Fresh Wave

Mable, the daughter of HK's infamous rogue cop is at a loss when her father's old debts lead to the murder of her mother. With the help of Inspector Lok and the sage guidance of her God Grandfather, she uncovers a truth she never could have imagined.

Ashes are all that remain when someone dies, as the rest of us carry on with the remembrance of the past, in the form of things that continue to burden us. Granny Di makes a meagre living out of recycling cardboard and found objects on the street, carrying the ashes of her late husband wherever she goes. As the going gets tough, she is reduced to stealing and selling sacrificial offerings from the funeral home. Ellen Liu plays the desolate and desperate Granny Di, rendering a lively and moving performance with a human touch. The short brings us through the nooks and crannies of Hung Hom district, chronicling a sorrowful tale about forsaken old age.

Leaving music school, the happy-go-lucky Ling returns to Hong Kong to her dementia-stricken father, on whom she tries to conduct music therapy. Her demurer older sister Munn, the caretaker and sole supporter of the family, watches with disapproval. Playing the piano piece her father once taught her, Ling seems to register some change in her father’s condition, a glimmer of hope amidst the abyss of oblivion. However, secret animosity and rivalry eventually leads to open conflict between the two sisters, bringing out long-time family traumas. Will music save them?

Is there eternity in the universe? Five-year-old Ka-wing and his younger sister Ka-yan have been asking this question for all time. From a tumultuous childhood in an abusive household, the siblings are delivered to the HO’s, where they find temporary solace and stability. A brief reunion with their biological parents propels the children back onto a trajectory of precarity and shatters their young dream of home, a shifting idea gradually taking form as they grow up. Featuring Loletta LEE Lai-chun (Golden Horse Awards for Best Actress, Ordinary Heroes, 1999) and David SIU Chung-hang, the short is a narration of childhood through a decade of imaging technology.

Ching’s mother asks Ching to take her grandmother in until she is sent to a nursing home and that makes her ponder over her relationship with her mother. Three generations of women, each has their own share of pain.

'...is unsuitable for any man's love.' (Xi Xi, A Woman Like Me) Sum-yin patches up wounds, masks scars and performs other beautician services that, when done well - as she always does - bring comfort to her and appreciation from grateful families. But inside she's hurting. Her job as a mortuary cosmetologist makes her self-conscious about the smell of death that seems to be seeping through and under her skin and looming over her stagnant relationship with Kwan, her oblivious boyfriend. No amount of cigarettes and perfume and cleaning will rid of it. At some point, a decision has to be made.

Ms Chan, a social worker who has just returned to work, receives her first case. She pays a visit to Jia, a single elderly who seems to have accidentally dialled the Care-on-Call Service. Jia has suspicious bruises on his face and Ms. Chan senses a possible family abuse situation. However, Jia’s attitude is unwelcoming and he sends her off right away. Since then, a series of peculiar events make Ms. Chan question her own sense of reality and sanity.

The average person’s head has up to 100,000 hairs. Each strand may be unique in length and texture but they are said to bear our memories of sorrow and worry. Neighbors come to the old shop “Barber’s Time” to part with both their hair and bad memories. Although Cantonese style haircutting is on the slippery slope to extinction, barber shop owner Hoi-chuen wishes for his son Cheung-fat to manage the shop. Aspiring to be a writer like J. D. Salinger instead, Cheung-fat takes over “Barber’s Time” when his father had an accident. Just like his father, Cheung-fat develops rapport with the customers and provides guidance. His own life also turns around when a runaway girl comes to the shop. A magical heartwarming tale of community support and kindness, the short features Kaki Shum from the film “Weeds of Fire”.

Single father Tsui meets university student Gigi who works at an old-fashioned barber shop that Tsui frequents. They bond immediately and begin a profound exchange. The fleeting friendship is a pleasant surprise during times of vulnerability, but does not help to overcome their individual challenges and demons. Tsui continues to put off dealing with a pressing matter that has long been eating him. Amidst the social unrest, Gigi’s outlook and musings on life lead Tsui to reflect on the unsolved matter and he eventually makes an important decision.

A time and space that get mixed up, A brother and a sister, One who loves starting fire, Whereas the other loves extinguishing it, An unusual relationship.

A story taking place in a Hong Kong with a different history. Hong Kong has not undergone a transfer of sovereignty in 1997. In 2003, a teenager, Lap Yan stays at home because of SARS. A girl who is a new neighbor of Lap Yan visits him and stays with him all day. Lap Yan does not realise the outside world is changing, which will affect his own future.

