Augustine Mok Chiu-yu (right) is best known as a veteran social activist and co-founder of 70s Biweekly magazine, an influential anti-establishment publication. Now he has brought his activism to the screen, starring in Bangladeshi director Mamunur Rashid's film, Port Unknown, about two Chinese families caught amid the country's war of independence in 1971. The film, screening as part of the Hong Kong Asian Independent Film Festival tonight at the Grand Cinema, aroused much attention when it first aired on Bangladeshi TV on the country's liberation day.
What drove you to film in Bangladesh?
I am no stranger to Bangladeshi history and culture. In 1971, when the Bangladeshi liberation war broke out, we published a special issue of 70s Biweekly to support the newly independent country.
During a workshop for Asian theatre artists, I was introduced to Mamunur Rashid and finally I got a chance to talk to people from Bangladesh. Later I learned Mamunur and his theatre troupes also make TV dramas and films. In 2004, I suggested we make a film about the independence of Bangladesh.
Why do you tell a Bangladeshi independence story through the experiences of two Chinese families?
Bangladeshis are so overwhelmed by their country's independence stories that they have almost become bored. A story based on the Chinese community provides a fresh angle for Bangladeshis to re-examine the war - for the younger generation in particular. We wanted to reach out to the Bangladeshi community, initiate a re-examination of war and peace, introduce the life of Bangladeshi people in Hong Kong and work out how to build an inclusive society.
People are always in transition, always in the middle of migrating, especially the Chinese. The two Chinese families who left their country [in the film] were not sure where exactly they were going.