This season’s Modern Art Evening Sale is delighted to present In the Mood for Love - Day One (Lot 1038), the first non-fungible token (NFT) created by director Wong Kar Wai and the first Asian film NFT to be offered by an international auction house.

This NFT reveals a secret storyline shot on the first day of filming In the Mood for Love (2000), which won the Technical Grand Prize as well as the Best Actor award for Tony Leung at the 53^rd Cannes Film Festival. This never-before-seen footage from the first production day is like a spin-off from the film, offering an unprecedented look into this cinema classic, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary. With this piece, the viewer will delve deeper into the cinematic world that Wong Kar Wai has constructed, becoming immersed in the early stages of his process; the work captures a priceless moment of inspiration. This important 90-second clip tells a story that was never presented on the silver screen. The protagonists are still played by Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung from In the Mood for Love, but their roles and personalities are very different from the film versions. In this footage, Tony Leung plays Ah Hung, a character with more rakish charm than the original film’s Chow Mo-wan. Ah Hung’s showy plaid suit jacket contrasts with Chow’s neat, urbane, and somewhat bookish look. In the short film, Maggie Cheung’s character is nothing like her original reserved, conservative character; she has a chic, flirtatious wit. In the close-up that Wong conceived, her every glance and movement convey an atmosphere of intrigue. The brief interaction between these two characters presents the unique romance of In the Mood for Love—ambiguous yet thought-provoking.

Upon announcing that Wong Kar Wai created this NFT in early September, Replica Shoes ’s released the sensational ten-second teaser. The special muted teaser is an ingenious device that allows viewers to create their own visions of the interaction on-screen. Between the smoke rings, Cheung's character seems to say from the depths of her heart, “Now I know what love’s about.” She continues, “Come to my place tonight,” offering a glimpse of her hidden desires. Ah Hung hears her words and gently raises his head, leaving the viewer to imagine what follows.

Powered by blockchain technology, NFTs are unique and verifiable pieces of digital media. With the gradual maturity of digital asset markets, NFTs have swept the digital art world, offering a new way for collects ors to collects . Traditional artistic mediums such as oil painting and sculpture convey artistic inspiration and innovation in physical form, and past art collects ing involved owning the physical work of art. The rise and maturity of NFTs signal a breakthrough for collects ors wishing to verify their ownership of digital artworks. As a new platform for digital art, NFTs re-define the form and meaning of collects ing and owning works of art. They authenticate the source of a digital asset and define the scarcity and uniqueness of the piece in the virtual world, shaking up the world of art collects ing.

Wong Kar Wai’s original film and the NFT were made two decades apart, but both are forerunning works in their respective t.mes s. In The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai, Wong notes that the narrative structure of the film was inspired by Duidao, a novel by influential Hong Kong writer Liu Yichang. The Chinese name for Duidao came from the French word tête-bêche, which Wong extends beyond the original philatelic use into the realm of film. Su Li-zhen and Chow Mo-wan move from learning about the truth of the extramarital affair between their spouses to falling in love themselves - contrasting the depiction of a bold relationship against the backdrop of conservatism in Hong Kong during the 60s.

In the Mood for Love ends in 1966, when Chow visits the ruins of Angkor Wat while reporting on General De Gaulle’s historical visit to Cambodia. The ending of the film signals both an end and a new beginning in Chow’s life. This is also true of NFT creation; this digital trend has swept the global collects ing world and driven a major art historical shift. The art world has been expanded from physical artworks into digital media, opening another artistic realm for collects ors and artists to explore.

本季現代藝術晚拍隆重呈獻由王家衛導演創作的首項NFT（非同質化代幣）作品 ——《花樣年華 - 一剎那》（拍品編號1038），亦是首項在國際拍賣行登場的亞洲電影NFT 。

