Invisible Nation helps to make Taiwan (more) visible (Film review)

 

Seen on the fourth day of my most recent Taiwan trip

 

Invisible Nation: Extended Cut (USA-Taiwan, 2024)

- Vanessa Hope, director and co-producer (along with four others)

 

I first heard about Invisible Nation soon after its September 2023 debut at the Woodstock Film Festival.  But with things being the way they now are in Hong Kong (with not only a number of Hong Kong protest documentaries not being allowed to be screened in cinemas but, also, certain films from Taiwan and elsewhere that were apparently adjudged to have breached the national security law), I held little hope of being able to view this documentary about Taiwan that was shot for the most part during Tsai Ing Wen's presidency. (Filming of the documentary began in May 2017, one year after she assumed office.)

 

So imagine my surprise upon discovering earlier this week that that which is listed as the extended cut of the film (yet is 82 minutes long, in contrast to the 85 minutes listed length (on IMDB) of the original version!) made available on the PBS platform is available to view in Hong Kong (as well as the USA) sans VPN!  And to confirm that, as of a few minutes ago, this documentary remains available to view, and for free too!

 

Invisible Nation begins with beautiful, peaceful vistas of a green tropical land with seas and urban along with rural scapes.  It then proceeds to show a smiling Tsai Ing Wen meeting school students and telling them that she hoped to learn from them "what you hope your country can do for you."  

 

Right there and then, it's made clear that Taiwan is a distinct place, and most definitely a democracy.  So one feels quite the frisson when the film then follows up with a view of The Great Wall of China and the sound of Chinese leader Xi Jinping stating that "Taiwan is part of China".  The People's Republic of China, it is implied.  In other words: non-democratic, authoritarian, Communist China.

 

Over the course of Invisible Nation, one also learns of how, in addition to denying that Taiwan is an independent nation, the government over in Beijing does its utmost to deny Taiwan visibility in the world -- and how the world for the most part, including world organizations like the United Nations and International Olympic Committee and other international sports bodies, goes along with it; with Taiwan not being a member nation of the United Nations, and Taiwanese sportsmen and sportswomen having to compete these days in international tournaments under the name "Chinese Taipei" and the Taiwanese national anthem not being allowed to be played when Taiwanese athletes win at the Olympics.

 

Despite it looking to be a David versus Goliath battle, Taiwan -- especially during the presidency of Tsai Ing Wen -- is not taking all this lying down.  (Why would it?  Especially when we know that in the Old Testament tale, David beat Goliath!)  And what Invisible Nation also makes clear is that Taiwan's existential struggle is two fold: with one part involving Taiwan working to stay politically independent and democratic; and the other part telling Taiwan's story to the world.

 

With Invisible Nation helping to fulfill the latter task, it's easy to see that there are people who will accuse it of being a propaganda work.  And for sure, Vanessa Hope does present Taiwan in a friendlier light than the People's Republic of China.  Ditto with regards to Taiwan's first female president (who, after serving two terms, has been succeeded by her vice-president, William Lai Ching Te -- as an afterword in the extended cut points out) being presented in a more favourable manner than Communist China's "president for life" (who assumed the offices of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission back in 2012)!

 

At the same time though, Invisible Nation does present facts and figures, not just biases and vibes.  The documentary also does provide a historical perspective and portrait of a culturally diverse people that is helpful in allowing people to understand the overall situation and picture; one that, frankly, can come across as very complex and complicated, and overwhelm those who come into a viewing of this film with (next to) zero prior knowledge of East Asia -- though my own sense is that Vanessa Hope pitched this at just the right level, so that you don't have to be a complete East Asian political wonk to be able to comprehend and follow it all!

 

My rating for this film: 8.5          

A Foggy Tale dispenses hope for a better tomorrow even in times of (White) Terror (Film review)

  

A Foggy Tale screened at the Hong Kong 

Cultural Centre's Grand Theatre 

 

Lead actor Will Or on stage at the post-screening Q&A

 

A Foggy Tale (Taiwan, 2025)

- Chen Yu Hsun, director-scriptwriter

- Starring: Caitlin Fang, Will Or, 9m88

- Part of the HKIFF's Galas program 

 

The "White Terror", the name given to period of martial law and violent political repression of by the then ruling Kuomintang political party, lasted for 40 years. In 1989, two years after it ended, Hou Hsiao Hsien made the first film about it, the seminal City of Sadness.  In the years since, a few other filmmakers have mined this subject, including another great Taiwanese auteur, the late Edward Yang, with A Brighter Summer Day (1991).  

 

Clearly though, there still are a lot of stories to tell about those tumultuous times. And by way of this winner of four Golden Horse Awards (including for Best Narrative Feature, and Best Original Screenplay for its director-scriptwriter), Chen Yu Hsun has produced a powerful work that deserves to be spoken in the same breath as the works of Hou and Yang -- and honoured the memories of those who unjustly perished during the White Terror and those who survived against the odds.    

 

A Foggy Tale tells the story of Yue (portrayed by Caitlin Fang), an orphaned teen from an impoverished rural family whose beloved elder brother is captured and killed by the Kuomintang.  Determined to bring his body back home (rather than have it end up in a common grave), she makes the approximately 250 kilometer journey from Chiayi to Taipei.       

