“Today, I’m 71, and I can still fight,” veteran Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan proclaimed resolutely this evening at Locarno, where he was awarded the festival’s Pardo alla Carriera award for career achievement.
Chan was handed the award on the Piazza Grande by Locarno chief Giona Nazzaro. The open-air cinema venue is packed every night during the festival, but I’ve never seen scenes like this evening’s in my four years coming to the event.
The Piazza was packed with Chan superfans over an hour before the honorary ceremony started. Some wore ‘I Love Jackie Chan t-shirts,’ while others wielded hand-drawn panda signs and copies of his movies. Earlier this afternoon, the festival sent out a rare email to delegates warning of high attendance. That email may have been prompted by the scenes at the festival’s earlier screening of Chan’s 1983 comedy flick, Project A. Chan introduced the film, mostly using a translator, and he was mobbed by fans as he stepped off the stage. Multiple parents handed their toddlers over to the actor so pictures could be taken while other audience members pushed past the heavy security to hand Chan gifts. See a short clip from the melee below.
On the Piazza, Chan spoke without a translator and thanked the festival and all the filmmakers and co-stars he worked with, who he said “made me look good” all his years working.
Chan noted that this year marks his 64th year working in the movie business, and he shared a short and rare anecdote from his childhood.
“I was around 17. I was sitting in the kitchen watching my father cook,” Chan began. “Then suddenly he turned around and asked me, ‘Son, I’m 60. And I can still cook. Can you still fight when you’re 60?’ I was shocked. I didn’t know what to say. But today, I’m 71, and I can still fight.”
Chan ended his speech by telling the audience that he dedicated his honorary award to the idea of a united world full of “love and peace.”
Chan’s 1985 feature Police Story screens this evening in Locarno. The festival ends on August 16.
