Discoveries from Hong Kong SAR China World Cinema

Qiu Ying is a jealous dancer. Although she has been married for more than ten years, she still has a lot of control over her husband's every move. One day, Qiu Ying saw her husband chatting with a dancer and became so jealous that she argued with her husband and then killed him by mistake. She was about to run away, but she entered a park by mistake, and was so frightened by the murals of the Ten Emperor's Palace and the Nine Hells that she ran home. After returning home, Qiu Ying feels more and more uneasy and has to take sleeping pills to get some sleep. During her sleep, Qiu Ying dreams that she is in the underworld and witnesses all kinds of tortures in the hell. After waking up, Qiu Ying is deeply condemned by her conscience and decides to confess and turn herself in.

In the community office of a residential building in Beijing, a senior citizen choir comes together every Thursday singing Mongolian songs without any accompaniment. Thoese eventful days spent in Inner Mongolia have left enduring memories to them…

Until 2015, the government proposed land resumption without consultation to build a subsidized housing unit. In Hong Kong, where land is extremely expensive, it is not difficult to become a target for eradication if it is regarded as "no economic value". Cloth vendors roar for their common beliefs, between struggle and life, between politicians and bureaucrats, in Sham Shui Po "shacks", in the wind and rain, on sunny days, this is their living space.

Sammi Cheng performs live for her 2004 Concert Sammi Vs Sammi

Hong Kong-born Toronto resident Jenny (Jennifer Chan) is unnerved to the point of sleeplessness by the sudden disappearance of her fiancée Charles (Wayne Kwok). After overhearing a conversation, she enters Dreamtrips, a computer service that allows customers to travel into their own dream worlds. With the initial help of a guide, she wanders though empty cityscapes until she eventually happens upon her beau. Due to a systems crash, Jenny is abandoned in this virtual world which she does not know how to navigate.

This Anti-ELAB (Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill) Movement documentary short takes us back to the airport occupation on 12 August 2019. Although this new form of protest soon turned into a crisis, it became an important lesson for the protesters. Compared to the tension inside the airport terminal, the long walk home at sunset on the Lantau highway, which connects the Hong Kong International Airport to the residential areas, felt like a reminiscence of a school field trip.

Based on the legend of Lady Meng Jiang.

Berlin, known for its freedom and inclusiveness of diverse subcultures, is a safe haven for many displaced people. But urban life may not provide the best living conditions. Idealistic traveller Moon struggles to find accommodation in Berlin but receives a helping hand from Anna, who is also a Hong Konger anxious about her unstable life. They temporarily stay at the 15-person co-living facility named Hausprojekt ‘K28’. However, this group of migrants—some have experienced social unrest back home and others just want to experience life in a foreign country—are facing eviction. Two women with very different personalities share what they have and face the hardships of life together. The Berlin-based director uses her perspective as an Asian woman to explore the clash between humanism and gentrification. Featuring Golden Horse nominee Elizabeth TANG and artist Sammi MAK in leading roles, the film deromanticises the situation of Hong Kongers living in a foreign land.

Demonstrations and examinations of Tae Kwon Do kicking techniques.

Liang Hongyu was originally a descendant of a general in the Northern Song Dynasty. Unfortunately, her father died in battle, her mother committed suicide, and she became a courtesan. She studied martial arts diligently and vowed to join the army to avenge her country and her family.

As Silili looks for balance, she uses the power of frequency and resonance to begin a magical journey. She dreams of becoming a tree spirit one day. After leaving her mother tree, Silili—just like the other elves—sets out to discover who she wants to be. Along the way, she doesn't realize that her adventure harms a tree, but helps all the plants of an entire island.

A man with no memory wakes up in the woods, pursued by mysterious forces closing in on him, forcing him to confront a chilling reality he cannot escape.