 

Plucky but naive, she soon gets abducted by men aiming to sell her off to for a few hundred (Taiwanese) dollars.  Very fortuitously for her though, she also had crossed paths with a Cantonese ex-soldier turned rickshaw driver whose foul mouth belies his heart of gold and Kung-tao (played by multi-lingual Hong Kong actor, Will Or) and he comes to her rescue.  Over and over again, as it turns out.   

 

In addition to being this film's title, A Foggy Tale also is the name of a story that Yue's elder brother tells her elder sister (played by the actress whose stage name is 9m88), a Taipei resident who Yue had previously never really known as the elder sibling had been sold off when Yue was very young.  In addition, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that director-scriptwriter Chen thinks that many people today have foggy memories of the White Terror and that he wants to cast light on those terribly trying times that he, who currently is in his 63rd year, lived through.  (More than by the way, his Wikipedia entry includes the following line: "After failing the university entrance exam, he had no choice but to enlist in the military.")

 

More than by the way, there is no escaping from the fact that A Foggy Tale is an intense film with painfully tragic and stomach-churningly horrific moments and scenes.  But director-scriptwriter Chen makes this excellent dramatic work easier to watch and digest by including in it colourful characters, some light, even (darkly) comedic segments, and a hope that better days and futures lie ahead, for individual people and, also, their nation as a whole.      

 

My rating for this film: 9. 

Stranger Eyes is on the strange side! (Film review)

  

Seen on the screen before the final 2025 Hong Kong

International Film Festival screening I attended 

 

Stranger Eyes (Singapore-Taiwan-France-USA, 2024)

- Yeo Siew Hua, director-scriptwriter

- Starring: Wu Chien Ho, Lee Kang Sheng, Anicca Panna, Pete Teo

- Part of the HKIFF's Cinephile Paradise program 

 

While the Hong Kong International Film Festival was in progress, two friends and I discussed our fest picks. Upon hearing that Stranger Eyes was among my selections, one of them jokingly asked me, "Are you sure?  Lee Kang Sheng's in it!"  Whereby I pointed out that although he's been in a number of films I've disliked (including Goodbye, Dragon Inn and I Don't Want To Sleep Alone), all of them had been directed by Tsai Ming Liang -- unlike this one!

 

Post viewing this Yeo Siew Hua directorial effort, however, I must say that I get the sense that Tsai Ming Liang is a filmmaker that this work's helmer admires though; and not just because of the Singaporean director-scriptwriter having got Tsai Ming Liang's favourite actor to appear in his movies.  Among other things, the slow and methodical pacing appears to be influenced by Tsai Ming Liang too; and ditto re the film's improvisational style, which lends it a quirkiness and unpredictability that seems rather, if I were to culturally stereotype, un-Singaporean!

 

Despite being a multi-national co-production, Stranger Eyes' setting is entirely in Singapore though.  Also recognisably Singaporean are elements such as the film's focus being on individuals who live in apartments -- one group in a three-generational household, the other in a two-generational one.   

 

Initially, Stranger Eyes centers on the former.  Junyang (played by Wu Chien Ho) and Peiying (portrayed by Annica Panna), their baby and his mother (who comes in the form of the un-grandmotherly appearing Vera Chen) live together in an apartment.  Or, rather, did -- as baby Bo has disappeared.  One moment, she was at a playground with Junyang.  Then, when his attention was focused elsewhere, she seemingly vanished from sight.      

In an apartment in a block facing their apartment live supermarket manager Wu (portrayed by Lee Kang Sheng) and his elderly mother.  Unbeknownst to Junyang and Peiying, their paths have crossed with Wu -- who, it turns out, has been effectively surveilling them at work and from his home; in part because he is fascinated by Peiying, seemingly in part out of boredom and, also, because it's easy enough to do!      

For reasons that never seem to have been made clear, Wu decides to drop off DVDs of recordings of his surveillance "work" at the home of Junyang, Peiying and co.  Whereupon the young couple -- and Officer Zheng (played by Malaysian actor-singer-composer Pete Teo), the cop investigating the disappearance of baby Bo -- get to suspecting that Wu may have kidnapped their young child.  

A strange psychological thriller-drama, not least in that much of the psychological dispositions and quirks of everyone concerned seems to be left to interpretation, Stranger Eyes was most interesting to me in terms of showing the surveillance devices and opportunities to observe others that various people, police but also civilians, neighbours and strangers have at their disposal in today's world.  Videos taken on phones and surveillance cameras are utilized but we also see how, and how much of themselves, people reveal on social media and such.  And how people can stay anonymous in crowds or when in uniform or just carrying out the kind of work and duties so routine that folks barely notice the person doing them.

 

Ironically, even while the people in Stranger Eyes are shown doing things, we actually don't hear them speaking, never mind actually qualitatively conversing, all that much.  So is the message of the movie that we can see but still not understand others around us, including those we live in close proximity to?  Maybe.  For the director -- rather frustratingly to my mind -- appears to have sought to keep his cards close to his chest as well as not wear his heart on his sleeve! 

 

My rating for this film: 6.5

The Woman of Wrath angers more than the eponymous woman seems angry for much of it! (Film review)

The tickets I bought for the 2025 Hong Kong International Film Festival 

 

The Woman of Wrath (Taiwan, 1984)

- Tseng Chuang Hsiang, director

- Starring: Pat Ha, Pai Ying, Chen Shu Fang 

- Part of the HKIFF's Chinese-language Restored Classics program 

 

This 1984 film adaptation of Taiwanse feminist writer Li Ang's The Butcher's Wife is said to be a classic of Taiwanese New Cinema.  I must confess to not knowing about this movie though until I read that a restored version of it would be screened at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival along with works that I am familiar with and rate highly, including Patrick Tam's My Heart is That Eternal Rose (Hong Kong, 1989) and Johnnie To's PTU (Hong Kong, 2003).

