A Hong Kong film that will be screened at Cannes tomorrow (but probably never in Hong Kong)!

 

A now forbidden slogan scribbled on the wall back in 2019

 

I viewed a film this evening that contained the following quote: "When the press bows down to the authorities, the authorities will mistreat the citizens. This has always happened, worldwide, and it has happened to us."  Upon seeing this gripping account of bravura investigative journalism from Romania, I got to wondering how much longer it'll be before documentaries like Collective won't be allowed to be freely screened in Hong Kong.

 

Perhaps, in the interest of maintaining the appearance that Hong Kong's freedoms are intact even after the imposition of China's national security law for the Special Administrative Region, this will be for a good while yet for films like it which aren't made in Hong Kong and about Hong Kong.  On the hand, I think there is pretty much zero chances of a Hong Kong film that has the Cannes Film Festival has just announced as a late addition to this year's selection: with just the title of Kiwi Chow Kwun-kai's documentary alone bound to upset the powers that be here.   

 

This is a great pity; not least because, according to Variety's Patrick Frater, Revolution of Our Times -- yes, that's the title of the film in question -- "may be the most painstaking and detailed yet" of the documentaries that "chronicle the protests in Hong Kong and the brutal police crackdown".   (And of course I'd love to view this film in order to have my own opinion of it.  But since this is unlikely, I'm going to have to rely on others privileged to view the work to provide descriptions of it, including Screen Daily's Melanie Goodfellow, who has written about it being "both a macro overview of the events surrounding the protests, explaining both their geopolitical and historical context, and also present[ing] an up-close and personal picture of protesters on the frontlines of the demonstrations".) 

 

Additionally reported by both Frater and Goodfellow is that, in an emailed statement, Kiwi Chow expressed his "heartfelt gratitude to Cannes" for hosting the world premiere of his film (tomorrow) and went on to state that: "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!"   

 

For those who didn't realize it, Kiwi Chow was one of the directors of 2015 short film anthology Ten Years.  Last July, another of that cinematic work's five helmers, Jevons Au, announced that he had left Hong Kong for Canada.  I've since been informed by an industry insider that two other Ten Years directors have also decided to go into exile within the past year.  

 

In contrast, Kiwi Chow has featured in articles published in recent weeks that make clear that he's still in Hong Kong and, also, that he's a member of the pro-democracy camp.  In a Reuters piece about "a scarred Hong Kong" earlier this month, the filmmaker talked about having taken out his camera out to film the protests and is quoted as stating the following: "The regime wants us to forget. I hope to use my camera to remember... We are resisting in our memories. We are resisting forgetfulness."

 

In another Reuters article, this one about people who still hope for democracy in Hong Kong, he stated that: "If I really get arrested, I will find comfort in the fact that I am being punished for carrying out justice. And so, I am at peace. I have already passed the challenge of fear."  Suffice to say that I consider him to be a truly courageous man and filmmaker, and sincerely hope that Hong Kong will not join the ranks of Iran in doing such as putting its filmmakers behind bars -- or even house arrest -- any time soon (because, yes, it's indeed a possibility -- something that tells you how much Hong Kong has changed in the past year or so).