The Illegal Immigrant

The Illegal Immigrant is a 1985 Hong Kong film directed by Mabel Cheung with the screenplay written by Alex Law. As Cheung's debut film, it tells about the story of a Chinese illegal immigrant in the United States seeking for his legal status through a sham marriage falls in love with his fake bride.

The Illegal Immigrant
Traditional Chinese非法移民
Simplified Chinese非法移民
Hanyu PinyinFēi Fǎ Yí Mín
JyutpingFei1 Faat3 Ji4 Man4
Directed byMabel Cheung
Written byAlex Law
Produced byMona Fong
StarringChing Yung-cho
Cindy Ou
Liao Chung-yu
Peter Lee Kui-yuen
Production
company
Release date
  • 3 May 1985 (1985-05-03)
Running time
92 minutes[1]
CountryBritish Hong Kong
LanguageCantonese
BudgetHK$1,000,000
Box officeHK$4,723,687[2]

The film, along with An Autumn's Tale and Eight Taels of Gold, formed Cheung and Law's "Migration Trilogy".[3]

Plot

Cheung (played by Ching Yung-cho), who smuggles to New York City via Hong Kong from China, becomes a handyman in a factory in Chinatown, Manhattan to repay for his smuggling fees. One day, he is arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, facing the risk of deportation. To maintain a legal status to stay in the States, Cheung arranges to pay for a sham marriage with a Chinese American Cindy Li (played by Cindy Ou), but they fall in love afterwards. When they prepare for the formal wedding, Li is shot during a gun fight among Chinatown triads.[4][5]

Production

The film was Cheung's debut film, which was also her graduation production at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.[6] According to Cheung, the film was inspired by a friend renting videotapes in the shop which Cheung served as a part-time staff, and real cases in Chinatown.[7] With the introduction of Alfred Cheung, who studied in NYU for a semester, Cheung got to know Mona Fong, the director of Shaw Brothers who was visiting New York for cinematographic equipment. As Fong had promised to contribute to productions by Chinese students, after Cheung and Law finished the screenplay of the film, Cheung got back to Hong Kong to contact Fong. Fong then agreed to contribute US$150,000 for the production of the film.[3]

Due to insufficient funds for the film, outdated film stocks from the school and production companies and borrowed movie cameras were used during the production.[6] Most of the cast and crew, including the leading actor Ching Yung-cho, were classmates of Cheung and Law. Cindy Ou, a School of Medicine student, was chosen to be the leading actress under a casting,[3] with Cheung dubbing her voice.[8]

Box office

The film grossed HK$4,723,687 during its theatrical run between 3 and 16 May 1985.[9]

Awards and nominations
Awards and nominations
Ceremony Category Recipient Outcome
5th Hong Kong Film Awards[10] Best FilmThe Illegal ImmigrantNominated
Best DirectorMabel CheungWon
Best ScreenplayAlex LawNominated
22nd Golden Horse Awards[11] Best Original ScreenplayAlex LawNominated
30th Asia-Pacific Film Festival[6] Jury Special AwardThe Illegal ImmigrantWon

References
  1. "The Illegal Immigrant". Hong Kong Film Archive. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  2. "1985 香港票房". 中國電影票房榜. Archived from the original on 5 January 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  3. "【移民三部曲】未畢業已獲方逸華賞識 張婉婷羅啟銳15萬美金拍《非法移民》奪金像獎". Next Magazine. 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  4. 令狐昭 (17 May 2020). "（光影漫話）《非法移民》的溫情與遺憾". 華僑報. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  5. 张艾弓; 李晓红; 张文燕, eds. (2015). 华语电影新世代：地平线、症候群. 中国文联出版社. ISBN 9787519007584.
  6. 魏時煜 (2016). 東西方電影 (增訂版). 香港城市大學出版社. ISBN 9789629372651.
  7. "香港女导演张婉婷：我的电影都有自己味道". 北京青年報. 13 October 2013. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  8. "周潤發演船頭尺偷空結婚羅啟銳的電影樂與路（二）". 明報月刊. 24 October 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2021. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  9. The Illegal Immigrant at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
  10. "第5屆香港電影金像獎提名及得獎名單". 香港電影金像獎. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  11. "第22屆金馬獎得獎名單". 台北金馬影展. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
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