Hong Kong Arts Development Council

People may say the wedding vow of having and holding each other “in sickness and in health”, but commitment is often tested. Emma takes her husband Ivan who is suffering from brain disorder to a distant beachside. Under the facade of camping, she contemplates something sinister, but is overwhelmed by memories of the husband before the illness kicked in, the sanctity of life, and the merits of mercy killing. Torn by emotions, she doubts her own intention.

Yumi works at a record store, dreams about Kurt Cobain could take her away from the boring life she lives. As she is approaching 27 years old, she begins to think about what can she do to resist the social norms.

Luggage? Check. Travel document? Check. Keys? Check. The Year is 2040 and Ching is all set to embark on a mission to track the whereabouts of a dog and its owners which will transport her back in time before she was even born. In 2013, an age of mobile phones and Google Maps, the time-traveller meets a painter and piques his curiosity to join in her quest. Can she reach the parents she never had the chance to get to know and will he find a purpose in life after tempting fate and death? Will the mementos of their brief encounter – a painting that crystallises the artist’s feelings for her and a keepsake pendant that has been passed down for generations – survive the time and reconnect the two?

The textbook definition of a good citizen is a person who works hard, helps others and respects the law. A night minivan driver witnesses a crime and chases the robber down an alley and confronts him. A bloody fistfight ensues. But when the shot cuts to his close-up in the confined space of the interrogation room, we find him looking ragged and unkempt, trying hard to give a coherent account of what had happened to a hostile plain clothes cop, wondering if it pays to be a good citizen when one becomes punished for one’s own good intentions.

Inspired by a true story, Eggs tells the tale of A-Li and A-Mai from Vietnam who meet and fall in love in Taiwan. When A-mai gets pregnant, what follows is not necessarily a blessing. Like many lost-contact migrant workers in Taiwan who, worried that they cannot afford to raise their children, flee and take on cash-in-hand jobs, A-Li and A-Mai go up the mountain to a place full of lychee stink bugs where A-Li can earn some money. When stopped by the police, they escape into the mountains and forests for fear of their status as illegal migrant workers. Taking refuge inside an abandoned factory, the couple tries to evade the police and to ensure the safe delivery of the baby.

Falling petals, flying snowflakes, fragments of memory…all are transient just like our dreams. Without thoughts, there need not be a concrete plot or captivating story to tell. Just as philosopher Zhuang Zi wrote--the fools think they are awake. Each scene and image exudes illusion and fantasy. The absence of plot and dialogues allows freedom in interpretation and clarity. The symphony of images becomes a poem for the audience to treasure. Cinema is dreamy in nature, allowing the true poetic spirit to thrive—when we rid ourselves with thoughts.

Mohammad is a young asylum seeker from Pakistan. To make a living, he works illegally as a night delivery worker. He strives for a better life in a city with no identity and future in store for him. Despite his limited income, Mohammad helps out the single mother and her young son from Africa. He spends his days with his compatriots looking for jobs and waiting for their application results, hoping indefinitely for a miracle. Marginalized and ostracized, they survive in cracks and crevices of the city, trembling with rage and despair, waiting for dawn to come.

High school student Faye leads a lonesome life, being bullied at school and her family living abroad. She keeps a distance from people, including her classmate Yiu whom she secretly admires. Yearning for love and desperate to break away from her mundane life, Faye becomes a part-time girlfriend named “Sushi”. A delicate dish on the sushi conveyor belt, Faye is coveted and manipulated by the assortment of men who seek her services. Her life is further complicated when Yiu suddenly confesses his affection for her on the phone. Navigating the tumultuous journey of love, will Faye finally be able to lift herself up, take the lead and find her way?

The city is overwhelmed by consumerism and information. The constant barrage of information starts to glide past all of us. We are neither here nor there. We try to distinguish fact from fabrication—but we do not always succeed. We ponder on our existence and whether we are in control of our lives. Some people dedicate their lives to the Creator although the presence of a higher power is debatable. We wander from emptiness to emptiness, and realise that life is emptiness in itself. A societal revolution is in order but how should it be carried out? With no success in sight, would the revolution be rendered meaningless? The melancholic musings and rants of the young gloomy leftists are rarely answerable.

Although 15-year old Wing is bounced around in foster homes, he forms a genuine sibling relationship with 9-year old Hoi Lam and the mentally challenged Chi Yan. They are cared for by Chi Yan's grandmother who heads up this makeshift family. Occasionally full of teen angst and bordering on delinquency, Wing nevertheless showers Hoi Lam and Chi Yan with brotherly care. Cheerful Ho Lam dreams of reunion with his mother. Wing, more world-weary, ends up transferring to a youth hostel. In their brief days together, the trio formed a true family bonded by love instead of blood. The immensely likeable and talented trio of actors shines in this poignant and heartwarming tale on how children find strength in each other.

Wan-yu goes on a farewell trip with her close friend Jack, seeing him off to the airport. During the drive, they ruminate on the departure and the resulting ruptured relationship. Before leaving, Jack entrusts his car to Wan-yu. Underneath Wan-yu’s calm and almost indifferent façade lies a hidden anxiety and confusion, for other than the car, she has to deal with another more complicated problem of her own. Shot as a conversation in a car, the short’s claustrophobic atmosphere heightens the helplessness of the characters. From director Wong Fei, winner of the 15th Fresh Wave Award, comes a quiet and contemplative piece about making difficult decisions amid drastic changes in life.

