Hong Kong Arts Centre Media Partners News

Hong Kong Arts Centre: Moving Images – July and August Programmes

The two film Series, Women Direct. Korean Indies! – Korean Women Independent Film Series and Here We Are. Here We Go.: Swiss Documentaries on Adolescence present their July and August line-ups, screening at the Louis Koo Cinema, . Let's have a look,

Women Direct. Korean Indies! – Korean Women Independent Film Series

In South Korea, women have been voicing out loud through activist such as #EscapeTheCorset, #MeToo, #MyLifeIsNotYourPorn, and 4B (or Four Nos – no romance, marriage, sex and childbirth). The first feminist political party, the Women's Party, has also been recently formed to fight for more influence in the development of the deeply patriarchal and conservative Korean society.

More prominent and realistic images of women have also appeared in Korean cinema. A growing number of women filmmakers are creating courageous and captivating works to make their views be seen and heard, and #SendingMySpirit also encourages people to buy tickets for films with greater female involvement. Proudly presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival and the Seoul Independent Film Festival, the Women Direct. Korean Indies! – Korean Women Independent Film Series brings you on a journey to explore the recent wave of women independent cinema. Our selected works observe and delineate women's places and emotions in the Korean society with great intimacy and delicacy, and will show you a diversity of women's lives that you might not have experienced before.

Screening Schedule:
30/7 (Fri) 7:30pm* Selected Shorts to Wow: Movements / /
31/7 (Sat) 7:30pm* The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin

The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin by Kim Dong-ryung, Park Kyoung-tae
South Korea|2019|115 mins|DCP|Colour|In Korean with English subtitles
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020
East Asian Experimental Competition (Terayama Shuji Prize), Image Forum Festival (Japan) 2020
Asian Vision Competition, Taiwan International Documentary Festival 2020
Busan International Film Festival 2019

Park In-sun has become an orphan during the Korean War, and has been sold as a prostitute for the US soldiers. She has been living in a village next to the US military base for more than 40 years. Never given the chance to learn how to read and write, In-sun has been drawing pictures on waste paper all her life, chronicling her painful and mysterious world of traumas. On a winter night, she finds out that her colleague has passed away and follows her silent funeral. The Death Messengers show up and spot In-sun. When they make up stories for their targets to lead them to afterlife, In-sun refuses to give in and creates her own story. The desire of fiction resides in resistance, and not staying as a victim.
Co-directors Kim Dong-ryung and Park Kyoung-tae have been making shorts and documentaries on the US Military Camp Town since the 2000s. Their previous film, Tour of Duty, won Special Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and Best Independent Film at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.

Here We Are. Here We Go.: Swiss Documentaries on Adolescence

The world is in the midst of a seismic shift, and the human race is experiencing and learning about life, society and culture anew. In this time of history, we have discovered greater divides among people from different backgrounds much more than we were aware of. How to deal with differences and changes? How can we come to terms with challenges? How do we place ourselves in the world?

“Here We Are. Here We Go.: Swiss Documentaries on Adolescence” celebrates the human spirit for survival and hope by looking into how adolescents and their families from different backgrounds feel, contemplate and tackle difficulties – how they develop their mental stamina and coping mechanism and find their place in the world. People from all walks of life form a universal tension that drives where the world is marching towards. Youngsters are our future, and how adults enlighten them to love and resolve discrepancies is their future. These unusual and intimate stories of growing up from different parts of the world will inspire us about a thing or two.

Screening Schedule:
3/7 (Sat) 3pm*
4/7 (Sun) 3pm* 
29/8 (Sun) 8pm* 
30/8 (Mon) 8pm*
*With online after-screening talk. Conducted in English.

Who Are We? / Wer sind wir? by Edgar Hage
Switzerland| 2019| 98 mins |HD | Colour | In German with English subtitles
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival (Poland) 2020
Solothurn Film Festival 2020
IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2019

Helena (19) and Jonas (11) are both severely handicapped and have high support needs. Ostracised for being different and having the difficulty of expressing their needs, they put their parents, families, schools and society to the test. However, the film shows that new social networks can be cultivated and it is evident that social cohesion is crucial for improving the experience and quality of life – not only for Helena and Jonas but also for everyone in their environment. The film breaks the wall that surrounds people with special needs, and shows how a common language and community can help us understand human nature and better ourselves, posing the question of who we are.

