Women’s Festival Hong Kong: edgier, more daring, and also out to heal the wounds of recent protests
- Injustice, violence, the patriarchal exercise of power – 10-day festival offers a space to discuss serious issues but also a chance to reconnect, organisers say
- Talks and workshops run the gamut from self-confidence tobody consciousness to mother-in-law problems, and men are welcome too
Women’s Festival Hong Kong – the city’s only festival dedicated to women – is back for its second edition, with almost twice as many events planned as in 2018.
Given the positive reception for more edgy programmes last year, the organisers are giving women more of what they want.
“It’s a little gutsier this year. The three of us [organisers] are more confident in our programming knowing what was popular and knowing there is a demand for it,” says Chantal Wong, director of culture at Eaton HK, the hotel in Jordan where the festival will take place.
There are 50 events scheduled for the 10-day get-together, which runs from August 23 to September 1, with the bulk of the programming over the weekends.
Wong and co-organisers Sonia Wong, founder of film festival Reel Women Hong Kong, and Vera Lui, founder of the pioneering intimate lifestyle store Sally Coco, were impressed with Hong Kong women’s appetite for bold voices and very real conversations.
The inaugural festival dipped its toe into the water to gauge audience response – a talk which was billed as about “skincare” was really intended to address issues around the way women see themselves and the way they are perceived in society. But the organisers discovered that the more daring programmes, such as a rope-tying S&M workshop, were the ones that sold out fast.