Tsui Hark‘s “Peking Opera Blues” returned to the big screen in a new 4K Dolby Atmos restoration, with the remastered version screening at the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival.
The event was backed by Italian jeweler Bvlgari, which partnered with SIFF on the initiative.
The restoration was carried out by Bologna-based film archive L’Immagine Ritrovata. Working from original source film elements, the lab completed a full 4K scan followed by 150 hours of painstaking digital work on individual frames. The process preserved the original film grain and cinematic texture while calibrating brightness, contrast and color saturation for stability and clarity. On the audio side, the source soundtracks were digitally cleaned and remixed into a new Dolby Atmos configuration designed to retain the sonic character of the original.
“The restoration presented a dual challenge: to repair scratches and color degradation with contemporary technology, while preserving the film’s unique Eastern opera aesthetic and the distinctive texture of 1980s Hong Kong cinema,” said Davide Pozzi, director of L’Immagine Ritrovata.
Released in 1986 and directed by Tsui Hark, “Peking Opera Blues” has long been regarded as a landmark of Chinese-language cinema, known for its Peking Opera-derived aesthetics and trio of female leads. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the film’s original release. Actress Sally Yeh, one of the picture’s stars, attended the pre-screening forum held ahead of the screening.
“Four decades later, seeing this work restored and about to grace the screen once again leaves me deeply moved,” Yeh said. “Of all the roles in my career, this is the one that feels closest to who I really am.”
This year marks the sixth year of the SIFF–Bvlgari partnership. The brand previously supported the restoration of “Cleopatra” in 2013. Chen Guo, managing director of Shanghai International Film & TV Events Center, noted that the collaboration extends beyond the restoration itself, encompassing film screenings and cultural exchanges.
“By safeguarding and revitalizing cinematic heritage, we hope to bring these classics to more audiences and inspire a lifelong love of film,” Chen said.
