Canice Tam Kai-Yin

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).

Revolt is youth. The story centres around a teacher’s pet who strives his best only to become the eternal runner-up, and a pair of intelligent but diametrically different step-siblings. Set in 2012 during the transition to the new academic structure for senior secondary education and higher education, the young students reconsider and challenge the limits of sense and sensibility through seven exam questions. In their wet dreams, all rules go loose.

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.

A young couple enjoys playing hide-and-seek in the city. Every time See would give Pong a little clue to catch her in the crowd by 3 am. Perhaps this is just a rehearsal for bidding farewell – to create some good memories before losing each other. After losing her, he would still look around to search for those familiar scenes and discover some new sceneries he has overlooked.

Kwan believes that she is unique. Enclosed in solitude within her own literary world and deprived of affections from her family, she longs for love in whatever form it takes - no matter how distorted. She considers the detention class with Mr Cheung a shelter from the world, until it is shattered together with all her hopes. She finally comes to the realisation that it is the world that goes against her. There is no hiding place for her no matter how hard she struggles……

For years single parent Mei Chun has been raising her mentally handicapped son Ray on her own. She is used to the challenges as an around-the-clock caregiver of the grown-up son. While her patience may wear thin at times, she remains tender and has formed a strong and unique bond with Ray. When a sudden sickness strikes, however, Mei Chun is burdened with a difficult decision. The night falls, but will dawn come?

Lam Tung is an old man living a solitary life in his Hong Kong apartment. Since his children have grown up and moved away, he decides to let a room to an ambitious, young film student Cheng Yang. Both years apart in age and ideals, Piled Cloud provides a fresh look at the generation gap between two very different individuals.

On one auspicious full moon night, she receives an anonymous call from Taiwan. It pulls her from a quiet mid-autumn night into the sea of memories. A mix of sweat and tears, and a hint of saltiness, what a taste of summer... Miles apart, they gaze at the same moon while yearning for their homeland.

Janet is expecting her first child. As Lum Lum makes preparations for the new baby, Janet's guilt pushes her to play along, and the lie snowballs. How will Janet come to terms with leaving one child behind for the other?

Freud once said dreams are disguised fulfilments of repressed wishes. Some recurring dreams may have awakened the unfulfilled desires buried deep inside one’s heart. Ceci has passed away at a young age. At night, when her soul wanders and encounters sleepers deep in their thoughts, she will enter their dreams and listen to their hearts. One night, she meets Kate, who is bothered by mundane matters. She finds Kate’s dreams familiar. As she recalls fragments of her memories, can past regrets between the two of them be fulfilled in dreams? The film connects the dimensions of dreams and reality with the girls’ delicate emotions and sings an elegy of lost youth.

Ming often talks with the dolls, he meets a young lady who is going to leave Hong Kong. The young lady is determined to get a doll, Ming has decided to help her but failed.

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.

Joyce and Lily have a different class background but stealing unites their friendship. Joyce is the poor one who cannot afford a smart phone whereas Lily is the posh one who turns into a kleptomaniac due to a detached relationship with her family. When Lily spots Joyce stealing a phone from their classmates, Lily helps her out. They even join hands to be partners in crime. Lily teaches Joyce the art of stealing while Joyce appreciates her company. However, too many successes make them go further and further. While starting from shoplifting, they decide to pickpocket on streets. Will their ambition beat them down and have them arrested? Throughout Speaking Low, Joyce and Lily’s friendship also entails an ambiguity of their sexuality.

Facing many hard times and difficulties in life, Tsz-Chun has no one to share with but his toy astronaut. One day in school there was a drama show about space exploration. In between fantasy and reality he embarks on an adventurous journey.