 

Starring two familiar names and faces in Pat Ha (who I've seen and loved in offerings like On the Run (Hong Kong, 1988)) and Pai Ying (who I had seen just one day earlier in The System (Hong Kong, 1979)!), I figured that I'd at least get guaranteed an acting masterclass.  And I think I did; what with these two thespians who I've seen in multiple roles play against type as they took on the roles of a much put upon female and a barbaric lout of a man in The Woman of Wrath!

 

Before they are seen in the film though, the audience is "treated" to scenes that set the tone for this harrowing drama in which rape and the general horrors of living in an unsophisticated patriarchal society prominently figures.  A young girl witnesses her mother, a widow who looked to be starving, allowing a man to have sex with her in return for food.  (Talk about a stark illustration about the "food for sex" theory I learnt about in biological anthropology classes at college!)  Then, when a male relative bursts into the room to confront -- and berate -- rather than rescue her, she decides out of shame -- or is it anger and desperation? -- to violently take her own life.

 

That young girl -- who I could easily imagine having become permanently traumatized by witnessing those scenes -- grows to young adulthood and is played by Pat Ha.  Just in time for Ah Shih, as she is called, to be married -- and sold? -- off by her uncle, whose family she had been living with, to a man living in another village a boat ride away.

 

Chiang Shui (portrayed by Pai Ying) is a butcher.  Literally.  And yes, the audience is shown graphic scenes of him and his fellow butchers at work.  (It's worth noting that The Woman of Wrath was previously shown with eight scenes cut that this restored version reinserts into the work.)  He also is shown visiting a prostitute -- a scene that turns out to be the film's tenderest; what with him treating the prostitute with the kind of humanity, not just affection, that he doesn't for anyone else, including the young woman he took as his wife.

 

Chiang Shui's disregard, dislike even, for Ah Shih looks to have begun on their first night together, when she doesn't respond well to his sexual overtures; not surprisingly given that she appears to not have known anything about sex and had not been ignored and not even given anything to eat in between her entering his home and his deciding to bed her after a big dinner and many drinks with his friends.  He does seem to like very much to make her scream and squeal while they are having sex (that is, when he is raping her), the way that a pig screams and squeals as it is being killed by him and his fellow butchers.  

 

Ironically, Ah Shih's loud screams are interpreted by other villagers as ones of enjoyment during sex and she is castigated as a sex maniac by village gossips.  (More than incidentally, many of the womenfolk in the village also come across as envious of her position as the wife of a butcher since their assumption is that she gets to eat lots of meat, unlike them.) 

 

The terrible treatment of Ah Shih goes on for what can seem like an eternity even though the film is less than 2 hours long.  Ditto the wait to see Ah Shih unleash her thoroughly justified wrath.  The fact of the matter though is that The Woman is Wrath is poorly named.  Honestly, I think The Terribly Abused Woman would have been a better title for this painful watch of a work that, if truth be told, I have zero plans of re-watching ever again!

 

My rating for this film: 5.5   

Snow in Midsummer gets critical acclaim and screened outside of Malaysia -- but will it get what it deserves in its home country? (Film review)

  

Poster for Snow in Midsummer on display

at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre during

the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival

 

Snow in Midsummer (Malaysia-Singapore-Taiwan, 2023)

- Chong Keat Aun, director, scriptwriter and co-music composer (with Yii Kah Hoe)

- Starring: Wan Fang, Pearlly Chua, Pauline Tan, Lim Koet Yenn

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Firebird Awards: Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language) program

 

In my previous blog post (and review of Hollywoodgate), I mentioned there being a number of Hong Kong films that cannot be screened in national security law era Hong Kong -- yet my (still) being able to view many works from elsewhere that are banned in their home territories.  Snow in Midsummer may be one more such cinematic effort.  At the post screening Q&A I attended, its director-scriptwriter, Chong Keat Aun, said that he had submitted his drama about what he's called "a hidden wound in Malaysian history" to the Malaysian film censorship board -- but, as yet, had not heard back from them.

 

The same day that it screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Snow in Midsummer was named as the winner of the Firebird Award in the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese language) section of the fest.  And it is set to begin its Hong Kong theatrical run tomorrow -- four days before the 55th anniversary of what's now known as the May 13th Incident (which I used to remember hearing about as the May 13th race riots -- since, in the Malaysian worldview, Malays, Chinese and Indians are different "races" (as opposed to ethnic groups) -- for what seemed like the longest time).   

 

Snow in Midsummer begins on May 13th, 1969. Ah Eng (played by Lim Koet Yenn) is a young girl of ethnic Chinese parentage who's a bullying victim at her Malay language (and presumably majority ethnic Malay) Kuala Lumpur primary school.  Her Nyonya mother, Su Mei (portrayed by Pauline Tan), wants her husband Kooi (essayed by Peter Yu) to get Ah Eng blessed by a medium of Datuk Kong -- but he chose to have a ritual performed on their son Yeow (played by Teoh Wei Hern) instead.

