The Longest Summer

The Longest Summer (simplified Chinese: 去年烟花特别多; traditional Chinese: 去年煙花特別多; lit. 'The Flurry of Fireworks last year') is Hong Kong independent director Fruit Chan's second feature in the "1997 trilogy", first released in 1998. The first film in the trilogy is Made in Hong Kong. The movie details the problem faced by a group of disaffected Hong Kong ex-soldiers of the British Army, just before and after the 1997 handover by the People's Republic of China.

The Longest Summer 去年煙花特別多
Directed by	Fruit Chan
Written by	Fruit Chan
Produced by	Andy Lau
Starring	Tony Ho Wah-Chiu Sam Lee
Cinematography	Lam Wah Chun
Music by	Lam Wah Chuen
Production company	Teamwork Production House Limited
Distributed by	Edko Films
Release date	1998 (1998)
Running time	128 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese

Plot

Ga Yin (Tony Ho Wah-Chiu), a former sergeant in the British Army, is discharged from his post following the imminent handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in July 1997. He joins his younger brother Ga Suen (Sam Lee) to work for the underworld, as a chauffeur to a Triad leader. Owing to the financial difficulties faced by his former army mates, he decides to mastermind a bank robbery with his brother and his four army pals. But on the day they are robbing the bank, they realize another gang is working on the same plans too.^[1]

Cast

• Tony Ho - Ga Yin
• Sam Lee - Ga Suen
• Robby Cheung as officer Cheung, born on 8th September 1965
• Jo Kuk - Jane

Awards

The film received eight nominations at the 18th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards, but won none. These are:

• Nomination - Best Picture
• Nomination - Best Director (Fruit Chan Gor)
• Nomination - Best Supporting Actor (Sam Lee Chan-Sam)
• Nomination - Best Screenplay (Fruit Chan Gor)
• Nomination - Best New Artist (Tony Ho Wah-Chiu)
• Nomination - Best New Artist (Jo Koo)
• Nomination - Best Original Score (Lam Wah-Cheun, Bat Kwok-Chi)
• Nomination - Best Original Song ("Hui Nin Yin Fa Dut Bit Dor", performed by Andy Lau Tak-Wah)

The film is also one of the ten recommended films of the 5th Annual Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards.

Controversy

48th Hong Kong International Film Festival

At 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival, Fruit Chan was announced to be the Filmmaker in Focus for the film festival on 2 February 2024, featuring ten of his previous works.^[2][3] The Longest Summer was removed from the list on 8 March, with the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society stating that it was unable to locate suitable copies for screening, and Chan's 2019 film The Abortionist was presented in its place.^[2] However, Ming Pao noted that the Society had previously screened The Longest Summer in 2017 and 2021, while filmmaker Tin Kai-man also expressed confusion over the decision, explaining that copies of all Hong Kong films should be well-preserved in the Hong Kong Film Archive.^[2][4] Chan described the decision as "pitiful", but noted that those interested in watching would find a way to do so on their own.^[2]