bc magazine

Revolution of Our Times 時代革命 to Screen at Cannes Film Festival

Described as ‘a film by HongKongers’, the Festival de Cannes will screen Kiwi Chow’s documentary Revolution of Our Times 時代革命 about the 2019 protests against the extradition law.

“I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Cannes. It is our honour to have the world premiere of Revolution of our Times Hong Kong has been losing far more than anyone has expected. This good news will be a comfort to many HongKongers who live in fear; it also shows that whoever fights for justice and freedom around the world, are with us! And HongKongers are staying strong!” said Chow in an email statement about the film’s inclusion in the festival.

This is how the film’s trailer is introduced on YouTube…

//“Hong Kong is on the frontlines of a global battle for freedom.” TIME Magazine

Over the past fifty years, Hongkongers have fought for freedom and democracy but have yet to succeed. In 2019, the “Extradition Bill” to China opened a Pandora’s box, turning Hong Kong into a battlefield against the Chinese authoritarian rule.

The award-winning director of “Ten Years: Self Immolator,” Kiwi Chow, made this documentary to tell the story of the movement, both with a macro view of its historical context and up close and personal on the front lines.

The 2019 movement is always labelled with the characteristics of “decentralized leadership”, “be water” (flexible tactics), “do not split” (unity but in different ways) and “blossoming everywhere” (protest all over the territory). The film covers seven teams of protestors with different stories which are put together as a comprehensive picture of the versatile movement.

Democracy and freedom are now facing an unprecedented crisis over the world. The film Revolution of Our Times is not only about the battle of Hongkongers but is about a war between all freedom lovers and dictatorships of our globe.//

Coverage of the documentary’s addition to the festival by Variety

//Cannes this year is chock full of issue-led programming about climate change, crises in Africa, diversity and equality. Few topics are as pressing or complex as the ideological clash between the liberal West and China’s modern brand of Communist-badged totalitarianism…

…Cannes is taking a significant gamble in giving the film the red carpet treatment. At a minimum, the festival risks a diplomatic complaint from mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities. China was previously so enraged by the Academy of Motion Pictures’ nomination of “Do Not Split” that the Chinese broadcast of the Oscars ceremony was cancelled and media were ordered to downplay the event.

It is likely that Cannes organizers have anticipated a negative reaction.

They’ve chosen to play “Revolution of Our Times” at the end of the festival, when the trio of mainland Chinese films have already played and can’t be withdrawn in protest. But there’s now a risk that China will boycott future editions of Cannes, just as it is punishing the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan for the island’s go-it-alone tendencies.

One explanation for the inclusion of the film may lie in Cannes programmers Thierry Fremaux and Christian Jeune’s visit to Hong Kong during the protests. Walking through the battlefield of the streets, they became eye-witnesses to a painful but cinematic civil war.//

More coverage by The Hollywood Reporter

//Cannes has frequently stood with filmmakers facing political persecution in their home countries, such as Iranian director Jafar Panahi (This Is Not a Film) and Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov (Petrov’s Flu), both of whom were under house arrest and unable to attend the festival when their films were screened.

But Hong Kong’s protest movement has found precious few allies over the past two years, as Beijing has leveraged China’s outsize economic clout to attempt to punish any companies or individuals who dare throw their support behind democracy in Hong Kong…

…Hong Kong politics also are believed to have resulted in the 2021 Oscars ceremony being totally blocked from broadcast in mainland China and Hong Kong earlier this year. Broadcasters and regulators never supplied a reason for the mysterious suspension of the awards show in Greater China, but many connected to the industry believe it was intended as retribution for the Academy’s nomination of the Hong Kong protest film Do Not Split in the best short documentary category (past critical comments made by Oscar best director winner Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) about her home country also irked the authorities).//

images: Dear Bros

Cancellation of Taiwan Equals Love Screening

The documentary Taiwan Equals Love has been pulled from the EU-Asia Rainbow Docs festival after the Film Censorship Authority refused to authorise the screening of the full documentary, Broadway Cinematheque announced.

The organisers of the ‘EU-Asia Rainbow Docs’ regret to announce that the scheduled full-length documentary “Taiwan Equals Love” will no longer be screened.

The Film Censorship Authority did not authorise the screening of the full documentary. We jointly decided to cancel the screenings of the film, in accordance with our agreed policy not to screen censored films in this programme.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

In May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Director Yan Zhexuan’s documentary Taiwan Equals Love chronicles the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for this landmark achievement.

Humanising the struggle through the portrayal of three LGBTQ couples from three generations facing different legal and social challenges but all with the same dream of getting married. Their perspectives provide an intimate context and address the question of why this fight for equality and dignity is so important for millions of LGBTQ people everywhere.

EU-Asia Rainbow Docs
Date: 30 June-11 July, 2021
Venues: Broadway Cinematheque
Tickets: $95 from www.cinema.com.hk/en/movie/special/19

EU-Asia Rainbow Docs

EU-Asia Rainbow Docs presents a series of screenings and talks with the aim of providing local audiences with insights into the global LGBTI+ community.

