Fresh Wave

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?

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.

"The more difficulties you suffer, the more you need to change and overcome." A shadow of his former self, Siu-ho is a tattooist who works for the triad and put tattoos on betrayers as punishment. His best friend Tyson, a fighter past his prime of life, also succumbs to reality and works on a job which he detests. As both of them experience a desperate period in their lives, they try to remind themselves the pursuit of life through the pain of tattooing and fighting. Fame and glory are not their goals, but feeling alive is. With too many forces in the city threatening to dash their dreams, will they succeed in forging ahead?

Mothers often go to extremes and make sacrifices for their children, including feigning madness. Fun-nei's mother has been kept in custody in a mental hospital for killing her husband, leaving daughters Fun-nei and Si-ling on their own. Fun-nei later achieves success by making her eventful life story into a documentary. One day the mother escapes from the hospital and returns home. Furious that Si-ling has not reported the escape, Fun-nei clashes with her sister and films the conflict, eventually unveiling the hidden truth.

A phone call takes two young men a trip down the memory lane. Two boys and one girl, a classic teenage love triangle. Being best friends, Chung has always been the humble guardian angel for the young couple Yao and Shan. “My virginity will only be dedicated to the one I love” is the motto of Chung. The three remains close friends when they grow up, until the death of Shan breaks the harmonious relationship among 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.

Anger breeds anger, and hatred breeds hatred. Restaurant owner Mr. Wong stresses about the business when he has to face rent increases every year. Restless and tense, he channels his anger to Ka Yeung, the timid newest employee. Taunted by his customers, his boss and life in general, Ka Yeung is barely keeping his head above the water with his father being an unlicensed hawker. One incident escalates to another like a Greek tragedy and anger spirals out of control, causing irreparable outcome. This is a story about two men who live in an unforgiving city, both trying to find their way out but ended up hurting each other.

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.

"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?"

A Hong Kong father and Chinese daughter live in different regions and speak different languages. With their identity and lifestyle antithetical to each other, family members who are supposed to be the closest are actually the most unfamiliar. CHAN Wing-keung, an elderly man who lives alone, is a security guard at a Kwun Tong park. One day, he accompanies his daughter Tsz-shan, who comes from Chinese Mainland, to renew her ID card and open a bank account in Hong Kong. They return home and go for a walk at the park where Wing-keung works. Faced with the gap between them, they are hesitant to speak and can only beat around the bush without making a move. The film gazes at the Hong Kong’s cityscape while ruminating sea changes between father and daughter with its shifting aspect ratio. Once again, Hong Kong Film Award-winning actor Tai Bo acts out the loneliness of elderly in a surehanded performance.

Pak-kiu works as a gaffer while waiting for his first break in front of the camera. An inviting target of ridicule, he remains unwavering that he will rise above the sordid realities of the glamorous world of film-making with his determination to be a proper actor rather than a star. So when he is offered a bit part as a cancer patient in a new film, he jumps at the chance to practise method acting, literally getting into his character and inhabiting him through claiming membership of a support group, which reunites him with an old classmate. However, the reunion, shrouded in a façade of altruistic motive, leaves him ill-prepared for a role in real life that is not so easily dismissed as a character in the script...

A group of documentary filmmakers began to shoot the civil social movement in Hong Kong, which became part of the city's common landscape. Spanning over two years, the filmmakers attempt to reveal the visible and invisible control behind. They trace a mysterious organization which is suspected to secretly control the weather which dampens the mood and suppresses the intention of the public to participate in social movements. On the surface, the question on inclement weather could be answered by climate changes around the world. The underlying sordid discussion, however, is really about intervention, pervasive suppression and control instead of any conspiracy theory.

A short tale about the friendship between two secondary boys who happens to sit next to each other on the first day of school. Mohammad Ali, a Muslim who loves playing cricket, hopes to become a professional player in the future. Tsz Kit, raised in a typical bourgeois Hong Kong family, is forced to attend piano classes because his mother believes this helps polish his application for further studies. He is fascinated by Ali’s passion for cricket and starts looking for his own interest.

Seated in the front row of a funeral hall are a boy and a teenager, the picture of the deceased yet to be placed. A florist, Tung (Ai Wai), is consumed by grief but puts on a front for others. The boy drops by at the florist and orders a custom floral arrangement - a teddy bear-shaped wreath with his favourite yellow flowers — to be readied in three days' time and paid with money saved up in his piggy bank. Tung forges an unlikely friendship with his young customer, an encounter that releases bottled-up emotions so that healing process can begin.

Gun is a loan shark. Having worked hard for years, i.e. intimidating and threatening his debtors, he musters just enough money to purchase a house for the family. The plan is at risk, however, when one of his debtors dies and Gun discovers that he is not the only creditor. Out of desperation, he asks for his daughter’s help, who is unwilling to be involved in her father’s shady business. The simmering tension causes a rift in the family.

Brilliantly played by LAW Ka-ying, the revered Skyblade hails from a prestigious family of Cantonese opera singers. Pressured into performing opposite the sponsor’s child at the celebrated Red Banquet in return for financial support, the reluctant Skyblade is further taken aback when he realises that Jade is a girl slated to play a male lead role in a predominantly masculine cast. However, as Jade’s talent becomes apparent to Skyblade, a bond is formed between the two during rehearsals, and a mutual understanding that both have been sacrificing their dreams and passions out of duty towards the family. When Jade reveals a shocking resolution to take control of her life, it is up to Skyblade to decide their fate on stage.

The year is 2021. And Hong Kong is one match away from qualifying for the World Cup. Flash back to 2009. Cheuk-long, aged 18, branded a geek by his girlfriend and an all-round loser by his mother. But he has a dream, ignited by a no-nonsense, Churchill-quoting teacher and driven by a spirited, big-hearted coach. The wannabe footballer grows up overnight, and through blood, toil, tears and sweat, makes the big leaps from the substitute's bench to captaining the Hong Kong side. Three World Cups later, Cheuk-long is one free kick away from making history and legend.

When Chan is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he decides to end his own life, but his grandson unexpectedly brings him an abandoned old dog. The encounter cannot change their destinies but allow them to accept changes that inevitably happen.

Divorced café owner Kayan lives with her daughter Tung. Her life is renewed after meeting her lesbian partner Shuting who becomes part of the loving family. When Kayan dies in a tragic car accident, the grieving Shuting wants to continue taking care of Tung but encounters strong opposition from Kayan’s mother. At Kayan’s funeral, due to social norms and taboos, Shuting is completely side-lined and stripped of the privilege to bid farewell to the love of her life. She faces yet another dilemma, having to make the decision to do what is best for Tung.

Art imitates life in this charming short about the fictional actress LilyMoon. With a chance encounter and a lost autobiographical manuscript, a bartender becomes acquainted with the retired screen star. Their friendship blossoms as LilyMoon reminisces about her past including her life as a sought-after actor, non-existent childhood and memories of first love. Eventually, the young and well-meaning bartender helps to relieve LilyMoon's pent-up feelings of sadness and encourages her to meet a long-lost lover.