As Time Goes By / Qu ri ku duo (1997) dir. Ann Hui & Vincent Chui

Using her own life as a mirror of Hong Kong from the ’50s to the present, director Ann Hui comes up with an engrossing docu that does double duty as a revealing self-portrait and a fascinating look at the changes in the former British colony over the past 40-odd years. Item has already proved a festival favorite and should fit neatly into cable and specialized TV slots. Starting out with a free-ranging discussion at dinner with friends, docu soon zeroes in on Hui’s life, mingling direct-to-camera interviews with the helmer and intriguing B&W stills of the territory during the ’50s and ’60s. Born into a family that moved from China to Hong Kong in 1952, she remembers living in hastily built “model housing” (government blocks), hearing later Shaw Bros. producer Mona Fong sing at the famous Ritz nightclub, and studying at St. Paul’s Catholic School for 13 years.