Chan Kin-Man
Acting
Biography
Chan Kin-man (Chinese: 陳健民, born 9 March 1959) is a former associate professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is one of the founders of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace campaign that strove for universal suffrage for the Hong Kong Chief Executive Election in 2017. In 1993, Chen began teaching at the Department of Sociology at CUHK, and retired in 2019. Over the years in mainland China and Hong Kong, he has served various positions in the public services, and set up a number of non-governmental organizations. He is currently the director of the Hong Kong Civil Education Foundation and member of the executive committee of the Hong Kong Democratic Development Network. In March 2013, Chan, together with Benny Tai and Chu Yiu-ming, initiated the nonviolent civil disobedience campaign “Occupy Central with Love and Peace”, to call for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, which sowed the seeds for the now globally-known Umbrella Movement in 2014. In 2019, Chan was sentenced to 16 months in prison for his role in the Umbrella Movement.
Known For
The Umbrella Movement of 2014, also known as the Occupy Movement, paved the way for Hong Kong’s current upheavals, but unfolded in significantly different ways. This creative documentary focuses on the intellectual, political, and discursive underpinnings of the social and political actions of 2014, before fast-forwarding to 2019. A range of thoughtful and engaged intellectuals, students, scholars, activists, and artists including Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, Ray Wong, and Agnes Chow (many of whom are facing imprisonment for their democratic activism) articulate a range of philosophies, viewpoints and emotions, set against Hong Kong’s spectacular urban background of skyscrapers, night lights, and street-occupying mass movements.
We Have Boots
The film charts the origins of the Umbrella Movement through the eyes of the activists and ordinary people who made it happen. From the June 4th Candlelit Vigil until September 28th, this documentary puts us at the heart of the action, allowing us to experiencing the highs and lows of that remarkable summer, when Hong Kong witnessed a "blossoming of democracy."
Umbrella Diaries: The First Umbrella
This documentary depicts the stories of four Chinese activists—Xie Wenfei, Zhang Shengyu, Chen Yunfei, and Liu Ping—who faced torture. It also invites Hong Kong participants Chan Ho-wun, Li On-yin, Chen Hung Sau, and Cheung Chiu-hung to experience and reflect on these situations through simulated installations. The film highlights that in the advancement of human civilization, "human rights", "rule of law", and "democracy" are mutually indispensable and interdependent. In countries ruled by authoritarian regimes, the rule of law cannot be upheld, let alone the protection of human rights.