Wake Up on Mars / Réveil sur Mars by Dea Gjinovci
Switzerland, France|2020|74 mins|HD|Colour|In Albanian and Swedish with English subtitles
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Tribeca Film Festival New York 2020
Nominated for International Dox Award, Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival (Kosovo) 2020
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Hainan International Film Festival 2020
Visions du Réel, International Documentary Film Festival Nyon 2020

In Sweden, after a Kosovor family's request for asylum has been rejected, two sisters of the family start to develop a mysterious malady, resignation syndrome, until they lie in a vegetative state. Their devoted parents work their best to keep the children alive, and try to rebuild a normal life far from their native Kosovo where they are victims of persecution due to their ethnicity. As the family's future hangs in the balance of another pending asylum request, its youngest brother dreams of building a spaceship to escape the reality of his sisters' illness. This film is a powerful and captivating metaphor for the contemporary refugee experience. Will the family stay in Sweden? Will the sisters wake up?

Sapelo by Nick Brandestini
Switzerland|2020|92 mins|HD|Colour|In English with English subtitles
Best Feature Film, Visions du Réel, International Documentary Film Festival Nyon 2020
Best Documentary Feature, Ojai Film Festival 2020
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Nashville Film Festival 2020

Two young brothers, JerMarkest (11) and Johnathan (10), are growing up on the picturesque and isolated barrier island of Sapelo. Accompanied by their adoptive 70-something year old mother, Cornelia, they experience the joy of exploring the island under her loving care.
Sapelo was once a destination for slave traders, and became a sanctuary for those freed after the American civil war. It is also the last remaining enclave of the Saltwater Geechee people, which are originally from West Africa. Cornelia works to preserve what remains of this unique community established by her ancestors. Reflecting on the complicated splendour of her youth, Cornelia strives to shepherd her sons through theirs. At the dawn of adolescence, the brothers inherit her hope, but begin to clash with each other and the wider world. 

Under the Skin / Sous la peau by Robin Harsch
Switzerland|2019|85 mins|HD|Colour| In French with English subtitles
Audience Award, International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes (Biarritz, France) 2020
Geneva International Film Festival 2020
International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film 2019

Because Robin Harsch's friend was starting an organisation for young people who were LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or questioning), he became curious and started filming an unfamiliar topic. With great sensitivity and openness, Harsh took two years to film three trans teenagers – Soän, Logan and Mixair/Effie Alexandra – along the road towards transition and the conquest of a desired identity. The film tackles delicate gender issues, and allow those directly affected by these matters to express their truth. Faced with the oppression of heteronormative society which thinks in generally sterile and binary terms, it takes these protagonists determination, strength and courage to be themselves. They “encourage us to hope and believe in a society where all of the finer nuances of humanity can be expressed and enjoyed without sterile and dangerous prejudices.”

Ticket Price
Individual tickets: $80 / $64* *20% discount for tickets for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, and people with disabilities and the minder and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients. Tickets for CSSA recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis.
*For each screening, 20% off for each purchase of 4 or more standard tickets.

Tickets are now available on Hong Kong Movie.

About the author

Adriana Rosati

On paper I am an Italian living in London, in reality I was born and bread in a popcorn bucket. I've loved cinema since I was a little child and I’ve always had a passion and interest for Asian (especially Japanese) pop culture, food and traditions, but on the cinema side, my big, first love is Hong Kong Cinema. Then - by a sort of osmosis - I have expanded my love and appreciation to the cinematography of other Asian countries. I like action, heroic bloodshed, wu-xia, Shaw Bros (even if it’s not my specialty), Anime, and also more auteur-ish movies. Anything that is good, really, but I am allergic to rom-com (unless it’s a HK rom-com, possibly featuring Andy Lau in his 20s)"

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