Ocean On

As a long-standing bar prepares to close, owner Hung and his young staff member Yip set out to return unclaimed bottles of wine to their owners. Through these encounters, Yip learns the deep connections between the wines and their stories, gaining insight into Hung’s philosophy. Alongside veteran bartender Bill, passionate mixologist Grace, and singer Adam, they create lasting memories for their customers in the bar’s final days.

Two 16-year-old girls, Qian and Vicky, are torn between the lines of friendship and romance, unsure where they truly stand, as they rehearse for a love drama in summer holiday. Before the school starts, the secret kissing plot is exposed and their show is banned. Yet, it unfolds Qian’s courage that she decides to make a bold move on the first school day.

If a goddess has come down to earth, could she bring back lost time for man? Ning takes a substitute teaching position at a rural school, hoping to find inspiration for her novel from nature. One day after class, students Richard and LAM Mak-noeng, a mysteriously masked girl who shares the same name as the Empress of Heaven, come to her for help. It turns out that Mak-noeng is about to disappear. Faced with such an ethereal problem, Ning takes on the responsibility of a storyteller and seeks a happy ending for this heavenly romance. The director, who has always been interested in urban issues, has continued to mix historical and fantastical elements like he has done with Interview with Lo-Ting: An Oral History Project (2022). A modern love story with celestial inspiration, the film gently caresses the remnants of our city and the melancholy of lonely souls.

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.

As she prepares for her studies in Taiwan, Chin-ling learns about her local relatives with whom she has never met, and the quest for a future home becomes that of a long-lost family and heritage. In the course of this brief reunion, over two decades of her mother’s hidden family history gradually unravels. Like the clam that buries itself in the sand, will her mother’s closely guarded secrets come to light, and reconciliation be possible? Based on real events, the short elucidates a 20th century Chinese family drama spanning across three regions, languages and histories, and our continued pursuit of a home and identity.

If existence precedes essence, then everything is meaningless. “Perceive as you see, believe not what you perceive, then accept what you see as they are.” A girl who died is reborn without memory and embarks on a journey to explore the meaning of life.