Joris Wu

The matter of growing, which we always understand afterward, is driving us far away enough to not having a good farewell. The story begins with a day that Hong Kong experiences a magnitude 4.5 earthquake. It brings almost no impact to the city but a beautiful yet untouchable year to a form-one boy name Kwok Pak Chi. Due to the unadaptable school life and his introspective character, he starts to imagine animals escaped from the earthquake as his friends. However, the more he immerses in his fantasy, the more he is pushed by the reality. With the pressure from his unsatisfying homework, schoolmates’ opinions and caring from others, how should Pak Chi confront himself and his imaginary friends?

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.

Ah Choi has a complicated relationship—she is attached to her boyfriend, Ah Wood, yet weary of their daily interactions, and is drawn to new and fresh ideas. Though she feels lonely, she also cherishes solitude, caring for her own solitary shadow, drifting between two extremes. Wah Chi teaches at an international school and enjoys writing poetry. After her family emmigrated abroad, she lives alone in her old home, accompanied only by a cat. Dreams, daily life, and poetic sensibility gradually blur together, turning into a series of images. The diversity and fleeting nature of modern society have caused them to lose their sense of time and connection.

A short film that delves into the intricacies of gay dating in Japan. Aoki, a solitary Japanese gay man, spends a night by himself in a hotel, seeking companionship through a gay dating app. His interactions with Mori leave him feeling hollow and dissatisfied, leading him to ponder the difficulties of discovering love and acceptance as a gay man in Japan. This poignant film explores the human condition and the universal longing for love, acceptance, and connection.

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.