Comic artist Kong Kee crowdfunds a cyberpunk anime; will it be the science fiction film Hong Kong deserves?
Hong Kong has been used as a setting for cyberpunk films but does not have any to call its own. A comic artist hopes to change that with Dragon’s Delusion, an anime tale of emperors and cyborgs set in 1960s Hong Kong
From Blade Runner (1982) to Ghost in the Shell (1995), makers of science fiction films like to model their cityscapes after Hong Kong because of its unique urban landscape: a densely packed, constantly evolving city, where old meets new and cultures clash – making it the perfect setting for cyberpunk tales.
Finally, however, Hong Kong may have its own cyberpunk movie: Dragon’s Delusion. The wildly imaginative tale is the brainchild of local comic artist Kong Kee, who is working with two directors, Lee Kwok-wai and Tsui Ka-hei, to bring it to the silver screen.
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Most Chinese people are familiar with the stories of Qu Yuan and Qin Shi Huang. The former, a patriotic poet from ancient China’s Warring States Period (475-221BC), was exiled and eventually committed suicide by jumping into a river. The latter conquered all the country’s states and was the first emperor to unify China.
But the two historical figures take on new life in Kong’s sci-fi animation project, which is set not in the future, but in 1960s Hong Kong.
In the story, Qin, who was historically well-known for his obsession with finding the elixir of life, holds the key to immortality: he has created cyborgs, which allow him to continue to rule as emperor forever. Qu finds himself trapped in the body of one of these robots, Mr. D, and asking the question: what does it mean to be human?