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#IndieCinema #FilmFestival
#Japan Organizes "Hong Kong Independent Film Festival" to show protest-related films

Source: Stand News #May25

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#IndieCinema #FilmFestival
#Japan Organizes "Hong Kong Independent Film Festival" to show protest-related films

Just as Hong Kong-produced documentaries about the 2019 Anti-ELAB protests such as "Inside the Red Brick Wall" and "Taking back the Legislature" cannot be run in Hong Kong theatres due to the concerns with the #NationalSecurityLaw; a group of cinephilles in Japan are organizing the second edition of the "Hong Kong Independent Film Festival" (2021年香港インディペンデント映画祭) from 19 June to 25 June, 2021.

The film festival will show 18 feature length and short films from Hong Kong, including documentaries that record the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the 2019 pro-democracy movement.

The organizers aim to help Japanese audience to reflect on the change of Hong Kong society, Hong Kong-China relations and the identity issue of Hong Kong people in the recent years.

Source: Stand News #May25

https://bit.ly/3ipQ3fi

#HongKongCulture #HongKongCinema #HongKongProtests #HongKongDocumentaries
#InsidetheRedBrickWall #TakingBacktheLegislature
#YingEChi
HK Documentary about #PolyUSiege Wins Grand Prize at International Documentary Festival in Japan

The documentary "Inside the Red Brick Wall", chronicling the 13-day police siege of #PolyU during the #AntiELAB movement, has won the grand prize at Japan's #Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. This honor has never been won by a Hong Kong film in its three-decade history, until now.

The film was selected as the best Hong Kong film of 2020 by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. However, it had been shunned by local cinemas after pro-government media labeled it anti-police and anti-government. Its premiere was cancelled only hours before its showing by the hosting cinema.

The panel of judges noted that the documentary showed citizens and students being trapped by the police inside Polytechnic University; it documented the reality of youngsters, including minors, as they faced these dire circumstances, whether or not they had food. Live footage also showed photographers being fired upon within the campus

[editor's note: according to statistics from Hong Kong Journalists Association, 3 journalists had been shot with pepper balls at close range].

The film itself carries historical significance.

The film's directors, listed as "Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers", thanked the organizers through a pre-recorded video. They said that under Hong Kong's current oppressive environment, they must regroup and be formless like water, but believed that "we'll walk together again".

"To all who believe in freedom", they added, "The only response to oppression is resistance. We will keep moving, and keep on filming."

Source: Citizen News #Oct13
https://bit.ly/3awuc0v

#Film #Documentary #Resistance #ProtestArt #FilmFestival
Surprise #Screening of Hong Kong Protest Documentary "Revolution of Our Times" at Film Festival in #Japan

The Tokyo Filmex festival wrapped up on November 7, 2021 with the surprise screening of Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow's “Revolution of Our Times,” a documentary about the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

In an interview, a Hongkonger working in Japan told reporters that she cried so much and couldn’t stop while watching the film.

She added that the film was intense, which reminded her of countless police-civilian confrontations during the 2019 movement. “Perhaps , it is the pain that has connected Hongkongers,” she said.

Another local source reportrf that the theater was full as #Filmex quickly sold out some 700 tickets for the screening.

After the screening, the whole house of audiences stood on their feet and clapped for minutes to show their respect. Even some Japanese shed tears.

“Revolution of Our Times” had its world premiere in July in the #Cannes Film Festival, where the festival deliberately delayed announcing its programming in order to minimize the chance of political blowback from the Chinese government.

The Filmex organizers used the same approach and only announced the screening on November 6, which was one day before the event.

“Revolution of Our Times” was filmed by #KiwiChow for more than a year during the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong that was sparked off by the city government’s attempt to pass a law that would allow extradition to China.

The government action triggered massive peaceful protests, followed by several months of civil disobedience and on-street confrontation. This in turn was met by unprecedented military-style tactics on the part of Hong Kong police, an aggressive prosecution policy by the government and the imposition by Beijing of the #NationalSecurityLaw.

More recently, a new #FilmCensorship law introduced in Hong Kong in early November makes it unlikely that films like “Revolution of Our Times” will be allowed to screen in the city where it was made.

Sources: Citizen News; Stand News; Variety; #Oct7

https://bit.ly/3HkwA9J

#RevolutionOfOurTimes #HongKongCinema #Documentary #Art #FilmFestival #Censorship
Documentary About Hong Kong Pro-democracy Activists Wins Best Cinematography Award in #LibertyMovieFestival in #SouthKorea

#BlackBauhinia, a documentary featuring Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and social movements in Hong Kong since 2016, won the Best Cinematography Award at the Liberty Movie Festival in South Korea on November 24, 2021.

The film was directed by #MaltePhilippKaeding, a lecturer in international politics at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. Now-exiled Ray Toi-yeung Wong and now-jailed Edward Tin-kei Leung, who were representative localists and the founders of #HongKongIndigenous, were among those interviewed by the director.

The documentary also shows footages of the Prince Edward Station Attack by the Hong Kong Police on August 31, 2019, where the police assaulted train passengers indiscriminately.

In the trailer, pro-democracy activist Edward Leung talked about his utopia before going to jail -- a Hong Kong that is free and enjoys automnomy.

Watch the official trailer of Black Bauhinia:
https://youtu.be/HgNriD6U004

Source: Liberty Movie Festival #Nov24

#FilmFestival #Award #HongKongProtests #Documentary
#Censorship #RedLine
Hong Kong Film Censorship Authorities reject two student movies citing national security violations


Two movie screenings in the 4th Ground Up Student Film Festival have been cancelled after the films failed to obtain a Certificate of Approval from Hong Kong’s Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (#OFNAA).

The news came shortly after the amended Film Censorship Ordinance came into effect on 5 November 2021. The amended ordinance sets out the need to put an end to acts and activities that may endanger national security and it also allows the Chief Secretary of Administration to withdraw already-issued screening permits.

On November 19, 2021, Hong Kong Film Censorship Authority first turned down approval for #TheCage, a short film directed by Hong Kong Baptist University (#HKBU) graduate Tsoi Wing-chau. The film depicts totalitarian rule, capitalism, freedom and resistance.

Two days later, another film Piglet Piglet that sets around Taiwan's Presidential election also failed to obtain an approval certificate. The screening of #PigletPiglet was cancelled just over five hours before it was set to be held.

Director of the film, Lin Tsung-yen, wrote on his Facebook page, saying that “local authorities expressed disapproval. They asked me to cut all scenes and information linked to Taiwanese Presidential election and Tsai Ing-wen.”

#GroundUp #FilmFestival #FilmCensorshipAmendment #NationalSecurityLaw #TsaiIngWen #Cinema

Source: Stand News, #Nov21
https://thestandnews.page.link/CgCJg1s5p4D1XvFF8