HK
Ricky leaves Hong Kong for Switzerland to look for the lost soul and the past of his deceased Swiss lover, Pascal. Ricky struggles with the confusion of memories, reality and illusion.
Feb 2009
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?
May 2023
Centering on a girl who has learned she is pregnant, the film traces the intersecting paths of several young people across a night of the full moon.
Jul 1997
The film is set in a future when the central government attempts to replace every citizen’s name with numbers. In such a social upheaval, Ma Yi cares nothing but cancels an auto-masturbating machine. While Ma Yi doesn’t violate the law, he is however arrested and interrogated by the police.
Mar 2017
Life and death are decreed by fate, so the wisdom goes—but who really controls our first and last breath? When we are vulnerable, is the omniscient and omnipotent Heavenly Father the only refuge? The pastor’s wife is terminally ill. By her death bed is the devoted younger son who wishes to minimize her suffering by withholding life support so that she can leave in peace. The pastor, however, insists on obeying the doctrines and God’s will. As signs of impending death approach, is the pastor simply waiting for a miracle? A difficult debate ensues when love for the family conflicts with religious obligations.
"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?"
Dec 2013
The film is a resonant portrayal of the younger generation in the post-Umbrella Movement era. Two years ago, Ah-man (Ng Wing-sze), an independent yet stubborn university student, left home after a furious argument with her mum when the Umbrella Movement broke out. Now, she undertakes a new kind of lifestyle – a life of a vegetarian and an organic farmer. However, she never stops thinking of the taste from home. With the film's fragmentary narrative style, Ah-man’s story also reflects the ambivalent decisions between family and society of her friends.
Traumatised by the doomed rights movement in Garan, former activist Decem seeks refuge and solitude in the forest, fleeing his homeland and all those he held dear. Relief is however short-lived. As time passes, nostalgia and loneliness creep upon the exiled youth. Decem remains trapped in recurrent nightmares of the past and continues to plunge into despair, living with a constant sense of peril. The challenges of living in the forest along with the wildfire in the mountains eventually make him reconsider the path ahead. Mirroring the disturbed youth’s inner turmoil with the sinister wild nature, the psychological drama relates the tormented state of the exiled body and soul.
Jun 2022
We enjoy the adrenaline rush given by horror films. But what if we are personally involved in the horror? Director Chun has created a ghost story based on a real case with a dancer murdered, incorporating all marketable ideas like women, supernatural forces and violence. Successfully he persuades the boss to invest in his horror, but there is one “little” requirement – in order to pass the Mainland censorship, no ghost can be presented in the ghost story. So keen to make it work, Chun compromises. While he starts to change the script, an unexpected visitor shows up and leads him to a special journey. A film depicting the bittersweet life of film workers.
Nov 2014
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.
Apr 2018
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.
Jun 2019
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.
Dec 2015
In order to fulfill the expectation of her mom and her grandpa, Nam is raised as a boy since she was born. She dresses like a boy every day before going to school, gets changed back to a girl’s uniform, and puts on a boy’s outfit before heading home. Her hysterical mom anticipates the return of her husband, which is a dream never come true. Nam finds her only shelter at her childhood friend Yeung’s house, a place where she can finally be herself, i.e. doing laundry for her underwear. But her life changes on the day when Yeung disappears.
Hui-man has the body of a beast. As a former social worker, he still wishes to help others, especially his loved one Ning, a headstrong beauty who resists the world and who lives in the ruins after leaving her wealthy family. Both fight for survival and face their own needs and fears. Reunited despite obstacles, they only wish for a simple candlelight dinner without fanfare.
What constitutes a “disadvantaged youth”? Man Hang did have noble and lofty goals for his life after graduation, but they were quickly crushed by the harsh reality of life. Working an unglamorous job at a warehouse along a colleague with autism, Man Hang was bullied by his boss with unreasonable demands. His mind wanders back to his school days especially when he was seated next to Wing Lok, a classmate with autism who was constantly ridiculed and taunted by the class. During reunions, Man Hang and his friends mused on the irony: With all of them having similarly unremarkable careers, are their lives more fulfilling than Wing Lok who could remain true to himself?
Bible of Kong Girls takes a look at three women exploring their lives and dilemmas within the space of a year. Splitting the film segments into the four seasons of the year, we follow Asther, Sai B and C-fu. The three modern, spirited and quirky women are introduced to an article, ‘The 37 Self-help Guidelines from Lee Ka-shing’s Private Secretary’ that serves as a sort of bible for the woman of today. With each passing season the women encounter another challenge life throws at them whilst following the rules of the article, but are these guidelines tearing the friends apart instead of helping them?
16-year-old Allen lives a chaotic and underprivileged life. Defeated by life from the start, Allen finds joy and hope in hurdling, his favourite sport which he often wins in competitions during middle school. A cruel fate awaits him when he enters high school. Because of his height, his performance is suddenly hampered and he cannot even handle the basic 3-step hurdle. His hope of being in the school team is dashed, let alone winning over his teammates. The more desperately he tries, the more he realises his goal is beyond reach. Can Allen overcome this challenge before high school ends?
Jun 2020
The title is an allusion to the Chinese gambling game but the story is a treacherous journey with high stakes and a handsome reward. Three friends brave rugged terrain to escape hardship and persecution, surviving on foraged food and their meagre possessions – a pack of ciggies, the Little Red Book of Chairman Mao and three dices – all the while hounded by Red Guards on patrol. Loyalty, friendship and life are bet against a new beginning in the city where the streets are allegedly paved with gold. The odds are against them and the chance of survival is a row of the dice.
Nov 2012
Nine works for an old laundry shop due for closure to make way for urban renewal projects. Ordered to return a washed suit and pocket watch to an old customer, Nine starts a journey within the area soon to be transformed beyond recognition. He encounters a number of local residents who treasure and preserve the unique charm of the area. A conversation with his grandfather who repairs old chairs prompted Nine reflections on the values of preservation and the apparent priority of all things new only made possible by sacrificing things and memories from older eras. This observant piece stars veteran actress Lora Lu and stage actors Au Yeung Chun and Sheung Ming-fai.
All clothes have a story to tell. Ma was about to close the Angela laundry shop for the day when Sham appeared. A young man with a head injury and handful of dirty clothes from his stay at the street during the Umbrella Movement, Sham needs his clothes washed. Full of passion for the social cause, Sham initially chided Ma for staying in the comfort of the shop. However, these two strangers slowly opened up to each other when a number of characters passed by the shop, revealing the tumultuous world behind Ma’s stoic silence. Sham also gained new insight on meaningfulness, which exists not only within a worthy cause but also at seemingly abandoned clothes.
Sep 2015