Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai (梁朝偉) was in Taiwan Tuesday for the first time in a decade to attend the digital premiere of the 1989 classic film "A City of Sadness," in which he played a starring role.
In the film by director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), Leung plays the part of Lin Wen-ching (林文清), a deaf-mute doctor and photographer whose family is caught up in events surrounding the February 28 Incident in 1947.
Leung had not visited Taiwan since attending the Golden Horse Awards ceremony in 2013, and his appearance at Tuesday's premiere -- along with much of the film's original cast and crew -- was not announced in advance.
In a brief speech on stage, Leung thanked Hou for the "encouragement and inspiration" he gave him as a young actor, and recalled their conversations on the frequent trips they made around Taiwan while filming the movie.
Cinematographer Chen Huai-en (陳懷恩) also shared an anecdote about Leung, noting that the very last scene they shot for the film was the one in which Leung's character, confronted on a train and asked where he is from, responds "I am Taiwanese."
Immediately after filming the iconic scene, Chen recalled, Leung "had to rush to the airport to catch his flight back to Hong Kong."
Despite the reunion-like atmosphere of the premiere, Hou Hsiao-hsien was unable to attend, due to health issues stemming from a severe case of COVID-19 last September, the film's co-writer Chu T'ien-wen (朱天文) said.
Although the 75-year-old director is now taking daily walks and is slowly recovering his strength, his doctors recommended that it was still best for him to skip the event, according to Chu.
Chu, meanwhile, said she hoped Taiwanese audiences would come to see the digitally restored version of the film in theaters, despite its being something of a known quantity, 33 years after its original release.
"Regardless of how long it's been, time always adds another layer of meaning to things," she said.
The 4K digitally restored version of "A City of Sadness" will be shown in nearly 60 theaters across Taiwan from Feb. 24.