Presented by the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macao and the Goethe-Institut Hongkong, in association with Broadway Cinematheque, the festival includes 12 documentary features and 4 shorts.

The programme assembles documentaries cutting in from different perspectives, showing the lives of groups with different ages, ethnicities and religious backgrounds, recording their intimate struggles and the same yearning for an equal world.

EU-Asia Rainbow Docs
Date: 30 June-11 July, 2021
Venues: Broadway Cinematheque
Tickets: $95 from www.cinema.com.hk/en/movie/special/19

Do Not Split Wins Norwegian Award

The Oscar-nominated documentary Do Not Split about the 2019 Anti Extradition protests has won Video Documentary of the Year in Norway and it’s director/cameraman Anders Hammer is Video Journalist of the Year.

The jury’s reasoning: In the documentary «Do not split», Anders Hammer takes us into the streets of Hong Kong and gives us a unique insight into the uprising against the authorities that unfolded in 2019. Through Hammer’s proximity to the sources, we get to feel on the body what it’s like to be young student in Hong Kong and be afraid of losing key human rights when new bills are to be passed. His brave and well-planned working methodology, as well as his excellent presence with a camera, is remarkable.

Unfolding across a year and filmed from within the heart of the 2019 protests, Anders Hammer’s Do Not Split captures the determination and sacrifices of the protesters, the government’s backlash, and the passage of the new National Security Law.

The film’s title is a reference to the Cantonese phrase 不割席 that roughly translates as “Do not split, do not divide, do not snitch on others.” The phrase emphasizes unity among the protesters, reminding Hongkongers in both the peaceful and more radical camps that they are fighting for the same cause.

Hammer commented “I tried to move in flow with the development in the demonstrations, which were very unpredictable. There were large and small demonstrations all the time, and the demonstrators rarely had an idea of where the actions would end. Sometimes it was over before it had started because the police came and scared people away.”

“Then there could be street fights and long cat and mouse sessions,” Hammer added “There was a lot of evening and night work, and it was extremely unpredictable, but there was an insane energy among the protesters. It was incredibly fascinating to see.”

The documentary is largely divided into individual sequences, which show different parts of the protests. It follows several people, and much takes place in the center of the demonstrations.

“I have thought that the documentary will reflect and do what happened justice, at the same time as it gives a greater insight into the political and human” said Hammer.

Watch fieldofvision.org/do-not-split

The Oscars take place on 25 April.

Larger Than Life: The American Civil Rights Movement in Documentaries

As part of Black History Month, Larger Than Life: The American Civil Rights Movement in Documentaries takes place online from 25 February to 1 March 2021. To raise awareness and promote cultural and racial harmony in Hong Kong, this free film showcase introduces major figures in the African-American civil rights movement from the 1950s to the 1970s, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and Shirley Chisholm.

Their philosophies still affect racial, class and gender relations in America and the world to this day. The documentaries explore their influential roles in contributing to the social progress towards greater political and cultural understanding. There will be after-screening talks and a talk on racial relations in Hong Kong.

8pm, 25 February, 2021
King in the Wilderness
Director: Peter Kunhardt

8pm, 26 February, 2021
Malcolm X: Make It Plain
Director: Orlando Bagwell

8pm, 27 February, 2021
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Director: Stanley Nelson Jr.

8pm, 28 February, 2021
Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed
Director: Shola Lynch

8pm, 1 March, 2021
Talk: Racial Relations in Hong Kong
Venue: Africa Center Hong Kong

Online registration for screenings: https://hkmovie6.com/filmFest/bab6bb4b-be1e-4ca1-8fb5-e892e57ff829

Registration for the Talk: https://hkac.org.hk/registration/?event=ij4EtZnOyY

Larger Than Life: the American Civil Rights Movement in Documentaries
Date: 25 February – 1 March, 2021
Venue: Vimeo
Tickets: Free

Images: Courtesy Library of Congress

Raise the Umbrellas – Fundraising Screening

Evans Chan‘s documentary Raise the Umbrellas explores the origin and impact of Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement through the inter-generational lenses of three post-Tiananmen democratic activists – Martin Lee, founder of the Hong Kong Democratic party; Benny Tai, Occupy Central initiator; and Joshua Wong, the sprightly student leader.

Alongside voices from unknown “umbrella mothers,” student occupiers (Yvonne Leung and Vivian Yip), star politicians (Emily Lau, and “Long Hair” Leung Kwok Hung, as well as the pro-Beijing heavyweight Jasper Tsang), prominent media professionals (Jimmy Lai, Cheong Ching, Philip Bowring), international scholars (Andrew Nathan, Arif Dirlik and Hung Ho-fung), and activist Canton-pop icons Denise Ho and Anthony Wong.

https://youtu.be/Q2kxtQW-nAA

"Raise The Umbrellas" trailer (https://youtu.be/Q2kxtQW-nAA)

Driven by on-site footage of a major Asian metropolis riven by peaceful protest, Umbrellas reveals the Movement’s eco-awareness, gay activism, burgeoning localism and the sheer political risk for post-colonial Hong Kong’s universal-suffragist striving to define its autonomy within China.

