2006 saw two new films programmed in European festivals: Exiled screened in competition at Venice and Election 2 screened out-of-competition at Cannes. The following year Mad Detective was shown in competition at Venice and Triangle (a portmanteau film directed by To, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam) premiered out-of-competition at Cannes. The Rotterdam Festival mounted a major retrospective of To’s films, showing 19 in all.
The pace of film retrospectives dedicated to Johnnie To increased to a fever pitch in 2008. Virtually concurrently the Cinémathèque Française (French Film Archive) in Paris and Institute Lumière in Lyon mounted retrospectives on Johnnie To. From March 5 to April 14,, 2008, the Cinémathèque Française showed a total of 22 titles directed by Johnnie To. In Lyon from March 7 to April 27, 2008, seven films were screened. At Berlin, Sparrow was shown in competition and To was a jury member at the Venice Film Festival. Furthermore, in Australia, the ACMI mounted a retrospective of 12 of To’s films and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkley, California mounted another featuring nine films. |