'The Battle of Penghu': Six Hong Kong Distributors Join Forces for July 30 Release
Two-time Hong Kong Film Award-winning director Soi Cheang follows "Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In" with the epic naval drama "The Battle of Penghu," set to open in Hong Kong and Macau on July 30 via an unprecedented six-distributor partnership.
Photo: HK01
"The Battle of Penghu," the latest epic from two-time Hong Kong Film Award best director Soi Cheang and his follow-up to "Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In," released its first teaser trailer today (May 22) and announced a July 30 release across all theaters in Hong Kong and Macau. In an unprecedented move for Hong Kong, six companies — Sil-Metropole Organisation, Intercontinental Film Distributors, Emperor Motion Pictures, Orange Sky Entertainment, Edko Films and Star Entertainment — have joined forces to distribute the film, an alliance of remarkable scale.
"The Battle of Penghu" centers on the year 1683 and the largest-scale naval battle of the Qing dynasty, a clash that changed the course of history. It tells the story of how Emperor Kangxi enlisted the legendary general Shi Lang to lead the Fujian navy into battle against the Ming-Zheng fleet guarding the gateway of Penghu, unfolding a gripping contest of strategy and force on the high seas and bringing one of history's most stunning naval showdowns to the big screen.
In the newly unveiled first teaser, director Soi Cheang once again displays his signature command of taut pacing and human tension. The trailer is woven together through questions posed across five social strata: a soldier's worries about family before the raging waves, Kangxi's imperial testing of Shi Lang over "going into battle carrying a personal grudge," and the schemes and struggle for family survival inside the Yanping Prince's residence as the tide of war shifts. When Shi Lang finally declares, after settling the seas in a single battle, "Private grudges and suspicions drift away with the wind; the great currents of the realm ride in upon it," the film pushes its human conflict — over destiny and the larger picture, beyond the grand naval battle — to its climax.
Released alongside the international trailer were four "relationship posters" depicting the film's four major factional dynamics: the "ruler-and-subject trust" between Kangxi and Shi Lang in the Southern Study; the "deep mother-son bond" between Huang He-niang and Zheng Keshuang in the Yanping Prince's residence; the "comrades plotting war" between Liu Guoxuan and Qiu Hui at the Taiwan navy's main camp; and the "brothers united in heart" between Shi Shihua and Xu Tiancao aboard the Fujian navy's warships. In addition, solo posters of two accomplished performers, Zhao Liying and Lin Ziye, were also released, raising anticipation for their performances in this epic production.