本作披露2000年勇奪第五十三屆康 城影展「最佳男主角」與「最佳藝術成就」兩項大獎的電影鉅作《花樣年華》之首天拍攝絕密劇情。 這段從未曝光的首天拍攝片段好比電影的外傳，提供一個前所未有的切入角度，讓大家能夠重新認識這部上映二十周年的經典鉅獻。深入王家衛導演所建構的電影世界𥚃，經歷王導創作意念萌發的過程，捕捉靈光乍現的珍貴瞬間。這段歷時90秒的珍貴片段，述說著一段從未曝光於幕前的不一樣的故事：主角是《花樣年華》 電影中飾演「蘇麗珍」的張曼玉以及飾演「周慕雲」的梁朝偉，但在角色配置及人物性格，則與電影版本迥異 — 梁朝偉在這段絕密片段之中所飾演的「阿雄」，相較電影裡的 「周慕雲」多了一份風流倜儻，身穿花俏的千鳥紋西裝外套與其在電影裡西裝筆挺，文質彬彬的書生氣質成鮮明對比；而張曼玉在短片中飾演的角色亦不似在電影裡的「蘇麗珍」般矜持保守，反而多了一份嬌媚靈動，俏皮可愛，在王導設計的鏡頭特寫下，盡現一顰一笑間的眼波流動，以及舉手投足之間流露的萬種風情，散發著不一樣的迷人氣質。二人之間短暫的交流，展現《花樣年華》獨有的氤氳浪漫，曖昧迷濛而耐人尋味。

蘇富比於九月初宣佈王家衛創作此項NFT作品之時，曾發布10秒預告片段，引起廣泛迴響。王家衛特意呈獻靜音預告版本，此一巧妙的心思為觀者預留了想像空間，加入自身對於這段對白的幻想，在畫面的迷濛煙圈之間，我們仿佛能夠聽到內心深處的「現在我知道什麼叫愛情了」，繼而隨著張曼玉的角色道出:「今晚來我家吧」，窺探內心最私密隱秘的慾望投影；片段以阿雄聽畢以後，輕輕抬頭一瞥作結，為觀者留下無限遐思。

NFT（非同質化代幣）全稱Non-fungible tokens，中文譯為「非同質化代幣」，是一種由區塊鏈技術驅動，獨一無二，而且可驗證來源的數碼媒體。隨著數碼資產市場日趨成熟，NFT風潮正迅速革新整個數碼藝術世界。為藏家收藏數碼藝術提供嶄新機遇。傳統藝術媒材如油畫、雕塑，皆以實體寓載藝術靈感和創意，過去的藝術收藏亦以收藏實體藝術為大宗，隨著NFT的崛起與成熟，以數碼媒材創作的藝術作品在收藏者的擁有權認證上將獲得重大突破；作為嶄新的數碼藝術載體，NFT重新定義「收藏」及「擁有」藝術品的形式和意義 ，不但為數碼資產的來源提供認證，更界定數碼藝術在虛擬世界上的稀缺性以及獨有價值，直以顛覆性的姿態震撼藝術收藏界別。

觀照王家衛導演所創作的首項NFT作品，可見電影原作與此嶄新媒體NFT作品之創作時空縱然相隔二十載，各自仍以領先於時代主流的前衛姿態遙相呼應著 —王家衛曾在《王家衛電影 - 花樣年華寫真集》的前言指出，電影的敘事結構取源香港作家劉以鬯先生的小說《對倒》，當中提及小說《對倒》的書名譯自法文tête-bêche，而這詞對他來說不僅是郵票學上的專有名詞，更是電影的語言：「Tête-bêche甚至可以是時間的交錯，一本一九七二年發表的小說，一部二千年上映的電影，交錯成一個一九六零的故事。」如此跨越時空的敘事、加上戲中唯美典雅的鏡頭美學，與故事的劇情設置形成鮮明對比，無不展露他的前衛意識；而且《花樣年華》的時代背景設於六十年代的香港，那是社會相較保守的年代，戲中蘇麗珍與周慕雲從探索各自配偶的婚外情真相，發展自二人之間的婚外關係與情愫，亦顯然屬於當時極為大膽創新的題材。

《花樣年華》的故事在一九六六年完結，如王導所述，「一九六六年代表了一些東西的終結及另一些東西的開始」，故事所指向的不只是兩個人的愛情故事，更多的是呼應時移勢易的社會狀態；NFT創作亦然，此一席捲全球收藏界的數碼熱潮，推動著藝術史上的重大變遷，由以實體藝術藏品為主導，逐步擴展至虛擬世界的數碼藝術，為藏家及藝術家們開闢更多元的藝術生態領域。