III and was diagnosed with lymphoma. He survived the disease and made a directorial comeback in 2003 with Drunken Monkey, which he starred in along with his martial arts protégé Liu. In 2007, at the age of 70, he served as action choreographer and in a supporting role in Tsui Hark’s Seven Swords.

Lau was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2010 for his contribution to the martial arts film genre.

More info about Master Lau

 

Ataraxia Film Premiere

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I was invited to the Film Cast & Crew premiere Sunday 23th of June in Rotterdam. Years gone by, and it was a nice reunion for the crew&cast beside the film premiere. Unfortunately not everyone attended the premiere, as some went abroad or had other duties. And to me I am missing Jenny Hsia who played my partner in Ataraxia. If she attended then perhaps you could see a picture of us two.

About Ataraxia Film

Ataraxia is the debut feature from director Sander Blom. It is an exploration of ‘Life’s Manual’. For instance, on how to survive the boredom of Earth’s paradise.

Our script was in an unknown language called ‘Esperanto’, after 3 years I cannot remember a word Esperanto now. It is created as an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that transcends nationality and would foster peace and international understanding between people with different regional and/or national languages. It sounds like an European language, a bit of English, French, German and Spanish. In Earth’s paradise, everything is in peace and balance. So we speak Esperanto, an international language where people from different cultures can communicate with each other. This was also the first experience for me to play in front of a green screen and visualising Earth’s paradise. And after watching the film it is the color effects what really surprises me, and the penile part of the beginning is unforgettable.

The film will be released hopefully by the end of this year on TV and DVD.

Sander Blom and Alex Cheung

Photo with the Cast