Yeung King-lun

Sisters moving from Hunan to Hong Kong in the 1990s are faced with an identity crisis, poverty, and their father's drug addiction.

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...

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).

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.

Kuen is a lounge singer on Temple Street. Her son Kakei, now a university student, returns to Hong Kong for just a few days after emigrating to Canada with his father. Kuen's colleague Kit has to work overnight and enlists Kuen’s help to take care of her young son. During the sleepless night, Kuen and Ka-kei relive their past and envisage their future through another pair of mother and son. Under the bright sun, the cycle of life and family relationships continue, made all the more touching by the nuanced moments of care and concern between each other. SHAM Ka-ki of Weeds On Fire plays the son and renders a tender and layered performance full of subtlety.

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.

Set in Norway, Lykke Til is a story about struggling in a foreign land. Ann, who has moved to Norway, is facing obstacles on multiple fronts: visa, employment, cultural differences, racism and an unexpected pregnancy, which puts her relationship with her girlfriend in jeopardy, another secret hovering over the already strained relationship with her mother. Instead of trying to simply stay afloat, the worst person in the world now has to make a decision and reclaim her life. The director who also writes the script and plays the main role expresses through the short her own experience as a Chinese diaspora and creative talent living in Europe.

Bai from Hong Kong takes a leisurely trip in Kaohsiung and meets a Japanese young man Hei there. Both are finding refuge in their own little world when the calmness of the water surface is shattered one day. They suddenly realise the world is not as large as they imagine; and their little world is not exactly that little.

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……

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.

From the vast expanse of land and sky comes a wild child with a camel into the city. They encounter a policeman who is fascinated by this mysterious child seemingly isolated from human contact and culture. The policeman tries to establish communication through language without success. As he learns more about the child, the latter inspires him to let go and find his long-lost freedom. Conventional interactions between people mask our true instincts and qualities that only emanate when we return to the basics.

Lai-sing, full of aspirations as a journalist, lives in Hong Kong with his sister Kei-mei. Their parents live in Hainan since retirement while Uncle Guoyou lives in Shenzhen. The family is separated until the third anniversary of the death of Lai-sing's grandmother. According to tradition, a monument has to be erected on this occasion, which brings the family members to meet up. The reunion slowly unveils the indiscernible distances and intimacies built over time. It is only through understanding and acceptance that they would cast aside their differences and show genuine care for each other.

What is love in the time of Coronavirus, when people are separated in both space and time? Wing returns to Hong Kong from Taiwan upon learning that her estranged father is dying in a hospital but she has to undergo quarantine in a hotel. Talking to her father through the screen, Wing realises she can never forgive this older man who abandoned the family many years ago, while the other man, her husband, seems very far away in Taiwan. Isolated in the tiny hotel room, Wing battles alone with the diseases of body and mind, caused by old and new grievances.

One day, the Kowloon Emperor TSANG Man-choi pays a visit to OR Siu-yat, his guard dog of previous life and a current staff of the Community Improvement Bureau, with an incredible story and request. According to TSANG, the Bureau’s plan to redevelop To Kwa Wan will destroy an ancient seal and unleash a vengeful evil spirit, Princess Kwong Tak, who was murdered by TSANG’s ancestor 400 years ago. To save themselves OR must assist TSANG to destroy the evil spirit. In this rare gem of a martial arts/fantasy short film, the impossible battle between human and spirit is playfully visualised.

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?

In a night woven with mushroom soup and hallucinations, two brothers met in the mountain for camping – and burying their late father's body.

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.

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.

At a zhizha shop, paperservant dolls eagerly await their destiny of being sent to serve their masters in the underworld. They must be sent out within forty-nine days following their masters’ death, or end their unfulfilled existence as waste paper. Old Mr. Yeung, owner of the zhizha shop, is determined to keep the artisan trade alive. Yet with the old neighbourhood being redeveloped, the shop’s business dwindles along with the chance for the kind-hearted Lo-mui and Kam-lo, two paper dolls crafted by old Mr. Yeung, to find a master. The dolls hatch a plan to escape in a race against time before their demise.

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.