 

The relationship between Su Mei and Kooi appears on the strained side. So it came as no surprise that when Kooi gets two tickets to go watch a movie at the Majestic cinema that evening, he elects to take Yeow with him. The snub ends up saving Su Mei and Ah Eng's lives. Because, the Majestic cinema ends up becoming a massacre site that night -- while Su Mei and Ah Eng, who had contented themselves with going and watching an open air Cantonese opera performance by the temple where the medium of Datuk Kong had effectively held court, were saved by members of the Cantonese opera troupe (whose leader is played by Pearlly Chua) who let them hide backstage with them while others ran riot and murdered or were murdered.

 

Fast forward 49 years and Ah Eng (now portrayed by Wan Fang) is now a middle-aged woman living in Penang. After she learns about a soon-to-be demolished "513 cemetery" on the Kuala Lumpur outskirts, she decides -- over the objections of her husband (who comes across as rude and domineering as her father) to go there on the anniversary of the riots -- to see whether she can find the graves of her father and brother; something her grieving mother had been unable to do all these years. 

 

Snow in Midsummer's director, Chong Keat Aun, spoke about the difficulties of finding Malaysian actresses for his film on account of the continued sensitivites over the May 13th Incident.  And I can't help wondering if the character of Ah Eng would have been more loquacious  if she had been played by a Malaysian actress as an adult rather than a Taiwanese whose lines were largely in Mandarin (despite the film being multi-lingual -- using Hokkien, Cantonese and Malay (as well as English? I forget!) dialogue (whose English subtitles don't quite do them justice).

 

Alternatively, it might have been Chong Keat Aun's intention all along to get the audience figuring a lot of things out for themselves via visual and other cues.  Frankly, I think this is a big ask of Snow in Midsummer's audience since there really are a lot of things that require prior knowledge: of not only Malaysian history but Malaysian ethnic relations, local ethnic traditions and Cantonese opera.  

 

As an example: The movie's title refers to the Cantonese opera performed in the film whose theme concerns a grave miscarriage of justice -- something that Chong Keat Aun clearly believes has taken place not only with regards to what happened on May 13th, 1969, itself but, also, the neglect of its victims over the years. (On a perhaps related note: I also felt that Ah Eng and Su Mei were women who their husbands sought to control -- even oppress -- them, yet were actually strong characters in their own way, even while being much put upon!)

 

In any case, the work does appear to have struck a chord with film festival programmers and audience members at such as Venice (where it had its world premiere), Taiwan (where it was nominated for 9 Golden Horse Awards) and now also Hong Kong.  Still, I do believe that it's in Malaysia where Snow in Midsummer would most resonate.  We can but hope that it will be allowed to be screened there at some point in time -- and without the damaging cuts that removed its essence, the way that has happened to Cannes award winner Tiger Stripes!  

My rating for this film: 8.0

The kind of week that makes one pessimistic about Hong Kong's prospects, however personally resilient one endeavors to be

  

Lest we forget: it's currently a holiday season!

 

Earlier this week, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) released the results of its 2023 review and 2024 forecast survey.  Earlier in the month, PORI had interviewed 501 Hong Kong residents aged 18 or above, asking them to evaluate whether they felt satisfied about the city’s development in the past year and for their projections for 2024, as well as assessing their happiness and prospects.

 

The result, as reported by the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP), was that "Hongkongers have a net optimism rate of zero percentage points for the city’s development in the year ahead". More specifically, "while 40 per cent of respondents were optimistic about the city’s development in 2024, 40 per cent said they were pessimistic, giving a net optimism rate of 0 percentage points".  Lest it not be obvious: "“The very simple picture is that people are very pessimistic about the future of Hong Kong in 2024, on the whole,” Robert Chung, president and CEO of PORI, said in response to a question from HKFP."

 

Interestingly, however, "respondents had a “less pessimistic” assessment of their personal prospects, with 47 per cent saying they expected personal development to improve next year, versus 22 per cent who expected a setback.  “When you ask them about how they feel about themselves, how they cope with [the outlook], they seem to be less pessimistic,” Chung added."  How to account for this?  

 

The way veteran journalist and political commentator Johnny Lau sees it, "While many people found the city’s prospect to be pessimistic, they were able to adjust their mood and feel happy for themselves" Somehow, "while the external environment was uncontrollable, people demonstrated resilience by adjusting their personal feelings".

 

I wonder if people living outside of Hong Kong will find this strange and even hard to believe.  But I must say that I can understand this -- and even have this kind of experience and perspective myself.  Take as an example my mood and situation this week: on the one hand, I've had good times by way of doing such as having had Christmas dinner with family members and spent time doing such as going on enjoyable hikes and walk this week, and also viewing a really excellent film in Abang Adik (Malaysia-Taiwan, 2023) at the cinema; but on the other, I'm also all too aware that this has been yet another week of political repression in Hong Kong.

 

Among the lowlights: Veteran activist Koo Sze-yiu was denied bail for a third time on Monday (i.e., Christmas!) morning over a protest he had planned -- yes, PLANNED (as opposed to carry out) -- against the overhauled District Council "elections" that took place on December 10th (with just 27.5% of registered voters electing to turn up for it!).  A reminder: Mr Koo is 77 years old AND has been diagnosed with Stage 4 rectal cancer; so it can seem mean, if not rather mad, to treat him like he poses a genuine threat to national security.  

