Paul Fonoroff

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Paul Fonoroff
Chinese: 方保羅
Born1954 (age 70–71)
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Other namesFong Bo Lo
Occupation(s)Film critique, Actor

Paul Kendel Fonoroff (born 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a film critic and historian specializing in Chinese-language cinema. Born in the United States, he spent several years of schooling in China, accepting a fellowship at Peking University. After moving to Hong Kong in 1983, Fonoroff spent decades ingrained in its local film culture, writing reviews for the South China Morning Post and appearing on television to discuss cinema. He also received small acting parts in about twenty films.

Over the decades, Fonoroff amassed a large collection of Chinese film journals and periodicals. He donated this collection to the University of California, Berkeley in 2015.

Biography

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Fonoroff was born in Cleveland, Ohio.[1] He began studying Chinese in high school, participating in a youth study group going to Hong Kong in 1972. He continued his education at Brown University, taking a year off to study Mandarin at Nanyang University. Interested in film, he went to University of Southern California to receive a Master of Fine Arts.[2] When the United States and China rekindled diplomatic relations in 1979, Fonoroff traveled to Beijing, accepting a grant to research Chinese cinema at Peking University.[1][2]

Upon completion of his studies in Beijing, Fonoroff moved to Hong Kong in 1983. He accepted a role on TVB as a scriptwriter, while also writing for a local magazine.[2][3] Fonoroff remained in Hong Kong for decades, where he consistently wrote about movies and appeared in over a thousand episodes of cinema-related television programs in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English.[1] He hosted the show Movie World on Asia Television's international channel, and wrote film reviews for the South China Morning Post.[3] After accepting his first Hong Kong film role in Sworn Brothers (1987),[3] Fonoroff made appearances in over twenty movies and TV dramas.[1][4] These included "special guest appearances" in Once Upon a Time in China II and Fight Back to School II (both 1992).[3]

Fonoroff has written several books on Hong Kong cinema. In 1997, he authored Silver Light: A Pictorial History of Hong Kong Cinema 1920–1970, a picture book utilising his collection of Hong Kong movie memorabilia. This book was also given a separate translation in Chinese and released. The following year, Fonoroff published At the Hong Kong Movies: 600 Reviews from 1988 Till the Handover, a compilation of the various newspaper columns he wrote.[1][5] Fonoroff's collection of film periodicals, scripts, and posters were later showcased in Chinese Movie Magazines: From Charlie Chaplin to Chairman Mao 1951–1981. This book was included in The New York Times' selection of Best Art Books of 2018.[6] In 2015, Fonoroff's collection was acquired by the University of California, Berkeley. The collection, housed in the university's C.V. Starr East Asian Library, is generally considered the largest Chinese film-related archive outside China.[7][8]

Fonoroff is a member of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society and the Performing Artists Guild of Hong Kong. He is also an advisor to the Hong Kong Film Archive.

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Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "About Paul Fonoroff 评论剪报". The Paul Kendel Fonoroff Collection for Chinese Film Studies - Spotlight exhibits at the UC Berkeley Library. 2016-12-29. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  2. ^ a b c Lanuque, Arnaud (2007-03-13). "Film Critic/Actor Paul Fonoroff Interviewed". Hong Kong Cinemagic. Archived from the original on 2019-04-21. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  3. ^ a b c d Chan Ying-si (陳穎思) (2022-04-11). "逃學威龍2｜港片「御用洋人」方保羅近況曝光 原來係華語片專家" [Fight Back to School 2 | Hong Kong film's 'go-to foreigner' Paul Fonoroff's recent appearance: turns out, he is a Chinese-language film expert]. HK01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  4. ^ "Paul Fonoroff". Hong Kong Movie Database. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  5. ^ Whitmore, Stuart (1999-02-26). "Poor Show". Asiaweek. Retrieved 2025-03-30 – via Pathfinder.
  6. ^ Farago, Jason (2018-12-13). "The Best Art Books of 2018". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  7. ^ Grandstaff, Tiffany (2017-08-03). "C. V. Starr East Asian Library acquires the largest Chinese film studies collection in North America | UC Berkeley Library". University of California, Berkeley Libraries. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  8. ^ Jensen, Ella (2017-04-25). "C.V. Starr East Asian Library now home to largest Chinese film archive in North America". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  9. ^ "Watching Cantonese Classics 粵語長片是咁睇的". 粵語長片是咁睇的. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  10. ^ "大海在呼唤". Douban (in Chinese).
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