For sixth grader Marco, the minutiae of life revolve around taking the light rail with his best friend Chris and their Beyblade battles. But just like the Beyblades that spin in unpredictable directions, Chris is embarking on a different life path. Before Chris’s departure, they continue to linger around the neighbourhood playing with friends, uncertain about the future and how to say farewell. Tuen Mun, through the director’s lens, is slightly tinged with melancholy, resembling both a maze and a playground. In a child’s imaginative and innocent perspective, the film makes poignant observations on the anxieties of the adult world during the pandemic and how people deal with inevitable losses.

Picture this scenario: Your car hits a small girl. She is lying on the ground, bleeding but still breathing.There are two options: in the event of bodily injuries resulting in disability, you will be liable to pay out compensation to cover a lifetime of medical, unemployment and care expenses. Fatalities, in ironic contrast, can be settled under the table for a small lump sum. What do you choose? With a heavy foot on the accelerator, an old man listens to his favourite tune filling the air of his car, about to make a spin of no return. In dire situations, primal instincts kick in and you must do what you must to survive. When the law fails, there is no other alternative but to take justice in your own hands.

A young girl who believes that the world will end in 2012 lives only for the present. Working in a bookstore, she spends her days on menial day-to-day tasks and sitting on a roof to anticipate the end of all things. One day, the bookstore owner tells the young girl that she can do more than just simply wait. In a world where the future appears bleak and hopeless, should we prepare for a painless end, or it possible for us to stand up and make a change?

What’s the price one will pay for one’s beliefs? Chan Siu-yau’s life is forced to a halt after being charged, somewhat belatedly, with unlawful assembly and assaulting a police officer during a demonstration in support of striking dock workers over a year ago. In the eyes of fellow activists, she’s no radical, just a concerned citizen singled out for punishment amid an escalating tug-of-war between law enforcement authorities and rights advocates. While Yau is working her shift in a restaurant, busy taking orders and sorting out dirty dishes, the annual June 4 candlelight vigil takes place in the pelting rain, bodies soaked but high spirits undamped. Having missed her university admission exams with two criminal charges looming over her head, what does the future hold for her? Is she guilty as charged?

In dystopian near-future, news reporting informs people of a mysterious yet fatal epidemic which is transmitted through conversations. Everyone in the city, including Kar-him, are advised to wear earmuffs and to avoid talking to strangers and colleagues alike – even dialogue cards had to be disposed. Kar-him continues with his unremarkable life in silence just like all others, yet doubts linger in his mind. A homeless guy was hauled off when he decided to reveal more than he should; Refusing to stay silent, Kar-him started a dangerous quest to find his father who disappeared after he mentioned about knowing the homeless guy.

Amid changing times, as friends and relatives are leaving the city one after the other, our once familiar neighbourhood is becoming foreign. Yeung Por Por has her luggage packed for the one-way flight out of the city with her son. During her final hours in Hong Kong, she goes to the Wan Chai seaside and is shocked to find a barricaded construction site. Following Rhea, her domestic helper to the latter’s Filipino community, Yeung Por Por realises what it means to be uprooted from one’s homeland. Subtly and wistfully, the film relates the difficulties and dilemmas of migration, closing with ‘You Said We’d Be Back’ by the folk-rock duo My Little Airport.

Mrs. Ho, a senile and distraught widow, lives by herself in a walk-up building. For more than half a century, Mrs. Ho has been living in her flat since she was married. But, after an accident, her legs went lame. Her son keeps persuading her to sell the flat and move into a building with lifts. She refuses and she wants to hold onto the flat, her only contact with her dead husband, where they used to do tap-dance together. Of course, they weren’t Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers but, the film makes touchingly clear, we need to listen to rhythm of their dance. More importantly, Mrs. Ho’s perseverance and strength recall the portrayal of another old woman – Ella Garth (Jo Van Fleet) in Elia Kazan’s masterpiece Wild River (1960).

Mommies tells an emotionally compelling and complex story of two interwoven mother-and-son relationships. Sally works as a hostess, a kind of life her unruly son Keith loathes and from which he seeks refuge through self-harm. Keith looks with longing for the seemingly happy and loving relationship between mentally-ill Mandy and her son Luke. Yearning to become part of the other family, Keith wishes Mandy were his mother instead. But will that ever be possible? The sympathetic Mandy and Luke try to help Keith, and when they think things are looking better... Subtly told, Mommies captures the human condition of Hong Kong people’s lives seldom seen.

Sherman is a journalist working on a feature story about Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of repairing ceramics with powdered precious metals, a manifestation of the Japanese philosophy of embracing the flawed or imperfect. As she learns of a Japanese Kintsugi master's arrival in Hong Kong, she arranges an interview with him and brings along some broken ceramic pieces to the Kintsugi lessons. Sherman unexpectedly runs into her ex-boyfriend, Chun, whom she has not seen for a long time. Because of Sherman's feature, the two are re-acquaint with each other. Sherman is troubled about Chun’s entering her life again. The shattered pieces and the broken relationship - can all that be repaired?