SOME PEOPLE can easily spend $800 on a night out or on a pair of shoes. But this amount could be a month's income for some poor old people living in the 'great city' of Hong Kong.
Following the overwhelming response to their previous film Secondary School, director Tammy Cheung Hung and cinematographer Augustine Lam Wai-hung have made a new documentary called Moving, which captures poverty in this glamorous city.
For five months, Cheung and Lam followed two social workers who were helping long-time residents move out of a Kowloon Bay public housing estate. Lower Ngau Tau Kok is one of the oldest such estates in Hong Kong, and was demolished as part of the government's urban renewal plan for the area. The residents, mostly impoverished, single, and old, had been living there for some 35 years, and had to move to strange environments and face the struggle of paying higher bills.
Cheung shot the film using the direct cinema technique made famous by American documentary director Frederick Wiseman. This non-intrusive approach is the best way to portray the horrifying reality of poverty in generally affluent Hong Kong.
The people in the housing estate not only have problems getting enough money together for basic living costs, they also suffer from emotional stress, some of which has been brought on by unhappy family relations. But instead of showing how they adapt to the new environments they have been shifted to, as hinted at in the title, much of the film focuses on their perspectives of life and politics. For instance, one of the ladies suggests the Tung Chee-hwa government only cares about the rich and famous, but not the likes of her.
Moving is being shown along with Rice Distribution, also by Cheung, the winner of this year's Hong Kong Independent Film and Video Awards, at Lim Por Yen Film Theatre at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Tickets priced at $50 ($30 for students) are available from all HK Ticketing outlets. For further inquiries, call 2824 5329 or 2582 0200. Both films are in Cantonese with English and Chinese subtitles.
