Wayne Wang
Iremember Hof Film Festival well
They are vivid and wonderful memories
I remember standing with Heinz and Ursula in the projection booth
We had to decide how to solve the problem of one missing reel of CHINESE BOX
It was too late to get a replacement of the missing reel
And we made the decision to screen the whole thing digitally
Only for reason to have the film look consistent as a whole
We were disappointed that we could not screen on film
I also remember the late night screening we had of SMOKE
The theater was jam packed with a young audience
They were spilling out of the theater
The theater door was opened because it was hot
The audience was so intensely involved with the film
I could feel the heat and electricity coming from inside the theater
It was a great way to revisit the film since its premiere in Berlin
I loved watching the festival attendees playing soccer on a Saturday morning
I had never been to a film festival where there are sport events
HOF is a festival of many memories and highlights
Heinz made sure everything went well
He even had us chauffeured back to Berlin in a new model “Audi”
What a treat that was
Wayne Wang
Director of the retrospective 2007