A memorial event for Tony Rayns, the renowned British film critic, curator and translator, was held at Bush House, King’s College London, on the morning of 11th October.
Filmmakers, scholars, critics and curators from the UK, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia gathered in person or contributed pre-recorded video messages to reflect on Rayns’s career and personal life, remembering a cultural figure who spent decades helping Asian cinema reach international audiences.
Hosted by film critic and writer Geoff Andrew, the event explored different aspects of Rayns’s life and work, from his early years to his role in Asian cinema, and his longstanding relationships with international film festivals.
From his almost obsessive passion for cinema and his instinct for discovering emerging directors to his extensive work in translation, subtitling and festival programming, the memorial offered a portrait of a man with a distinctive personality and an enduring intellectual curiosity.
From Family to Friends: Rayns Beyond the Screen
The event opened with Andrew introducing Rayns’s early life and career against a slideshow of photographs from his younger years.
Rayns’s sister, Tiffany Gorman, then took the stage to recall their childhood and his love of books and films. She joked that he had not always been the easiest child to get along with, but that his fascination with cinema had emerged at an early age, alongside the personal habits and preferences that would become characteristic of him.
His cousin, Peter Findlay, recalled that Rayns had been fascinated by magic and fantasy films from childhood and had begun making short films before reaching adulthood. As teenagers, the two regularly discussed cinema and literature, with a particular interest in cult films and Gothic culture.
Rayns’s longstanding relationships with Asian filmmakers formed another central part of the memorial.
Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan reflected on Rayns’s engagement with and advocacy for Hong Kong cinema. The event screened a clip from Kwan’s film Hold You Tight made in 1998, in which Rayns made a funny cameo appearance.
Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang expressed his grief in a pre-recorded video message. He described himself as one of Rayns’s beneficiaries and spoke of his deep sadness and reluctance to say goodbye.
Midi Z, a director born in Myanmar who later developed his career in Taiwan, described Tony as both a mentor and a friend. Recalling the making of his first feature, Return to Burma, he said Rayns watched the film on DVD and offered him firm support and encouragement, helping him believe in his creative abilities and artistic potential.
Chris Berry from King’s College London shared his experiences of working with Rayns. In Berry’s view, Rayns’s distinctive and forthright personality, together with his perceptive judgements of films and directors, made him difficult to define through conventional academic categories.
In the View of Chinese Filmmakers
Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai attended the memorial with his wife and producer, Liu Xuan, and shared memories of their relationship with Rayns. Wang recalled that he was among the earlier Fifth Generation Chinese directors Rayns came to know, and one of the few Chinese filmmakers at the time who could communicate with him directly in English.
Wang said Rayns had praised one of his experimental short films early in his career, even referring to the young filmmaker as a “master” at a European film festival. The recognition came as a surprise and made Wang realise how perceptively a British critic and curator could identify the creative potential of emerging Chinese directors.
As more young filmmakers entered Rayns’s field of vision, however, Wang gradually came to understand that Rayns’s attention was never reserved for any one individual. With a laugh, he recalled that he sometimes even felt jealous when Rayns turned his attention to other emerging directors. It was only then, he said, that he understood: “Tony is not just my Tony.”
Director Jia Zhangke paid tribute to Rayns in an online video message. He said Rayns had worked on the English subtitles for several of his films, from the early Xiao Wu to the more recent Caught by the Tides, and that they had maintained close contact over many years.
Jia recalled travelling to London to visit Rayns after the pandemic.
Although Rayns’s physical condition had deteriorated, his mind remained sharp. They were still able to sit on a sofa and talk at length, with Rayns demonstrating an astonishing command of details about directors, actors and films.
Jia said the encounter left him with the impression that Rayns wanted to share as much as possible of the film knowledge and experience he had accumulated throughout his life.
He also recounted an amusing story about Rayns’s translation work.
On one occasion, Rayns came across an English-Chinese dictionary of swear words in a second-hand bookshop and eagerly showed it to Jia, believing that its colloquial expressions might prove useful in his translations.
During their meals, Rayns would occasionally surprise Jia by trying out a few Chinese swear words he had just learnt. Behind this playful behaviour, Jia reflected, was Rayns’s undiminished curiosity about language, everyday life and cinematic expression.
Discovering Asian Cinema
Born in Britain in 1948, Tony Rayns was an influential figure in international film criticism and curation.
He wrote extensively for the British film magazine Sight and Sound and contributed over the years to publications including the Monthly Film Bulletin and Time Out.
Rayns’s influence was particularly far-reaching in Chinese-language cinema.
In the 1980s, he began paying close attention to Hong Kong filmmaking. Alongside his study of directors associated with the Hong Kong New Wave, he continued to explore the artistic possibilities of genre cinema and the development of the film industry.
As Taiwan New Cinema emerged, he helped introduce directors such as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang to English-speaking audiences, examining how Taiwan’s historical experience found expression in cinematic narratives and audiovisual form.
During the 1990s, a new generation of mainland Chinese directors increasingly entered the international festival circuit.
Rayns continued to follow Fifth Generation filmmakers such as Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, while also turning his attention to younger directors including Jia Zhangke, Wang Xiaoshuai and Lou Ye.
Through criticism, festival programming, themed screenings and international exchanges, he helped build bridges between filmmakers and audiences overseas.
Translation and subtitling were also indispensable parts of Rayns’s cinematic practice.
He worked on the English subtitles for a number of important Chinese-language films, including Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Flowers of Shanghai, Edward Yang’s Yi Yi, Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love and Happy Together, and Ann Hui’s Our Time Will Come.
Bringing More Asian Filmmakers to International Audiences
Beyond writing and translation, Rayns was involved for many years in programming, advising and curating for international film festivals.
He provided professional support to the British Film Institute and the BFI London Film Festival, and played an important role in the development of the Dragons and Tigers programme at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
He also maintained longstanding relationships with Asian film institutions, including the Busan International Film Festival, helping Asian cinema circulate through international film networks.
During the memorial, South Korean director Bong Joon Ho, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Filipino director Raymond Red were among those who shared video messages recalling their relationships with Rayns.
Chris Auty, principal of the London Film School; Hong Kong veteran critic and curator Li Cheuk-to; Chinese-language film curator and programmer Gu Pengyuan; Kazue Tomiyama, co-founder of the Japanese film organisation Image Forum; Kim Dong-ho, founder of the Busan International Film Festival; South Korean independent filmmaker Park Ki-yong; and prominent independent film producer Jeong Bich-sul, who worked across Asia and Europe, also contributed remotely to the tributes and discussions.
Towards the end of the event, Berry showed the audience materials from Rayns’s home.
The collection reportedly comprised around 800 to 950 boxes containing large quantities of DVDs, documents, manuscripts and notes, recording decades of research, collecting and reflection on cinema.
Rayns’s extensive translation manuscripts and archive of unpublished and published criticism are also being organised by institutions with which he worked during his lifetime, together with his family.
The materials are expected to be donated to a specialist film archive or university research institution for digitisation and preservation, providing an important documentary foundation for future research into Asian film history.
The event concluded with an appeal for donations through the memorial’s official website to support the work, alongside an invitation for people to share photographs with Rayns and leave messages in his memory.
For the many directors, critics and curators whose careers he helped shape, Rayns left behind more than words and images: he helped create a cultural network connecting Asian cinema with the world.
As his valuable archives are preserved and organised, his contributions to discovering, studying and promoting Asian cinema will continue to inspire researchers and a new generation of filmmakers.
Written by Rino Lu. If you like this article, why not read: Fei Mu, A Life Short, An Art That Lasts