This early video work by Anson Mak unfolds in four parts: found footage exploring gender ambiguity in Cantonese Opera, a dance sequence in Central, an interview with a lesbian woman, and commentary from a friend in the form of a reflexive documentary. Together, these segments probe the representation and subjectivity of femininity and queer identity in early 1990s Hong Kong.

An imaginative scientific movie offers room of reflection. In a futuristic world, everything sticks to “rules”. Operators monitor same computers and do routine work as they are told to; nothing more, nothing less. On the other end, an imprisoned young man repeatedly kills himself in a single cell. This man turns to be a “bug” which might endanger the whole “system”. One day, the suicide programme is activated again, and operator Alpha is called to take care of it. Things lost control all of a sudden and Alpha is seized. Infected and reprogrammed, is life all about endless trials and errors?

A short visual meditation, OF THE UNKNOWN is set in Hong Kong where millionaires and the ‘working poor’ live side by side in one of Asia’s wealthiest and most densely populated cities. The film explores how our notions of freedom and happiness are shaped by the place we occupy, both literally and metaphorically, in our society. What is the importance of freedom when one faces a daily struggle for survival? Is it even possible to have dreams, or to dream, if one was never given any opportunities in life? https://vimeo.com/113548756

Taking us from Hong Kong's 1997 handover from British rule into Chinese administrative control, all the way to 2019, when a controversial extradition bill is greeted with massive street protests, this urgent film beds in with Hong Kong's pro-democracy demonstrations, offering a frontline portrait of four young protesters through a year of struggle. We see their hopes for a freer life and feel their fears as the authorities crack down. Pulse-racing scenes bring the viewer to street level, where peaceful protest is met with fury and tear gas. Clear-eyed about the complications and contradictions that come with a movement that changed Hong Kong forever, Hong Kong: City on Fire is a brave document of troubled times.

1998 short film by Rita Hui

In the artist's first solo return to Bangkok, they navigate the unfamiliar within the familiar. Through technological fantasies of an alternate self left unexplored in Hong Kong, they interrogate artificial intelligence in search of answers. By observing and emulating local youth culture, they reflect on lifestyle, belief, and their evolving understanding of identity.

Ka-long, a wanderlust graduated from the University of Hong Kong, always dreams of backpacking to many countries with his guitar. While he believes he is trapped in Hong Kong, his family thinks that he is simply wasting his life and not settling down for a better future. He is getting more uplifted after he meets Wen-wen, a girl speaks with a Taiwanese accent. While they are dating, Wen-wen makes an effort to hide her true identity from Ka-long. Can they finally resolve the undercurrent of their relationship? Let’s Get Lost ultilises the thematic motif of road movie genre – both protagonists have to embark on a journey of revealing their true identity. As a result, the film widens its scope to the geo-political differences between Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

An experimental film for 12 Faces of Women Concert.

Hau was sleeping soundly when suddenly he found himself unable to move. Struggling to open his eyes, he saw a woman in red pressing down on him…

A ruthless serial killer by the name of Man discovers his choice of victims has a common trait and that it has to do with a mysterious organization. When he tries to set things right, unbeknown to him, it was actually his autonomy that is at stake.

Difference in generational values is perhaps as old as time itself, and can neither be explained nor resolved. An ambitious teenager is eager to explore the world by reaching the other side of the river. He meets an indifferent and unenthusiastic ferryman. The tiny ferry is not large enough to hold dissenting opinions. The ferryman considers the teenager naive while the teenager thinks the other spineless with no stance. Reflecting on the present, their conflicts and separate beliefs make a consensus almost impossible. Two people set for sail, yet only one reaches the shore. On the other side of the river, the youngster, instead of hope, witnesses the end of an era.

HK horror film.

Xun, a Chinese migrant worker, falls in love with Chong, a Malaysian colleague at her warehouse job. Their relationship is like an endless dance of two jellyfish in the ocean, making ends meet with no end in sight. Until one day, Xun announces she is pregnant, which is a deportable offense, and the fates of Xun and Chong are altered forever.

