David Farnor | On 02, Feb 2021

The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) has launched its own streaming platform – Cinema 3 – and its opening the doors in style with a season dedicated to Wong Kar-wai in partnership with BFI Player.

Streaming on both Cinema 3 and BFI Player during February, the retrospective will showcase the legendary Hong Kong filmmaker, with 7 new 4K restorations available to watch online – 5 of which were overseen by Wong Kar-wai himself. The season spans offbeat love stories, alluring period drama and cool crime thrills, each one inviting viewers into the unique, wistful, visually ravishing world of the influential artist.

The line-up includes Wong’s impressive debut As Tears Go By (1988), his second film, Days of Being Wild (1990), starring Leslie Cheung, Carina Lau, Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau, the seminal comedy Chungking Express (1994), the 1995 companion piece Fallen Angels, 1997’s Happy Together, following a couple played by Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung, the 2000 masterpiece In the Mood for Love, and sequel-of-sorts 2046 (2004). Also screening will be The Hand (Extended Cut) (2004), which was created as part of Eros, an anthology about love and sex which also featured segments directed by Steven Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni. And, on BFI Player, 2013’s The Grandmaster is already available to stream.

The season, in partnership with Janus Films, will also head to the big screen at a later date, when both the BFI Southbank and the ICA are able to reopen in person.

The films are launching daily on ICA’s Cinema 3, starting on 1st February, and will be available for 14 days after their release. They will also be available on BFI Player from 8th February. The films are geolocked to UK audiences only, with tickets for Cinema 3 screenings costing £8 per film – or you can watch them all for free as part of a £10 monthly ICA membership. The films on BFI Player will also be available to rent only, and not part of a BFI Player subscription.

As Tears Go By – 1st February

Wong Kar Wai’s scintillating debut feature is a kinetic, hypercool crime thriller graced with flashes of the impressionistic, daydream visual style.

Available from 7pm until 15th February

Days of Being Wild – 2nd February

Wong Kar Wai’s breakthrough feature represents the first full flowering of his swooning signature style.

Available from 7pm until 16th February

Chungking Express – 3rd February

The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is the film that made Wong Kar Wai an instant icon.

Available from 7pm until 17th February

The Hand (Director’s Cut) – 4th Feruary

A hypnotic tale of obsession, repression, and class divisions, the film is presented in this retrospective for the first time in its extended cut.

Available from 7pm until 18th February

Fallen Angels – 5th February

Lost souls reach out for human connection amid a glimmering Hong Kong in Wong Kar Wai’s hallucinatory, neon-soaked nocturne.

Available from 7pm until 19th February

Happy Together – 6th February

Wong Kar Wai’s emotionally raw, lushly stylized portrait of a relationship in breakdown casts Hong Kong superstars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung as a couple traveling through Argentina.

Available from 7pm until 20th February

In the Mood for Love – 7th February

At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments.

Available from 7pm until 21st February

2046 – 9th February

Wong Kar Wai’s loose sequel to In the Mood for Love combines that film’s languorous air of romantic longing with a dizzying time-hopping structure and avant-sci-fi twist.

Available from 7pm until 22nd February

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