‘Where The Wind Blows’: ’Sensitive' Crime Thriller Stars Actress Banned in China

The latest Hong Kong epic film, Where the Wind Blows, premiered in Tsim Sha Tsui on Feb. 7, 2023. Multi-award-winning actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai (left) played the villain, Wenwu, in Marvel's Shang Chi and Legend of the Ten Rings. Leung and Aaron Kwok (right), a two-time Best Actor winner at the Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards, attended the premiere and shared their experience during production. (Benson Lau/The Epoch Times)

A new movie featuring top Hong Kong actors and an actress banned in China is set to be released in theaters.

Directed by Philip Yung and starring actors Tony Leung and Arron Kwok, “Where the Wind Blows” will be on full release in theaters on Feb. 17. The film company held a premiere in Tsim Sha Tsui on Feb. 7. It was launched on limited release in August 2022 as “Theory of Ambitions.”

The film is set in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s, when there was massive corruption between the police and organized crime. It circles between good and evil, police and triad corruption in a dog-eat-dog world, and tells the forming of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1974.

Premiere

In addition to the two award-winning leads, the rest of the cast was also at the  Feb. 7 premiere.

However, mainland Chinese actress Jessie Li, who once supported the White Paper Revolution, was conspicuous with her absence.

Hong Kong movie star Leung has been acting for decades, he won Best Actor five times at the Hong Kong Film Awards and three times at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards.

Stills of Tony Leung and Aaron Kwok in Where The Wind Blows. (Courtesy of Sky Films)

Meanwhile, Kwok, a Hong Kong singer and dancer, was named Asia’s King of Dance for his impeccable dance moves and singing skills.

Kwok won Best Actor at Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards in 2005 and 2006. In 2016, Kwok took home the Best Actor award at the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards (2016) for his performance in “Port Of Call,” a crime thriller.

Jessie Li

Li, also known as Chun Xia, was named the Best Actress at the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards. She had previously starred alongside Kwok in “Port Of Call.”

Despite being a popular actress, Li was boycotted by China after supporting the White Paper Movement initiated by mainland Chinese students.

Li was a no-show at the movie premiere; her name was also missing on the massive promotional poster and the official Weibo page of “Where The Wind Blows.”

Official poster of Where The Wind Blows. Tony Leung (left) and Aaron Kwok (right). (Courtesy of Sky Films)

The film is a joint production between Hong Kong and mainland China, the film will compete for Best International Film at the 95th Academy Awards in March.

Canceled Screening

“Where the Wind Blows” was originally one of the opening films at the 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival. However, the official organizer announced three days before the event that the screening was canceled due to “technical issues.”

Commentary experts suspected the screening cancellation was due to “When the Wind Blows” touching on the sensitive subject of the Hong Kong police and the triads, which may also have touched the nerve of the communist regime.

The stills of Tony Leung in his new movie, 'Where the Wind Blows.' (Courtesy of Sky Flims)

In the 1950s and 1960s, corruption was severe as the Hong Kong Police colluded with the underworld of triads and gangsters.

In 1974, Hong Kong, still under British colonization, established the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to rectify the severe corruption within the police force and reform the image of law enforcement.

The effort of ICAC turned Hong Kong around and became one of the cleanest cities and regions recognized by Transparency International from the 1980s to the 1990s.

Things deteriorated after the Hong Kong National Security Law was implemented. The ICAC became a tool for the regime to suppress democratic politicians.

Among the suppressed Democrats is Lam Cheuk-ting, a former investigator of ICAC and a former elected lawmaker of Hong Kong.

After Lam was attacked and beaten by gang members during the 721 Yuen Long Attack in 2019, Lam asked the police to investigate the incident thoroughly.

But the Hong Kong Police Force turned around and charged Lam for participating in riots despite him being a victim.

Later, ICAC arrested Lam for disclosing a person’s private information while under investigation.