Death is a moment whose reverberation endures for the living. Three students from the Audio-Visual team are shooting a documentary on a schoolmate who has recently committed suicide. It is intended to convey a ‘positive message’ to the entire school about the importance of life. During interviews, the students notice some discrepancies in the testimonies, particularly those by a prefect and a teacher, while friends of the deceased seem to be withholding some inconvenient truth. Should the team pursue the truth, or act as the school’s propagandist? Filmed in a mocumentary style, The Handbook of Suicide Prevention challenges and exposes the hypocrisy and suppression that haunt adolescence.

This is a story about facing the challenges of a changing era. In a world where martial arts have lost their value due to the arrival of alien technology, martial artists become marginalized. The protagonist, Blacky, a black cat with a mechanical arm, seeks revenge for his slain master. Determined to confront enemies equipped with alien tech, Blacky uses traditional martial arts. Amidst challenges and obstacles, he strives to find his own worth and redefine the meaning of martial arts in a transforming society.

The documentary “Be Water” records the clash in West Kowloon on 20th October, 2019. Police issued objection notice to the march protest organised by Civil Human Rights Front. The march eventually turns into a clash. Protestors flowed like water, disperse and re-assemble while contending the police.

A young boy successfully transforms into Superman, but he can’t find a way to turn back to human.

A young boy in a dark room must face alone a mysterious threat.

During the turmoil of 2019 Hong Kong, before pursuing his studies in Taiwan, the director was abruptly frozen in the present by a message from his father. As Hong Kong entered a pandemic lockdown, the director, now in Taiwan, began to Skype call his father, unpacking his traumatic memories and their entangled hearts.

Pan lives two lives. During the day he is the son of a traditional Hong Kong family. But at night he transforms into the unapologetic drag queen Pansze Diva entertaining the underground of the city. Ultimately looking for acceptance by their parents, what does a death in the family change?

This is a film about Choi Yuen Village, documenting villagers’ lives in the summer and autumn of 2009. Suddenly, weekly meetings, guided tours, protests, and ambiguous government consultations entered their routines. They had to recount their personal histories and the meaning of life. The common belief that protests were only about money began to loosen. The word "agriculture" reemerged for Hongkongers. The timeline depicted in the film leads up to the peak of the anti-high-speed rail protests around the Legislative Council. In the end, the railway was decided to build. In spring and summer 2010, villagers searched for land and negotiated with the government to rebuild their homes and lifestyle, valuing community, and coexistence with nature. What sustains their deep connection to land and life?

In Hong Kong, echoes of resistance and turmoil are sensitively captured on 16mm in this poetic rumination of public spaces and everyday life in a metropolis in upheaval.

A fascinating glimpse of the Chinese diaspora across southeast Asia, this Hong Kong production follows a wayward husband through Southern China and Thailand, and tracks the travails of the wife he leaves behind.

Brazil, a warm, cheerful, carefree, and peaceful South American country, is an alluring destination. Even pop diva Anita Mui chose this location to film a music special, and specially invited Elaine Kong, who often imitates her, to make a cameo appearance. The story follows Anita (Anita Mui) as she flies to Brazil to find her boyfriend Ricky. Before her mission even begins, her luggage is almost stolen. Fortunately, her kindred spirit, Xiao Yu (Elaine Kong), who immigrated to Brazil with her uncle when she was ten, comes to her aid. The two thus begin a friendship. However, along the way, Anita almost misunderstands Xiao Yu as a thief. Will the two be able to break the ice and reconcile? Will Anita be able to successfully find her boyfriend Ricky?

Further adventures of Wong Fei Hung

Everyone has secrets. ‘He’ has one hidden for many years. He wakes up one day to find himself locked in an enclosed room. Did he lock himself there? If not, who did? As he tries to escape from the room, he starts to realise his secret may have led to his imprisonment. Can he escape?