Where may one find bliss, in life or in death? Four disappointed young people meet each other at a rave party, finding bliss under the influence of drugs. After sharing a brief night of ecstasy, they are suddenly transported to another realm via a car accident. Stranded and waiting to be delivered, as the lost souls witness the void and pain they leave behind in the world of the living, each must reckon and reconcile their scarred former lives, every unrequited dream and relationship, before they can finally arrive at the real land of bliss.

Call girl Ruby dates men for pay. Arrested, she seeks help from a lawyer client. He advises her to seek letters of mitigation from people with high social status, and to play along with the probation officer. By performing an act of penitence, Ruby may be given a more lenient sentence. The lies she tells the officer, initially mere tales to solicit sympathy, slowly reveal a heartbreaking story of someone let down by adults all her life.

Liu Yang He, a landmark in Hunan province, is not only the film’s original title but also a well-known Communist folk song in China. It was written during the Agrarian Reform that precedes the Cultural Revolution. Youngsters were sent to farmlands and factories to experience intense labour. They sang to praise Chairman Mao. Kah-kah (Rain Lau) was permanently injured in an industrial accident during that time. When Kah-kah meets this amputated client (Ko Hon-man), they feel sympathy with each other and turn this sympathy into a possibility of love as if they were flowing into a river of no return. Here, Rain Lau’s sophisticated performance resembles her award-winning role in Queen of Temple Street (1990).

Family pains and abdominal cramps—anyone can allow their body to endure the turbulent intrusion alone. After living in Norway for years, Ling brings her foreign boyfriend home to Hong Kong. The family reunion is seemingly harmonious yet unspoken rifts and resentment will be revealed through family therapy. Will it end in reconciliation or a split-up? Bobby YU Shuk-pui, winner of Best Director at the 17th Fresh Wave, brings her family’s story to the silver screen. With real-life family members appearing on screen, the film examines intergenerational conflict through the lens of the young. With scenes of conversational therapy shot like direct cinema and shifting between fiction and reality through switching aspect ratios, the film faithfully and naturally presents the emotional vortex among family members.

“Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.” Inside an after-hours bowling alley, a counselling session is underway with the attendances discussing the various merits and drawbacks of execution strategies and the prevention of occupational hazards. A man offers to play the flute and all hell breaks loose from there. The weapon is a folded chair, the victims his fellow professionals and the crime is predestined by karma. As the camera lingers on the gory actions, set to offbeat music and at times muted and occurring out-of-frame, a foreboding, dark and somewhat sinister overtone hangs heavy in the air. In a profession such as his, life is predestined by karma and choice is not an option.

Ching’s parents are retirees ready to leave for Taiwan where a new chapter awaits them. The only thing holding them back is their daughter’s hesitation to join them. Unbeknownst to them, Ching is stuck in an affair with a married man. She is constantly teetering between trust and distrust, clinging on unfulfilled promises instead of letting go. Life has presented a difficult crossroad to her as she weighs between acting for her own good and following what the heart desires.

18-year-old Shengnan is invited to a mysterious party by her cousin. Upon arrival, Shengnan finds herself surrounded by greasy middle-aged men, with the exception of Jianguo, who is different. Shengnan and Jianguo decide to bail on the party, embarking on a night of adventures in the adult world.

The Winter Solstice has been for the Chinese an important family occasion; however, will this time-honoured tradition become obsolete? The children head back to their family home in the country to see their elderly mother. All seems well on the surface, but each faces their own crisis and difficulty: The eldest brother struggles to raise several kids; the well off second sister plans to leave Hong Kong; estranged from her husband, the younger sister keeps up appearances; and the youngest brother commits to the difficult career as a farmer. The cheerful, animated conversation at the dinner table is overshadowed by simmering anxieties.

"This is a story of fall: of falling into traps and for lies and scams, of falling in love and falling out of love, and of falling for your own lies and falling back into the old ways, spectacularly. Michelle enrols in a self-help course in the hope that she will make her married lover come to his senses and treats her right. When the chanting of positive self-affirmations – Peace! Friendship! Love! – descends into uncontrollable screaming and wailing, will the newly converted be able to see things in a new light or will she wrapped herself up in the shining armour of self-victimisation to keep her from hurting?"