Cover Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture (Photo: courtesy of Chanel)
Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture (Photo: courtesy of Chanel)
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The three-year partnership will see initiatives that focus on preserving Hong Kong’s cinematic heritage and creating Asia’s first avant-garde film library
Yana Peel’s first visit to Hong Kong in 2009 involved a brush with its rich cinematic history when she attended Alan Lo and Yenn Wong’s wedding at Shaw Studios. Fourteen years on, in her capacity as Chanel’s global head of art and culture, Peel is spearheading a new partnership between the brand and the M+ museum, announced in July this year, focused on preserving and developing film as a medium.
Peel was appointed to her current position in 2020 subsequently after which Chanel launched their culture fund in 2021, one of the functions of which is to facilitate partnerships with leading cultural institutions around the world and create new programming that benefits and supports creative and cultural thinking across disciplines. But while the partnership and fund are new, Peel traces the brand’s cultural patronage back to its founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel: “We’re really thinking about how to take her spirit of curiosity, generosity and embrace of the avant-garde, and steward that into the next century.”
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Above A still from “Women Make Film” (2018), a documentary by director Mark Cousins
(Photo: courtesy of Dogwoof Ltd)
A still from “Women Make Film” (2018), a documentary by director Mark Cousins (Photo: courtesy of Dogwoof Ltd)
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The brand’s historical association with film is well documented, and Peel refers to Chanel’s penchant for and contribution to the medium in the 1930s, when she went to Hollywood to make costumes for the silver screen. “As a house there is an incredible legacy of support and alliances with film,” Peel says of the brand, adding, “It’s supportive of inspiring the craft of moving image and really creating conditions for artists to dare, while activating history to define the future.”
The M+/Chanel partnership includes programmes such as Rediscoveries, a recurring series featuring forgotten and restored classics; and Afterimage, a showcase of works by some of the Asia’s most notable video artists and experimental filmmakers. More notably, they will support two new endeavours: M+ Restored, a film-restoration project geared towards preserving Hong Kong’s rich cinematic history; and the Asian Avant-Garde Film Circulation Library, “which will take the form of an extensive research and collection-building initiative that will be about Asia’s generations of pioneering film artists,” Peel explains.
The final part of Chanel’s contribution is establishing patronage of the position Chanel lead curator, moving image—a role which Silke Schmickl, who leads M+’s moving image collection, commissions, and film and curatorial programmes, will take on.
Above Silke Schmickl (Photo: Winnie Yeung @ Visual Voices, courtesy of M+)
Silke Schmickl (Photo: Winnie Yeung @ Visual Voices, courtesy of M+)
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“We’re really thinking about how to mirror the amazing depth of our programming in Europe and America, with the opportunity in Asia, which is very global in its impact, but very local in its needs,” Peel explains.
Before this job, Peel was the director of London’s Serpentine Galleries from 2016 to 2019, and simultaneously held several cultural positions and supported many institutions. She lived in Hong Kong from 2009 to 2016, during which time she was involved in a range of cultural activities, supported Asia Art Archive, and served as the co-chair of Para Site. That time in Hong Kong significantly informed her future roles and helped her develop a global perspective.
“I think that Hong Kong has always benefited from having a distinct voice and using it to be in conversation with others,” she said. “I think it’s having that distinction of local voice that speaks within a global conversation; we’re really looking towards local expertise, and of people like Silke to guide us on what is now, what is next, and what really needs to be refreshed from that history.”
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Above Ellen Pau’s “Shape of Light” on the M+ facade (Photo: courtesy of M+)
Ellen Pau’s “Shape of Light” on the M+ facade (Photo: courtesy of M+)
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Connectivity, between generations of cultural producers and between regions, is a significant factor in how the partnership came to be, as it is a tenet upheld by both Chanel and M+. Schmickl says: “It’s [the partnership] different from other sponsorships in that we had a year to build this trust and mutual interest in what we could do together. It’s much more aligned and a shared vision, as born out of a mutual love of cinema.”
The new library will fill gaps in and expand M+’s already vast moving image collection by highlighting avant-garde films produced in the region between the 1960s and 1990s. The plan is to hold a film festival starting from next year that will spotlight these works, and invite both established and emerging artists and filmmakers to participate and attend. “The idea is not just to produce a historical look back, but rather look at forming correspondences in intergenerational dialogues,” Schmickl explains. She cites the 1960s as a particularly influential time for film due to the amount of global political upheaval, including the Cold War and the Vietnam War. “Much of Asia was in the process of finding its independence, so there was this strong desire to nation-build; we want to create these connections with what these artists did under these extreme conditions with today’s practitioners.”
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Above May Fung’s “She Said Why Me” (1989) (Photo: courtesy of M+)
May Fung’s “She Said Why Me” (1989) (Photo: courtesy of M+)
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Schmickl adds that that time period “also partially covers Hong Kong’s golden years, when Eighties and Nineties cinema was really at its best.” Peel appreciates the global reach the famous Hong Kong directors from that era and beyond, such as John Woo and Wong Kar Wai had and is excited to highlight female directors and filmmakers, which is another common focus point between the brand and institution.
Chanel first supported M+ in 2022, with Women Make Film, a film course based around Mark Cousins’s 14-hour documentary by the same name, split into seven screenings, and conversations between filmmakers including local auteur Mabel Cheung and Hollywood actor Tilda Swinton.
The first entries additions to the film library’s collection will include works by female Hong Kong artists such as May Fung and Ellen Pau, the latter of whom is viewed as a barrier-breaker thanks to her establishing experimental film festivals such as Microwave, as well as her active participation in workshops and programmes held by the Goethe Institute and Alliance Française, “serving as an ambassador between other Asian countries, and almost a spokesperson for experimental Hong Kong cinema”.
Above May Fung’s “She Said Why Me” (2016) (Photo: courtesy of M+)
May Fung’s “She Said Why Me” (2016) (Photo: courtesy of M+)
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Given the experimental nature of the material, both Peel and Schmickl are working on how to make it more accessible to new audiences. “I think that through the understanding of history, and that of the progressiveness of the avant-garde, artists today and potential future creatives can be empowered,” says Schmickl.
Peel hopes that with this partnership, “We can think about how to cultivate audiences that go beyond their interest in the commercial blockbuster film. I think that’s the great hope: that in the long term, we’re not just going to have sold-out audiences for the very popular films.” Looking to the future, she adds, “The challenge is making sure that we are relevant, and that we are addressing local issues with the kind of vitality and saliency that weaves into a global fabric.”
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Aaina was the Arts and Culture Editor of Tatler Asia. A passion for history and all things visual led her in the pursuit of art history. With extensive experience in the art world working for a range of art institutions, she combined her passion and expertise in the form of art and culture journalism. Prior to Tatler, Aaina worked as a culture reporter for South China Morning Post and editor at the online art platform Cobo Social. Additionally, she has contributed to a variety of prestigious art publications including Art Review, The Art Newspaper, Ocula, Art Agenda, Artsy, Design Anthology, and Artomity. Follow her on Instagram.