There will be a post screening discussion: panelists will include Dr. Au Yeung Shing, Eric Ng Man Kei, Au Lung Yu, Dr. Lau Siu Lai

Raise the Umbrellas – Fundraising Screening
When: 7:30pm, 4 December, 2016
Where: HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Multi-media Theatre
How much: $1,200, $600, $300
More info:
Tel: 2891 8482, 2891 8488, 9800 7169
Fax 2891 8483
Cheque payable to “Centre for Community Cultural Development Ltd”or bank-in slip (Bank of China: 012-694-10049720). Tickets are also available at CCCD, L205-208 JCCAC, 30 Pak Tin Street

Yellowing

The Umbrella Movement happened over two years ago when tens of thousands took to the streets of Hong Kong in a fight for democracy. Yellowing is a documentary that sheds light on the nameless, ordinary young people whose massed peaceful protest stunned the world.

The film is composed of 20 memorandums, each recording a different aspect of the movement, more of daily chores, that in the most realistic respect, made this seemingly unrealistic defiance possible. Where there is discord, may we bring harmony; and where there is despair, may we bring hope.
Director: Chan Tze Woon

Yellowing
Director: Chan Tze Woon
When: 15, 22, 29 October, 2016
Where: HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Multi-Media Theatre
Tickets: $70 from Urbtix
More info:
In Cantonese with Chinese & English subtitles

Chinese Documentary Festival 2016

This year’s Chinese Documentary Festival, which runs from 9th September to 16th October, will showcase over thirty films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan across three categories – Features, Shorts and Selection of Hong Kong Documentaries. The films encompass a wide range of themes including art, politics, religion and current affairs. Several of the films directors will attend the Festival to share their experience with the audiences.

Features
The featured Chinese documentaries tend to focus on social issues such as demolition and education – My Land and Wandering Village both discuss the issue of demolition, with the former describing an agricultural family’s struggle for their land and the latter utilising the recycling industry as the background of the woes that workers have due to demolition. A Purpose Built School highlights how the “Gaokao Factory” twists the meaning of education, while Xu Tong’s Cut Out the Eyes takes the historical drama Er Ren Tai to the cinema, morphing the protagonist’s misfortunes into a complain against violence.

The Taiwanese films are relatively more emotional. Kuo Shiao-yun’s Meeting with Bodhisattva documents how Taiwan’s U-Theatre has guided a group of released inmates to rise above their old habits and temptations. In My Foreign Hometown, foreign brides in the Hakka community shows a united and positive attitude towards life. Trapped at Sea, Lost in Time is a major production, and tells the stories of fishermen far away from home. Rolling on the Stage, Rolling for Life brings to the audience the art of Taiwanese folk opera, while depicting the thrilling stories of the opera troupe members behind the stage.

Shorts
This year’s Shorts category focuses on the many highs and lows of life. Taiwanese director Shen Ko-shang’s Murmuring Days captures the moments of cancer patients with their families, showing how love shines through even the darkest of times. Stand By You provides an account of social welfare organisations aiding children with experiences of misfortune, impressing audiences with its underlying sentiment. A Story of the Remainders documents an ordinary family plunged into turmoil, bringing to light the devastating change that resulted from the demolition of Taiwan’s military communities. Shangshu Seminary witnesses the reconstruction process of this Sichuan Catholic monastery, with the alarming murders that happened in the course of reconstruction showing the dark side of human nature; on the flipside, Atayal Mother’s Peaches uses the story of a peach farming family to show the resilience Taiwans’s aborigines retain in the face of adversity. A Perfect Crash documents the political downfall of Sunflower Movement student leader Chen Wei-ting due to a sex scandal, while Nameless provides the openly humourous attitude a street vendor poses towards overcoming the challenges in life.

Selection of Hong Kong Documentaries
With the media increasingly self-censoring, documentaries are becoming an important medium to expose the stories the media won’t cover. This year’s Selection of Hong Kong Documentaries category contains several impressive films. Cheung King Wai’s The Taste of Youth lends an ear to the heartfelt confessions of nine teenagers, broadcasting the neglected voices of society’s young ones. In Parent Cheering Team, parents and children are similarly engaged and excited in baseball, with the pricelessness of family relations emerging from within. Kong Rice witnesses the involvement of a teacher in a revival of agriculture movement in the New Territories, with the aim of environmental conservation. Yellowing and 75 Days: Life, Liberty and Happiness record the comings and goings of the Umbrella Movement, while Van Drivers 2 sees the Umbrella Movement through the eyes of volunteer workers. More than Conquerors provides a discussion on the relationship between religion and society, while the unique Zero Acceleration employs fantastic camerawork to lead the audience from bustling city life into an urban oasis. Tai O Diary, the works of Visible Record’s Master Class 2015, shows the charms of Tai O in different aspects.

Chinese Documentary Festival 2016
Date: 9 September – 16 October, 2016
Venue:
Hong Kong Space Museum (10 Salisbury Road, TST)
Hong Kong Science Museum (2 Observatory Road, TST)
The Grand Cinema (2/F, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, TST)
Tickets: $85, $70
More info: www.visiblerecord.com