 

And yesterday saw three students jailed for up to six years over their involvement in a foiled 2021 plot to bomb court buildings and government offices.  Cheung Ho-yeung, Ho Yu-wang and Kwok Man-hei are currently 23, 20 and 21 years old.  Which means that they were 21, 18 and 19 when they were arrested and charged with taking part in a “conspiracy to commit terrorism” under the national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong on June 30th, 2020.  

 

Of the trio, Ho Yu-wang was singled out as "the plot mastermind who planned to manufacture explosives and target court buildings in 2021".  A reminder: the youngest of the trio, Ho was 19 years old at the time of their arrest and supposed plotting to "commit terrorism". At the same time though, "no bombs were [actually] made and no casualties occurred".  Call me naive but... could the authorities have taken these young people too seriously as threats to national security?!

 

Meanwhile, this morning saw lots of news reports about another young Hong Kong activist having gone into exile.  One of the youngest pro-democracy activists to have been sentenced in Hong Kong under a national security law, Tony Chung is still only 22 years of age but already an ex-convict -- having completed his prison sentence in June of this year.  But, as he's now made public, he was still not completely free -- with his being required to not post or say "anything that would harm Hong Kong’s national security — a wide-ranging and unclear restriction — and not speaking publicly".  

 

Oh, and, as further detailed in a Washington Post piece: "Since Chung’s release, officials from Hong Kong’s Correctional Services Department have requested meetings every two to four weeks, summoning him to random locations and then transporting him to undisclosed places in a seven-seater van, its curtains drawn shut. Chung said that during those encounters, he was interrogated about his activities over the previous weeks, asked to provide the names of elementary school classmates as well as “detailed information about his visits to restaurants and bars, along with contents of [his] conversations.”"

 

"The “deep surveillance and immense pressure” he experienced after being released from prison “disturbed my life, and I couldn’t withstand such torture, both physically and mentally. So I felt that I had to leave Hong Kong,” Chung told the Guardian, hours after arriving in the UK."  Honestly, his decision is understandable for many people.  (And just to be clear: one need not agree with his politics to do that.)

Oh, and this afternoon saw news that the parents of Agnes Chow, another young Hong Kong activist who's gone into exile, were questioned at Tai Po Police Station this morning.  (Agnes Chow lived in Tai Po before she was sent to jail and then moved to Canada.)  As the Hong Kong Free Press reported: "Chow’s mother was invited to assist police investigation as the guarantor of her daughter’s bail, sources told local media on Friday".  And while it may sound innocous enough, the fact of the matter is that what we have now in Hong Kong is the employment of tactics previously associated only with Mainland China and involving using family ties to exert emotional pressure on people.

 

Writing about the treatment that Tony Chung's outlined that he has received post coming out of jail, Bloomberg's Matthew Brooker Tweeted that "The term "police state" gets thrown about a bit, but hard to see how HK doesn't meet the definition on this basis: police state [n.] a totalitarian state characterized by the use of police, esp. secret police, to suppress dissent and exert repressive control over its citizens".  And I'm sure he thinks this too about the treatment meted out to Agnes Chow, her parents, Ho Yu-wang and Co, and Koo Sze-yiu.

 

A darker thought: this week's not over yet.  What other bad developments are in store this weekend... and in the year to come?  And how much more must Hong Kong and its -- thus far, often unexpectedly resilient -- people endure?!

Time Still Turns the Pages is an emotionally devastating work with stories that many Hong Kongers can relate to (Film review)

Poster for this Hong Kong drama that had

5 Golden Horse nominations

 

Time Still Turns the Pages (Hong Kong, 2023)

- Nick Cheuk, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Lo Chun-yip, Sean Wong, Ronald Cheng, Rosa Maria Velasco

 

Like In Broad Daylight, this dramatic offering from debutant director Nick Cheuk (who also is its scriptwriter) was one of the opening films of this year's Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.  And like that film centering on a dedicated journalist going and investigating abuse in a care home, this film about a teacher confronting childhood trauma was nominated for five of Taiwan's Golden Horse awards this year.

 

Time Still Turns the Pages ended up winning two of those: that for Best New Director, and the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature -- and I'm going to say outright that I think these accolades were richly deserved.  Also, after viewing it, I can understand how, despite it being a serious and emotionally devastating work, there are people (like at least one friend of mine) who have felt compelled to go and watch it more than once.

 

In addition to being very well made, Time Still Turns the Pages has stories and characters that (too) many Hong Kongers will find relatable.  The tale that's set in the present involves Mr. Cheng (portrayed by Lo Chun-yip), a secondary school teacher who worries that a student in his class is suicidal after his school's janitor finds an emotional note written by an anonymous youngster. (Student suicide is a big issue in Hong Kong, which saw 27 suspected instances of this in the first 10 months of this year). 

 

Mr Cheng's suspicions initially fall on Vincent (played by Hennick Chou), a student with hearing issuses that get him being mockingly referred to as Van Gogh.  When the educator tries to reach out, his efforts are rebuffed -- with Vincent doing his own hurting by pointing out to the teacher that everyone at the school knew that Mr Cheng has marital problems and is living apart from his childhood sweetheart turned wife (essayed by Hanna Chan).

 

Still, Vincent's slight does not upset Mr Cheng as much as a phrase in the anonymous note that triggers back memories of the situation in his family when he was young; one involving a demanding father (played by Ronald Cheng), a hapless mother (portrayed by Rosa Maria Velasco) and their two preteen sons -- one of whom, Eli (Sean Wong giving an absolutely compelling performance), has (already) been pegged as a loser in life as surely as his brother (played by Curtis Ho) is looked upon as a winner.  

