Directing
The work documented the story of Yuli, a Hong Kong domestic worker from Indonesia. She is a novelist who won a literature award and also a journalist dedicated to writing. Between the social event that happened in June in Hong Kong, her thoughts and caring about the city are far more from what people used to imagine a narrative of a domestic worker. They are not only domestic workers but they also have other social roles, e.g. a citizen who lived in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's high-speed rail link, the demolition of Choi Yuen Village, the impending budget and the influence of the global Occupy movement are at the centre of independent filmmaker Lo's timely measure of the city's pulse. Ostensibly the third entry in a trilogy that began with 21 years after. (2010) and to be continued (2010), which also captured public reaction to watershed moments in Hong Kong's political life since 2009. The documentary was built upon the material used in its previous installment (to be continued, 46 minutes). It disproves the notion of a passive Hong Kong in a chronicle of a generation poised for massive social change.
Behind Mongkok’s Portland Street where French music plays in cute little artsy cafés, the back alley is a totally different world. Sister Kam washes dishes in the alley every night. She fights with the workers at the rubbish collection point and proudly boasts to the waiters how she could slaughter a pig on her own. She works till midnight and gets up at 5:30am, day after day. In the thousands of alleys in Hong Kong, stories that speak of life’ struggles wait to be told.
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?
Legendary chef Mo Yik-Tin is notorious for turning animals into spectacular dishes – tastes always rule over lives under the butcher's knife. Equally thoughtful and fascist, Mo is a fascinating mentor in the eyes of his apprentice. In subtle tension with the TV programme's host, Mo is poised to present his greatest culinary dishes which set off an intense debate with the programme host. A reflection on the general public's food-obsessed culture and celebrity worship, this feature also highlights human's decadence and corrupt excess through the aesthetics of food.
Phone Made Good Film No.6
There are people and places that we used to hold dear in our hearts and gradually became sediments of buried memories. When Charlotte encounters a suitcase at the second hand shop she works at, her emotions are unearthed and bring her back to the days of innocence with Chan. Charlotte did believe that Chan, just like the neighbourhood in bygone times, would remain constant. Yet all old things are helplessly abandoned and crushed beneath the wheel of time. At the same time, Ling is depressed and lonely because of Chan's death. Sending Chan's things away to purge her negative emotions and to set herself free from the past, a treasured relationship reveals itself like ripples of emotions.
A beautifully shot film tours you around the peaceful Kwu Tung, with a hint of sadness and helplessness. The story takes place in the near future when the North East New Territories New Development Plan soon starts, with a few residents still reluctant to leave their home. Vani’s grandfather suffering from Alzheimer's disease is one of them. She goes to visit him with a hidden agenda – to find the land deed and hopefully help him move to a new home. However, the more she digs into the past, the more she finds out about the “undisclosed facts”. Lun Fung Temple is not only an icon of protection to the village, but also a key to the mysteries.
The city is no longer the same after the year of social unrest. How do those that remain make peace with the past and move on with their lives? After Nam’s good friend Man left the city, Nam is left behind to take care of Man's mother and motor bike, while struggling to live life as normal. A strange visitation one night by her grandfather brings Nam back to her ancestral village in mainland China, where she learns about her father’s painful past. Under the silent and long poetic gaze of the camera, the survivors of two generations, representing the past and the present, the country and the city, commiserate together in a shared moment of grief and solidarity.