He feels like a bloated balloon; he wonders if he still breathes. He bumps into a girl who once sat next to him at school, he wonders if it means anything to revisit the memories of secondary school. Or does he merely want to prove how incapable of breathing they all have become? Once she dreamt about becoming a dancer, now she works as a yoga instructor, teaching others as well as herself to breathe properly. Balloon vividly portrays the disillusionment, loneliness and nostalgia of people who have been working for almost a decade. Just how jaded have we all become?

A young father makes a migration decision without notifying his relatives, creating tense moments in the family. Concurrently, several body found cases in town remind him about the memories of his father’s death long past and gone, urging him to suspect that his family is trying to hide something from him…

Always the good daughter, Chieh-Ju meets Wai-bun, who has recently moved to Taiwan from Hong Kong, and the lovers soon contemplate marriage. During the wedding preparations, an unexpected encounter with Wai-bun’s old acquaintance from Hong Kong causes turbulence in the relationship, when secrets of Wai-bun’s past surface. Chieh-Ju realises that there is much she does not understand about this stranger from this strange place with a strange history, and her ideas of love, honesty, loyalty and goodness face an unprecedented challenge. This short offers a rare discussion of contemporary sexuality set against the recent social upheavals of the region.

Girl meets girl but is too afraid to ask her out. Half a year later, they meet again at a friend's party and decide to re-discover Hong Kong together. Pretending to be one-day tourists, two young women re-experience this familiar city from a new eye. But the frantic pace of the city can't keep two hearts from beating as one.

Makino Takashi takes us to a place where different rules apply. He overwhelms us with his universe, which is built up of countless images, figurative and non-figurative, accompanied by an equally sophisticated soundtrack. At times very abstract and distant, at others almost palpable and narrative. We naturally seek recognition in the infinite layering of the images, and in so doing compose our own story, based on what we ourselves know of the world, using our personal references to help us. In this way, a work arises unique to every viewer, which continues to reverberate long after we leave the cinema.

The Rich Girl and Her Double

A marksman armed with a Remington gun; a security guard working in transfer and delivery of cash and valuables day in and out; a gambling addict owing an unpayable mountain of debts to a triad gang – this is a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen. Siu-wah is a trusted confidant and colleague turns into a mole, working from the inside in a heist that goes terribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of a colleague and a triad member. Now the gang boss wants revenge, giving him the final wake-up call to be a man and do what he must do to atone for his sins.

An average of 60,000 people emigrated from Hong Kong each year in early 1990s. An absolutely personal and biased sampling of this diaspora from an insider/outsider perspective just before the 1997 handover. Based on the personal experiences of individuals from Hong Kong in 1990s, Diasporama is an experimental documentary that addresses issues of the diasporic condition. In a series of intimate interviews that explore the relationship of the personal and the political, Yau Ching confronts notions of nationhood, identity, and post-colonialism. Inserting her own face and voice as a form of mediation, the artist herself becomes one of the subjects.

The documentary “Not One Less” records the clash in Hong Kong Island on 31st August, 2019, and the assembly on Mid-Autumn festival night supporting protestors in custody. The protests initiated by the "Extradition Bill" has continued for more than 100 days. In this period, over 1000 citizens were arrested, a number of people committed suicide, and there are rumors that some protestors are missing. In the clash scene, protestors strive to protect their comrades from being isolated. After the clash, they still care about their comrades in custody. On the mid-autumn festival night, they sang loudly outside the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, to let their comrades know that they were not abandoned.

Based on true events, a Hong Kong teenage girl’s first day out of juvenile detention center takes an unexpected turn.

I made June when I didn’t have any inspiration to create a feature film. The documentary is about the rarely known stories in the social movement in June. At first the clips of videos were kept for sorting out my feelings, but after being edited, they were made into a documentary and became a record of history. Six scenes and voices were used to tell what happened during that month.