Restored versions of Chinese cinema classics “Days of Being Wild” by Wong Kar-wai (1990) and Jia Zhangke’s feature debut “Pickpocket” (“Xiao Wu”) 1998) will lead the inaugural program at M+ Cinema in Hong Kong, which will be open to the public on June 8.

The opening program also includes the Hong Kong premiere of one of the films in Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy’s epic “DAU” project series, making the M+ museum notable for not quashing Russian culture after the invasion of Ukraine by the country.

The cinema, consisting of three halls with a capacity of 180, 60 and 40 seats, is a central installation of the Moving Image Center of M+, the museum of visual culture which opened in the cultural district of West Kowloon in Hong Kong in November last year. Moving images, including audiovisual works by artists, artists’ films and traditional feature films, are considered one of the three key disciplines of the mega institution housed in a building designed by the firm of Herzog & de Meuron architecture, winner of the Pritzker Prize. The cinema is also equipped with digital and analogue 16mm and 35mm projection facilities as well as a Dolby 7.1 sound system.

“With seventy works from Hong Kong and around the world, our inaugural edition celebrates extraordinary film artists and big-name works in thought-provoking thematic and artist-focused screenings,” said Silke Schmicki, Curator main animated images of M+.

Nearly 100 screenings of the 70 works in the opening program will take place in the coming months. A total of 28 screenings of the restored 4K version of “Days of Being Wild,” starring late Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung, will take place from June to August. Three screenings of the restored “Pickpocket” in 4K will take place in June.

Nine Hong Kong feature films from the 1980s to recent times, including Johnny Mak’s groundbreaking crime thriller “Long Arm of the Law” (1984) and Fruit Chan’s “Hollywood Hong Kong,” are featured in a thematic program titled “Hong Kong : The Establishing Shot”, which aims to revisit the city’s collective memory, everyday local stories and action classics. The screening of each feature film is accompanied by short films on related subjects.

Six projections of works by artists from the M+ Moving Image Collection will be presented. Special screenings of “DAU. Natasha” and “DAU. Degeneration” – presented for the first time in Hong Kong – from Khrzhanovskiy’s “DAU” series will take place in September.