Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Film

The film tells the story of a friendship between a girl, Jane, and a boy, Mike, who wander around an arcade in an urban village, fighting together against the worries of growing up in a depressing environment.

The conflicts between two generations, between the urban and the rural are intensively examined. When a grandfather and his grandchild experience loss concurrently, they realize the older generation’s protection of the ancestral land and the youth’s defense of the city are cut from the same cloth. Decades have passed, but the people of Hong Kong still do not have an answer for their rootlessness.

Mainland student Yi Yao comes to study in this busy city. Before her roommate arrives, she is all alone staying in a rented apartment of an old tenement building. Unfamiliar with everything, she tries hard to explore around only finding that the neighbours are noisy, weird and unhelpful; especially after the man living opposite to her getting killed. Being hungry and helpless, she locks up herself in the flat and acts strangely. Can anyone help her? Through a series of mysteries, social issues like Mainland students flocking to Hong Kong, overcrowding living area and indifferent neighbours are covered in the short film.

Ma and his friends trace a sea monster from a fairy tale they heard on the floating island.

In our life, we are afraid of death and want to catch the most important person or the best time of our life, however, we can’t control that, but we need to face that bravely. The story emphasises the message about the cycle of life, relationship, and connection between family and generation and the concept of Chinese death. The thesis of the story is about growing and finding the meaning of death.

Shenyang, in deep winter snow. Two promising 12-year-old Beijing opera students, Dong (‘winter’ in Chinese) and Nuannuan (literally meaning ‘warmth’) are practising their stage moves diligently and fervently in order to secure their place in an upcoming performance in the capital. Nuannuan has a crush on Dong but Dong is lost in a daze – of a muted longing for his dead mother and a nameless affection for the girl’s young aunt – which unfolds in the juxtaposing scenes of a lone balloon drifting away and a colourful kite soaring into the sky. The train is soon to leave for Beijing, a fond farewell has been bided. Dong has to make his journey, with or without Nuannuan.

Japanese band Aomori Hensou is the only thing that makes Mei Bo feels alive in this mundane city until she meets Lily, her new neighbour. It happens that Lily is also a huge fan of the band so they start to get along with each other like twin sisters. They wander around the city, from second-hand CD shops, to goldfish market, and other secret spots that nobody knows. Lily eventually gets tired of the excitement from Mei Bo and starts exploring the city on her own. One day Lily appears at the door of Mei Bo’s home together with the news of the break up announcement of their favourite band, but there is only an empty room left in front of her.

The girl’s hair is tied in braids by her mother every morning. The rigorous woman believes the tighter the braids are, the tighter the mother-daughter bond is. So, the little girl lives with the achy, throbbing feeling from her scalp and tries to understand this painful love. Actually, there is a little fantasy in her mind which is never mentioned or carried out, until an accident happens…

It is always a lesson on communication between father and son, especially when they are having different points of view on life and death. Hung Fat raises up his son by running his coffin shop. However, his son Chun Wai is a doctor. They are detached to each other. Chun Wai does not understand why his father is so insisted to maintain the old shop. Until one day, Chun Wai inherits the coffin shop, then he understands the important of the shop to the neighbourhood. No matter how the society and environment changes, the meaning of life and death is the eternal lesson which we all have to understand.

If existence precedes essence, then everything is meaningless. “Perceive as you see, believe not what you perceive, then accept what you see as they are.” A girl who died is reborn without memory and embarks on a journey to explore the meaning of life.