Early on in Time Still Turns the Pages, the stories set in the past are more interesting and compelling (as well as heartbreaking) than the one(s) set in the present.  The movie's genius though is how it connects what happened in the past to the present.  And when the two main stories eventually come together is when the tears truly flowed on the part of this (rev)iewer!  

 

In addition, that's when one comes to really appreciate the character of Mr Cheng: one that's complex, multi-layered, and both a flawed Everyman but also ordinary hero -- trying in his own way to make up for the sins of the father even while forging his own understated but nonetheless admirable path.  (To make it clear: I'm really talking about Mr Cheng -- as opposed to Mr Cheuk, the director -- about whom it's been revealed that he's the son of Warner Cheuk, the current Deputy Chief Secretary for Adminstration and thus number three most senior official in the Hong Kong government!)       

My rating for this film: 9.0

Looking back at this past long holiday weekend

  

The nearest I got to the lantern displays at Victoria Park this year

 

...as I found the large crowd pretty offputting!

 

As those who read my October 1 blog post know, I did not go out at all all day, never mind that evening.  Instead, I celebrated World Sake Day this year by having quite a bit of sake at home, by myself, in the middle of the day -- something which made me so sleepy, if not super mellow, that I actually ended up in bed for much of the day!

 

Neither did I venture out the evening before -- although I did go out for part of the day to get prepared for an upcoming festival I'm very much looking forward to.  More specifically, I spent a good chunk of Saturday going about procuring tickets for this year's Hong Kong Asian Film Festival screenings.  And the ticketing system being expectedly awful (due in no small part for one month's worth of film festival screenings all going on sale at the same time!), I'd estimate that I ended up spending around 20 minutes queuing for tickets and travelling between screening venues to queue for tickets at their ticketing counters for each ticket I ended up getting!

 

A quick film diversion: Expectedly, a number of the Hong Kong titles that will screen at the fest feature among the list of nominees for Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards which just came out today.  And yes, they were among the films whose screenings sold out earliest.  Still, the film whose screenings appeared to sell out the quickest was actually Wim Wenders' Perfect Days, thanks to lead actor Koji Yakusho's popularity in Hong Kong and news that he will be coming over to grace this year's Hong Kong Asian Film Festival!  (And yes, I think it's safe to surmise that among the Hong Kong film fest crowd, Japanese films rule -- along with local Hong Kong offerings which truly have seen a renaissance in recent years!)

 

The one evening that I ventured out on this long weekend was Friday: the night of the Mid-Autumn (AKA Mooncake, AKA Lantern) Festival.  Until last year or the year before though, I didn't go to Victoria Park to view the lantern display there -- because I had seen the size of the crowd -- which undoubtedly was swelled by Mainland Chinese tourists here during Golden Week -- on previous nights and found them horrifying.  (I mean: Covid IS still around after all!  Just today, there's news of a new Covid surge in Singapore and I've also read in recent weeks of Japan experiencing a ninth Covid wave!) 

 

Neither did I end up going to view the Tai Hang Fire Dragon, which actually ventured out into the streets for the first time since 2019.  Ditto re the less well known Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon which I still haven't caught sight of in real life -- but, hopefully will at some point!  Heck, I didn't even do any moon viewing -- even though this Harvest Moon was actually the last supermoon of the year!    

Instead, I went over on Friday evening to the flat of friends and had a mooncake party that involved our sampling a whole bunch of mooncakes (e.g., traditional lotus seed paste with double yolk, red bean paste with orange peel, trendy lava custard mooncakes, an Earl Grey tea mini-mooncake, a durian flavoured mini mooncake, Haagen Dazs ice cream mooncakes)!  And yes, it was a lot of fun!

So, yes, it's possible to have happy moments in Hong Kong still.  Except, of course, it's also impossible to completely forget that, these days, many Hong Kongers have loved ones and/or friends who are no longer in Hong Kong and/or are currently in jail for political reasons.  Including on Mid-Autumn Festival, which traditionally is a day where families gather and reunite, as well as October 1st, a date which previously would see protest marches take place -- something which I saw as a positive sign that Hong Kong was a free society despite it not having genuine universal suffrage, and during which I was happy to see familiar faces with whom I felt an emotional connection and solidarity. *Sigh* 

Of thought crimes, laws for thee but not for me, yet another arrest by the national security police, and Taiwan matters

Filming taking place last July for what I then (already)

wondered was a police propaganda film (as there were

soooo many cops about the place!)

 

I read some news yesterday evening that disturbed me so that I thought it'd be best to sleep on it before commenting/writing about it.  One of them involves the prosecution in the Stand News trial alleging in their closing arguments that "it did not matter whether the two former chief editors had a seditious intent, instead the focus should be whether the materials were seditious, and whether the editors knew they were seditious."  

 

If truth be told, some 24 hours after I first read this, I'm still feeling rather nonplussed by this.  Put another way: part of me I feels like I was reading Jabberwocky, and that the world's gone mad!  And then there's this other bit to process: "Citing the judgement of a 1868 Irish case that read “sedition is a crime against society, nearly allied to that of treason,” [lead prosecutor] Laura Ng said it showed that the sedition law was deemed necessary 150 years ago, a time when “television, radio and the internet were yet to be invented.”  

