About

Having grown up with Italian Western films I developed a deep passion towards the Western genre in general. As I also admire Hong Kong cinema, I soon started to ask myself, right after having started my film studies in Hong Kong in 2008, where is the connection between the Italian Westerns of late 1960’s and the “golden age” Hong Kong films from the 1980’s? Obviously there was a direct connection since all HK directors of that period, like John Woo, constantly referring in interviews how tremendously they were influenced by the powerful visual language of the Italian Westerns.

This connection becomes more evident as Roger Ebert calls John Woo’s western films “Dim Sum Westerns”, vice versa. But what happens when we combine both genres and styles; both periods, cultures as well as looks and subsequently creating a new sub-sub genre, the genre of “DimSum Western”?

This questioning brought me on a personal research project throughout HK’s film industry and archives. By the end of 2009 I penetrated this subject deep enough to dare producing the first short film (self-) labeled as DimSum Western. This attempt is clearly just an experiment and holds wide room for future improvement. However, the first step was taken and the table set for sustained research and discussion.

This research blog attempts to give a gradual introduction by providing ongoing analysis of film historic examples and related fields as well as looking on affiliated sub genres like the up-and-coming Asian variations to the Western as Korea’s Kimchi Western or Japans Sukiyaki Western mix. All this should lead to a preliminary definition of DimSum Western and far more important, encourage others to contribute works to this new genre and therefore produce films in Hong Kong! The whole of this blogs content can only be considered as a work in progress and lives by the contribution of every passionate filmmaker and writer who wants to be a part of this niche film genre.

All submissions (links, articles, videos) will be published. Writers can be granted access to this blog!

All inquiries: mail[at]m-sp[dot]net

Thanks for your participation!

Marco

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