Last Exit to Kai Tak
In the aftermath of 2014's Umbrella Revolution, five Hong Kong activists are confronted with the question of what it means to be Hong Kongers.
Trial and Error
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.
Franco Mella
Franco Mella is a devoted figure whose life bridges Catholicism and Communism. He has journeyed through Asia, lived simply, and fought for social justice, notably within Hong Kong's protest history as depicted in "Ordinary Heroes" (1999). Mella's path weaves through religious and revolutionary movements, from church beginnings to Communist activism and the Handover, always driven by his missionary spirit and communist ideals. For four decades, he has steadfastly championed the oppressed, undeterred by shifting politics, expressing solidarity through music and protest, and remaining a symbol of wisdom and resilience for the people of Hong Kong.
Rather Be Ashes Than Dust
Memories of his four-year journey focused on the Hong Kong protests. Narrated in the first person, is rich with reflections and contemplations, most intertwined with feelings of guilt.
Pseudo Secular
They are frozen in place, stagnating without any direction. Around them, things change rapidly.
Hong Kong Mixtape
Political engagement spawned the wildest of wonderlands for Hong Kong’s creativity – but as a new law annihilates freedom of expression overnight, underground artists and creatives find themselves targets, and their works disappeared. Together we race to preserve the creative uprising amid China’s crackdown.
Raging Land 1: A Record of Choi Yuen Village
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?
July 1st, An Unhappy Birthday
Handover Law met his girlfriend, Rayna, at the last July 1st march in 2010. This year, they will march again to celebrate their meeting, his birthday and protest the government. This joyful day takes a turn when Rayna runs into her 'mainland Chinese' schoolmate.
Not One Less
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.
Another Home
Cheung Chau, once a fishing village in Hong Kong, has transformed into a tourist spot. Ri-Tai, a food stall run by A-Cheung, reflects local life, absurdities, and societal realities. A-Cheung spends his days playing games with customers like Plumpy, forming bonds that transcend generations. However, the onset of COVID-19 disrupts this sense of community, leaving the island deserted and questioning whether Ri-Tai's simple way of life will vanish.
Head-to-tail
An overwhelming pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong (also described as the Occupy Movement or the Umbrella Revolution in the region) in 2014 has devastated many families in the city. A veteran journalist father, a policeman son and an activist daughter are living in a torn society of Hong Kong. The trios in the Suen family are caught off-guard by the teasing of Moerae, or the Goddess of Destiny. In philately, "tête-bêche", or head-to-tail in English, is used to referred to a pair of generic stamps which is inverted in relation to one another, either through a printing error or intentionally. The stamps are of special value only when they are unseparated. Metaphorically, "tête-bêche" can precisely reflected the portrayed family's tricky situation, that different role-plays or value judgments can lead to sparkling tension among family members, yet somehow the old saying of "blood is thicker than water" prevails.
Raise The Umbrellas
Four years later, Hong Kong’s 2014 democratic Umbrella Movement has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, yet political backlash against protesters has intensified. Repeatedly the target of censorship*, Raise the Umbrellas traces the lineage of the massive Hong Kong protest to the global Occupy movement, 1989 Tiananmen, and its democratic struggles since British colonial days. Highlights range from the Umbrella Movement’s eco-awareness and its burgeoning aspiration for independence, to its empowerment of women -- “umbrella mothers” -- and the rainbow-bridging activism of LGBTQ iconic artists. Incisive and intimate, driven by stirring on-site footage in a major Asian metropolis riven by protest, Umbrellas includes anti-Occupy views that lay bare the sheer political risk for post-colonial Hong Kong’s universal-suffragist striving to define its autonomy within China.
Her Anti-WTO
The 2005 World Trade Conference in Hong Kong was the starting point of the "direct action" that emerged from the Hong Kong protest movement. It was also the first time the Hong Kong police used a large number of tear-gas and beanbag rounds on the street after the 1967 riots. Outside the conference, there were many Hong Kong protestors. Why and how did they get involved in this movement centered on Korean farmers?
6th March
On 6th March 2011, 113 protesters in Hong Kong were arrested for "Unlawful Assembly" after they stormed the traffic lanes of Central during a demonstration against the budget proposal. Protesters were placed in the canteen of the police station for questioning in groups due to inadequate rooms. Three protesters and three police officers, six people with different political views sitting around the table. The copy machine is out of order; it's going to be a long night. So they started chatting.
Age of Valiant
At the forefront of most of Hong Kong's demonstrations, 'frontliners' (aka 'the valiant', yung mo in Cantonese) are the black-clad, masked, often armed youth willing to use violence against the HK government and its heavily-armed police force. Willis Ho's remarkably revealing doc approaches from the inside, giving them voices and offering understanding, not judgment.
Like an abortion, for the very first time
The Umbrella Movement was a wave of street protests that took place in Hong Kong from September to December 2014 as a reaction to oppressive practices of the Chinese government against the citizens of Hong Kong dissatisfied with planned changes in the electoral system. In her feature film debut, To Liu captured the citizens of the western part of Kowloon, Mong Kok, whose protests might not have been as visible as those of the leading activists, but were no less important. The documentary rhythmized by opening entries and darkening of the scene, much like the director’s first film, follows two characters, a master and an apprentice.
The Time of the Individual
Documentary "The Time of the Individual" records records the 7.7 demonstration at Tsim Sha Tsui. To say NO to the Extradition Bill (which is a mechanism for transferring fugitive to Mainland China), Hong Kong protester flooded the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui on July 7 2019. Youngsters use their “own ways” to delivery to mainland travelers the demand of democracy. This shows another peaceful side of the protest as not shown on traditional medias.
Taking Back the Legislature
After a night of planning and mourning, a storm is brewing at early hours of 1 July, 2019. In face of the absurdity of the government's indoor flag ceremony, protesters question the usefulness of peaceful protest and hope to storm the Legislative Council Complex as a last-ditch effort to ignite change in the movement. As they confront pro-democracy councillors outside the complex, their pent-up anger and despair explode.
Almost A Revolution
The Occupy Central movement called for civil disobedience in the middle of Hong Kong’s financial district, in pursuit of democratic elections. The movement attracted many sympathetic students and citizens, and became known around the world as the “Umbrella Revolution” in 2014. This film closely follows the action on the ground: debates within the movement, street speeches, the unofficial referendum which was held as part of the campaign, and the student-led protests at the Central Government Office. It examines the tumultuous thoughts and feelings of seven activists who were there at the heart of the struggle.
Be Water
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.