 

As writer-activist Promise Li was moved to Tweet in response: "Beijing’s regime has used a colonial era law against striking workers to ban masks at protests [in Hong Kong], and now used a colonial era law to quell Irish anti-colonial revolts in the 1860s to show that they don’t need evidence to prove editors guilty of sedition since the law is preemptive."  In so doing, he helped serve up a reminder that it's not just the national security law that is being used to prosecute and persecute. (And Article 23 is still to come -- maybe as soon as before the end of this year.)

 

Then there's this other piece of news which actually attracted more attention over on Hong Kong Twitter:  "Hong Kong’s film censorship law does not apply to government screenings, the city’s censorship authority has said after local media reported that a police publicity film was screened at police headquarters despite not having gone through the official vetting process."  This even though: "Under the [Film Censorship O]rdinance, which was amended in 2021 to include national security clauses, all films must be approved by [the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA)] to be screened publicly in Hong Kong. Any that are deemed contrary to national security can be barred from screening, or the authority can request changes such as the removal of certain scenes."

 

If that doesn't sound wrong and unreasonable to you on its own, consider this: there are now films that are looked upon as illegal for people here in Hong Kong to view even in the privacy of their own homes as well as (other) private gatherings because they have not been approved of by OFNAA. Also, since the film censorship law was amended, "there have been more reports of filmmakers being asked to cut scenes from their movies, including one that showed a 2014 Umbrella Movement scene that lasted less than a second."

 

And if you think it was just a member of the film censorship board thinks this: "The police also told [Hong Kong Free Press] on Monday that the Film Censorship Ordinance did not apply to the government."  As journalist Ryan Ho Kilpatrick Tweeted in reaction: "Rare sighting of government outright saying they’re above the law."

 

Some other sample reactions on Twitter by various netizens: "They said the "one rule for us" part out loud"; "Rules for thee but not for us... Hong Kong rule of law"; and "But of course some animals are more equal than others…".  Then there's this in greater detail by Nathan Hammond (in a Twitter thread): 

If I were an administrator in Hong Kong and worried about the appearance of placing police and government above the law I would maybe not state that laws don’t apply to the government.

Just me, but I’d get them to apologize, pay the fine to the gov, and go get the rubber stamp.

 

Like, this is just an accounting and paperwork problem if you follow the rules with the bonus of setting whatever precedent you want in the “prosecution” of the offense.

Instead they chose the much worse option of, “the laws don’t apply to the government!”

 

They’re so used to operating with impunity that they continue to advertise the breakdown of the rule of law in Hong Kong rather than taking advantage of these opportunities to get an even better outcome for themselves.

Exactly.  

 

Oh, and here's something else that happened yesterday: yet another arrest by the national security police.  This time of a 63-year-old man for allegedly "seditious" social media posts.  "According to the police, the man – who was apprehended in Tsim Sha Tsui on Monday – was suspected of publishing online content “several times” that incited the overthrowing of the Central government as well as hatred towards the Central and Hong Kong authorities."  Sad, but we've heard this before.     

 

But, then, there's also this: "He also allegedly advocated Taiwan independence and Hong Kong independence, and “desecrated” the national flag and national anthem."  Do you see the new bit:  Advocating "Taiwan independence", not "just" "Hong Kong independence"?!

 

Coincidentally (or maybe not), "Taiwan residents have been warned against “accidentally stepping into a minefield” and being arrested under Hong Kong’s national security law while travelling to the city by the self-ruled island’s authorities." (More than by the way: note the Hong Kong Free Press' careful description of Taiwan in the previous sentence!) 

 

And should you doubt their seriousness, the interestingly named Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of Taiwan "reminded Taiwan residents to register their personal information with the government before going to Hong Kong to allow the authorities to assist anyone who may be arrested in the city."  It also stated the following on its website: "Even if you are not a Hongkonger and do not reside in Hong Kong, you run the risk of being arrested if you enter Hong Kong… or transit through the city with so-called ‘criminal behaviour’".  Words the world, not just Taiwanese folks, should heed, I reckon!  

Leaving on a Jet Plane: Final Images of Hong Kong by Photographers Who Have Emigrated Recently (despite clearly f**king loving Hong Kong) (Photo-essay)

Two years ago today, the final issue of Apple Daily came out.  Two years on, a number of its senior editors and executives are behind bars -- including its publisher, Jimmy Lai.  And while a good number of its former staffers are not behind bars, quite a few have left the media industry (and become such as taxi drivers) and still others have left Hong Kong.

Speaking of which: there's an exhibition currently on at Lumenvisum -- but which is scheduled to end tomorrow -- entitled Leaving on a Jet Plane: Final Images of Hong Kong by Photographers Who Have Emigrated Recently featuring work by at least one former Apple Daily photographer.  (My apologies for not having blogged about it earlier but I found out about it -- by way of an article about it by the Hong Kong Free Press -- only recently myself!)  

 

When reading about the exhibition, I was shocked to find that: it features works by not, say, two or five or 10 or even 20 but 31 -- yes, thirty-one! -- photographers who have left Hong Kong in recent years.  Also, that a number of them are names I recognise -- by way of such as photography credits in newspapers.  Seeing their work, it's clear that they are talented and really f**king love Hong Kong; so it is a loss and tells you quite a bit of the state of Hong Kong that they have decided to be part of the exodus from a place whose views they have shared via this exhibition -- views which can tear at one's heart...

