For Hong Kong filmmakers, politics and protests are in the spotlight, both internationally and at home
- Mainland directors are frequently bombarded with questions abroad about China’s social and political conditions
- Now their Hong Kong counterparts must prepare for similar interrogations after the city became the focus of global headlines
Chinese filmmakers who travel the world to showcase their work often spend their time answering questions about China’s political and social situation.
At film festivals, I’ve witnessed these directors being asked for their views on the damage caused by China’s rush towards capitalism, especially if their works were set in the pre-boom 1990s. I’ve also seen filmmakers being bombarded with queries about the mistreatment of ethnic minorities in China.
Some directors are eager to expand on issues they cannot bring to the screen explicitly and see this as an opportunity to provide foreign audiences with a perspective that is different from the official narrative. Others, however, told me of their frustration at seeing audiences interpret their films as political statements, thus overlooking the artistic merits.
But mainland filmmakers can perhaps breathe a collective sigh of relief. They have had their turn in the spotlight and now it is Hong Kong directors who will face the onslaught of questions about the political relevance of their work.
At the Seoul Independent Film Festival, in November, where I curated a programme of post-1997 Hong Kong films, people’s eyes lit up when I told them where I was from. That was followed by words of encouragement, with everyone offering their support for protest-hit Hong Kong. It was an unsurprising reaction, perhaps, as the unrest, and the ensuing crackdown, mirrors the massive demonstrations that triggered both the end of Chun Doo-hwan’s military dictatorship of Korea, in 1987, and the impeachment of president Park Geun-hye, 30 years later.