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Naman Ramachandran
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Shanghai International Film Festival Lisa Lu, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival, joined a packed audience for a post-screening event celebrating “The Arch,” the 1968 landmark of Chinese-language arthouse cinema in which she starred.
Turning 100 this year by traditional Chinese age reckoning, she made a surprise appearance following the screening that drew extended applause from the audience.
Her path to “The Arch” was accidental. The film’s director, Cecile Tang Shu Shuen, had originally cast another actor in the lead role, who subsequently turned it down. “I volunteered myself back then. I was incredibly fortunate to land a part in this film,” Lu said.
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Lu praised both the director and the film’s score. “The director possesses profound cultural literacy, and every frame is breathtaking,” she said. “Most importantly, Mr. Lui Tsun-Yuen’s score elevates the entire production, underscoring the inner emotions of every character through music.”
“The Arch” marked the directorial debut of Hong Kong filmmaker Tang Shu Shuen and drew on traditional Chinese poetry and painting to shape its visual language. Its restrained cinematography helped establish it as a benchmark for Chinese-language arthouse film.
The film underwent a full 4K restoration in 2025 and screened as part of Cannes Classics at the 78th Cannes Film Festival before its Shanghai run.
The Shanghai screening added to a run of honors for Lu that included her becoming the oldest person ever to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – unveiled as the 2,811th star at 1708 Vine Street last year.
Lu is perhaps best known to international audiences for her role as Ah Ma, the matriarch of Singapore’s wealthiest family, in Warner Bros.’ “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018). She holds the distinction of being the only person in Hollywood to have voting membership across the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Television Academy and the Screen Actors’ Guild, and has been designated a “Living Legend” by the Chinese government.
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