 

I returned to the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (where

I had gone to check out another photo exhibition last year)

to view this particular photography show

 

View of the exhibition, with Tse Ming-chong's

On the Road in the foreground

 

Samson Cheung's series of photographs is entitled Home

 and documents what would have been an ordinary evening

at home in Hong Kong for his family (who now reside in Canada)

Shan Kwok's Until we meet again are photos of the 

backs of her parents who, unlike her, 

have remained in Hong Kong

 

Jimmy Wong's That Night in June

was taken at Admiralty on June 16th, 2019

 

Chan Kai-chun (aka MC)'s Everything is as Usual

documents students revisiting a site of trauma

-- specifically, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

 

Look carefully and you can see the characters "ga yau" and 

"Hong Kong" etched on the brick pavement in Joe Lau's Origin

 

Winson Wong's work is untitled but, in the exhibition program, he -- 

who's moved to Taiwan -- stated for it that "We came from HONG KONG"

(and, yes, I choked up upon seeing those words and photo :S)

International recognition of Chow Hang-tung, and Hong Kong's lack of press freedom on World Press Freedom Day (May 3rd)

Golden sky in Hong Kong the day after Golden Week ended! :D

 

Let's start with what passes for good news for pro-democracy Hong Kongers in the national security law era: It was announced yesterday that Hong Kong lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung had been chosen by South Korea's May 18 Memorial Foundation as the winner of this year's Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.  ""Chow Hang-tung's struggle against the Hong Kong government's undemocratic, inhumane treatment has become the source of courage and hope for human rights advocates and those longing for democracy around the world, even when she is in custody," said Moon Hee-sang, head of the judging panel and former speaker of the National Assembly."

 

Some context from an article in The Korea Times: "The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights was established in 2000 to mark the spirit of the Korean movement for democracy and honor those who fight for human rights and peace. Previous winners include Cynthia Maung, a Burmese doctor and founder of Mae Tao Clinic which has been providing free healthcare services for internally displaced people and migrant workers, and Arnon Nampa, a Thai human rights lawyer and vocal critic of the country's monarchy."  (The Gwangju Uprising, known in South Korea as May 18, began in Gwangju on May 18th, 1980, and had as its goal the ending of dictatorial rule in the country.)

 

Also from the same South Korean new piece: "Chow, 38, who is in prison now after being convicted of inciting and taking part in arranging an unlawful assembly ― a commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre ― has become a symbolic figure for everyone who is longing for democracy, a judging committee said at the May 18 Memorial Foundation office in Gwangju".  And yes, it is heartening to get more confirmation that Chow is seen as such in territories beyond Hong Kong as well as her native Hong Kong.  (More than by the way, Chow Hang-tung also is one of six Hong Kongers nominated for the Nobel Peace Price this year.)

 

Sadly, since Chow is currently behind bars (and looks to be so for a time), she will not be able to travel to Gwangju to accept her award.  Instead, "[o]n behalf of Chow, her representative is expected to receive the award at the ceremony on May 18, Korea's anniversary of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city."  And if it so happens that the six Hong Kongers nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize were to win it (a long shot but, hey, there's a chance!), they all would have to have representatives accept it on their behalf -- as was the case with Liu Xiaobo back in 2010.  

 

While we're on the subject: another of the six Hong Kong Nobel Peace Prize nominees is Gwyneth Ho, another Hong Kong political prisoner I got to thinking of yesterday as a result of it being World Press Freedom Day on account of her having been a journalist before becoming a political activist.  Ho and Chow are just two of the Hong Kongers I have much respect and admiration for; with ex-Stand News chief editor Chung Pui-kuen being another, and a fourth being former RTHK program producer Bao Choy, who yesterday began her final appeal over her conviction for making false statements to obtain vehicle records to make a documentary about the July 21st, 2019, Yuen Long attacks.   

 

The fact that Gwyneth Ho is currently a political prisoner, Chung Pui-kuen is on trial for sedition (and may well end up serving time being bars) and Bao was convicted for what many people don't see as a crime should tell you something about the state of journalism in Hong Kong. Put another way: it's not a surprise to see Hong Kong "languish near the bottom of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom ranking released on Wednesday’s World Press Freedom Day".

 

More specifically, Hong Kong "ranked 140th among the 180 regions in the international media watchdog’s latest ranking, trailing behind Colombia and Cameroon. [Meanwhile, (Mainland)] China ranked 179th, just above North Korea."  And while it's true that Hong Kong's ranking this year is eight positions higher than it was last year, it's only because press freedom had deteriorated even more in other territories rather than because the situation in Hong Kong had improved from a year ago!

 

As Cédric Alviani, East Asia bureau director of RSF pointed out, the international media watchdog noticed that 13 “press freedom defenders” (who include Gwyneth Ho and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai) had been detained under “trumped up charges” in Hong Kong.  In addition, the RSF "had observed “an increasing number of journalists in exile,” including those who made “a very difficult decision to leave their home due to increasing pressure from the government” for places including the UK and Taiwan."

 

Speaking of which: Taiwan is at number 35 in the RSF's press freedom ranking -- which makes it the highest ranked Asian territory.  For context and comparison: the top-ranked territory is Norway, the United Kingdom is positioned at number 25, the United States is ranked at number 45, South Korea is at number 47 -- and even Malaysia, whose press I don't consider all that free, is at number 73; a whopping 67 places higher than Hong Kong!