The still pretty new Golden Scene Cinema
has seen better days than today
I was due to attend a screening of the cinematic offering that was the Hong Kong Film Critics Society's choice of Best (Hong Kong) Film of 2020 this evening. But hours before the scheduled screening of the 2019 Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) siege documentary at the Golden Scene Cinema, the announcement came that screenings of Inside the Red Brick Wall in that commercial establishment would be cancelled in view of the "excessive attention" that the screenings had received in recent days.
In particular, the sustained criticisms it received from pro-Beijing mouthpiece Wen Wei Po over the past few days got people spooked. And for those who are wont to criticize the organizers and cinema for pulling the screenings in view of this: bear in mind that we are now living in a Hong Kong where pro-democracy politician Sam Cheung was today denied bail -- even while three others (i.e., Kalvin Ho, Sze Tak-loy and Lee Yueshun) of the 47 charged with sedition under China's security law for Hong Kong for having taken part in pro-democracy elections last July were granted it -- because he was shown to have stated that “I f**king love Hong Kong” and “Drink more water", and these statements were deemed to be dangerous acts.
It probably didn't help that a number of top Beijing officials are currently in Hong Kong "to attend a seminar on changes to Hong Kong's electoral system" as it would make them -- and their lackeys in Hong Kong -- lose face to have a film like Inside the Red Brick Wall getting public screenings in a commercial establishment while they are in the territory. Call it bad timing then for Inside the Red Brick Wall and those who decided some time back to have it screen as part of Hong Kong Film Critics Society screening series -- but good timing for the Beijingers who, by being here in Hong Kong today, have avoided the worst sandstorm to have swept over the Chinese capital in nearly a decade!
In further Hong Kong-related cinematic news today: this year's Oscars nominations sees a couple with Hong Kong connections. The territory's official nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscars has made the five film shortlist. But while this normally would cause me to jump for joy, I'm not all that excited or happy about this as a result of Better Days being set in Mainland China, having Mainland Chinese leads and having the kind of ending and postscript that one would not see in bonafide Hong Kong movies of old.
As for Do Not Split, the Best Documentary Short Subject nominee by Norwegian filmmaker Anders Hammer: I just don't think it's that good a film. Yes, its visuals are arresting but its lack of context and explanation makes it feel more like protest porn than a genuinely informative documentary work. (And for those who think I'm being overly harsh, consider this review which points out the following: "Hammer does not appear to have any significant background in China: his
traditional field of operation is Afghanistan and the Middle East. The
first time that Hong Kong appears in his Twitter feed is September 2019.
From that perspective, he lacks the skill set and connections to do the
conflict real justice.")
Consequently, what should have been a banner day for Hong Kong cinema has turned out to be a sad one. In summary: we've seen a Mainlandized film pass for a Hong Kong movie; and another film that doesn't really shed that much light on the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests get recognized even while one that local Hong Kong film critics appear to think so not be made available for the public to see for themselves and arrive at their own opinions.
There's a great German film about an artist tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and East German regime called Never Look Away. Here's the thing: plenty of Hong Kongers want to keep their eyes open and fixed on what's happening to their beloved city. But more and more, it's being made difficult for people to do so, never mind be more than witnesses than Hong Kong's destruction and/or demise. So even while they want to never look away (at the very least), it's getting more and more difficult to just plain see things clearly and free of impediments. :(
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