Gloria Ho Lok-yee

Magical moments happen both in and out of the movie theatre. Ho is a dedicated film buff who works in an independent movie theatre. He is especially passionate about the classics which hardly attract any audience. One evening he notices an audience bursting into tears during the closing credits of the fourth film she has watched in a row. Ho checks on her but she remains reserved. Upon seeing all the old film copies in the theatre, she realises Ho’s passion for film and opens up to him.

It was the time when thousands of families left Hong Kong to look for a ‘better future’. After almost 20 years of separation, here comes the reunion dinner for a father and his daughter. The awkward distance between the two make them seem like strangers, but deep in their hearts hide their missing for each other. Memories intertwined with the present, both of them know that what really matters is your beloved ones are all well.

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.

The film is based on the Founder of Causeway Bay Books - LAM Wing-kee’s experience after he was temporarily released back to Hong Kong after 8 months of detention in Mainland China. LAM was demanded by the authorities to retrieve his computer in the bookstore in Hong Kong, alongside with the information of his customers. Only when he found out that his colleague handed over to him the wrong computer, should he start to think about possibilities besides submitting to authorities from Mainland China. The film re-enacts the events happened in the two days he was allowed to return to Hong Kong and explores LAM’s decision to defy, and refuse to leave his homeland.

Chiu, a lonely teenager, always feels disconnected from school and home. One day, she comes across a poor stray cat on the street and takes it home for a decent bath. Unfortunately, the cat dies at her home eventually. However, its death unexpectedly brings her the long-awaited attention she has longed for through social media, leaving her feeling content.

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?

Life after university may be just dandy for people with passion and drive, but what happens if you are aimless, dreamless and hopeless? With no goals or ambition in life, a fresh graduate believes that she is an oddball destined for mediocrity. Her perfect solution is to be a slacker and to work part-time at a 12-dollar store. Unfortunately, the mundane life and wacky colleagues just add to her melancholy. The array of eccentric characters at the 12-dollar store speaks volumes on how the new generation perceives their less-than-rosy future.

Yunnan girl Xiangnan, coming from a poor family, was married off to Hong Kong in exchange for a generous dowry. She lives in the remote area of Lau Fau Shan with her elderly husband. As a stranger in a foreign land, Xiangnan feels lost both in Hong Kong and back home, unable to find a space of her own. She dreams of escape, yet feels trapped like a small boat adrift in the sea, tossed by the waves with no way forward or back. In her helplessness, Xiangnan begins to converse with different versions of herself, searching for a place to coexist with herself. Birth and death, unity and separation, living and survival—all dissolve into silence. The story unfolds in scattered, fragmented memories, mostly reflecting Xiangnan’s daily life. The narrative shifts between the perspectives of her mother, Xiangnan as a child, and Xiangnan herself, moving through different spaces in Lau Fau Shan—sometimes in contrast, sometimes in harmony.