Cover Group portrait for the film Love Infinity, 2022. (Image: Tim Yip Studio)

The Academy Award winner returns with a new art film series, where he turns his lens towards the history—and cultural icons—of East London

Oscar- and BAFTA-winning Hong Kong art and costume director and multidisciplinary artist Tim Yip’s art film series Love Infinity is releasing worldwide today (March 24) via arthouse streaming platform Mubi.

Best known for his work in Ang Lee’s 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which he won the 2001 Oscar for best art direction, Yip is turning his focus to art—and the creative scene in East London, England—in his new venture.

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Above Gilbert and George, Stella, Lili and Tim Yip in the film Love Infinity, 2022. (Image: Tim Yip Studio)

Part-documentary, part-fiction, Love Infinity is a two-part series, comprising Love Infinity: When the Sun Goes Quiet and Love Infinity: Memorandum for The Next Golden Age. It explores the history of East London and its emergence as a hub for creatives over the last 50 years. The area has long been associated with some of the most influential names in fashion and the arts today, including fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, comedian Jonny Woo, and NFT pop artist Philip Colbert.

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Above Vivienne Westwood and Tim Yip in the film Love Infinity, 2022. (Image: Tim Yip Studio)

Working with a simple Canon 5D camera and a skeletal film crew, Yip traces the untold narratives of how these power players have pushed fringe cultures to the limelight and become the celebrated names they are today. It is set against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, political division—and amidst a global environmental crisis.

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Above Philip Colbert in the film Love Infinity, 2022. (Image: Tim Yip Studio)

“Historically, the East End has been a place of poverty and hardship but also of new beginnings,” Yip said.

“Nobody creates out of a void. As I filmed, a phrase came to my mind: if you don’t like this world, you have to make a new one.”

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Above Daniel Lismore and Lili in the film Love Infinity, 2022. (Image: Tim Yip Studio)

The film series is produced by Iranian-born, London-based artist and photographer Maryam Eisler and designer and conceptual arts curator Mei-Hui Liu.

Love Infinity isn’t Yip’s first foray outside art directing and costume design. Yip made his stage directorial debut in October 2021 in Love in a Fallen City, adapted from romance writer Eileen Chang’s 1943 novella, in major cities across China.

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Above Jonny Woo and Stella in the film Love Infinity, 2022. (Image: Tim Yip Studio)

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