Made in Hong Kong Sam Lee Chan-sam, Wenders Li Tung-chuen, Neiky Yim Hui-chi Director: Fruit Chan Kuo Fifteen years have passed, but Fruit Chan Kuo's Made in Hong Kong remains one of the city's most memorable independent films. Part of the reason is that the story surrounding the feature is as fascinating as the film itself. Chan worked in the industry as an assistant director, and had saved the short ends of film stock from other jobs. During this time, he worked on a movie that starred superstar Andy Lau Tak-wah (Infernal Affairs, Days of Being Wild). Lau later signed on as a producer for Made in Hong Kong, lending a great deal of support. According to critic and festival programmer Tony Rayns, Chan shot the film over a two-month period in 1996 with a crew of five on an US$80,000 budget. The film opens with a panning shot of a chain link fence surrounding a basketball court. There is an immediate feeling of enclosure, a mood that permeates the film. A voiceover narration by protagonist Autumn Moon (Sam Lee in his acting debut) sketches out his life so far: he dropped out of school before completing Form Three and collects debts on behalf of crime boss Brother Wing. His fate, he says, is the same as most young men in his situation - there's nothing to do but hang out on the streets and fall in with the triads. In an early sequence, Moon beats a man with what appears to be a small pig, vengeance for his mentally handicapped friend Sylvester (Wenders Li, a film editor and director). It's during a collection job with Sylvester as his backup that he meets Ping (Neiky Yim), whose family seems to owe money to every bank and loan shark in town. Together the three embark on a coming-of-age journey that's violent and bittersweet. Though the story is bleak, the film still feels like a love letter to Hong Kong. Locations include wet markets, schoolyards, housing estates, hospitals, minibuses, trains, public toilets, flyovers and hillside graveyards. The Peak appears in a pivotal scene. The beauty of Made in Hong Kong is that one can imagine that on any given day, a story like Moon's is playing out on a busy street in Kowloon. A year before Made in Hong Kong was released, the first film in the Young and Dangerous franchise showed in theatres across the city, propelling Ekin Cheng Yee-kin and Jordan Chan Siu-chun to stardom, and creating a glamorised version of triad life. The tone is different in Chan's film: in Moon's world, violence seems senseless, a terrible result of poverty and the flaws in Hong Kong's education system. Made in Hong Kong was rejected by the Hong Kong Film Festival, but screened at other festivals around the world. Later, Chan won best director accolades at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards, and Lee took home trophies for his performance. The film industry has changed since this time, and so has the technology. Perhaps 2012 will yield another great independent film that so vividly captures the joys and terrors of living in Hong Kong.