7 protest films that came before the anti-extradition bill movement, from Hong Kong and Korean cinema

Oct 1 , 2019

Released in 2017, Hong Kong indie production No. 1 Chung Ying Street flits between the anti-colonial protests of 1967, and the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement that began in 2014.

Before Glory to Hong Kong, there was cinema – and from Ten Years to A Taxi Driver, these 7 East Asian movies have sparked debate, provoked dialogue – and in many cases been banned

It’s not just protest songs – like the home-grown anthem Glory to Hong Kong and Les Misérables’ singalong “Do You Hear the People Sing” – that have inspired Hong Kong’s anti-extradition bill movement. A number of important but divisive films, many of them local to the city, have also been instrumental in influencing citizens to take to the streets.

In fact, these Hong Kong films proved so controversial that, even before this summer’s events, few cinemas agreed to show them upon release, making public screenings extremely rare.

Here are seven protest films from Asia that have sparked debate and provoked dialogue, whatever the circumstances.

Ten Years (2015)

One of the most controversial Hong Kong movies ever, Ten Years was criticised for being a “virus of the mind” by China’s Global Times for its dystopian vision of the city in the year 2025. The anthology of five short films, from five different directors, tackled social issues such as the marginalisation of the Cantonese language in local life, and the end of domestic food production.

Disapproval on the Mainland was only the start of the controversy, however. Despite Ten Years proving to be immensely popular with local audiences it suddenly disappeared from cinemas, supposedly at the behest of Beijing. True or not, the result was a wave of public screenings to counter the alleged suppression.

Another twist in the tale came when Ten Years was nominated for, and eventually won, Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards. CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster, declared it would not screen the ceremony and news websites like Tencent and Sina failed to mention the film’s victory when reporting on the awards.

Rumours abound that the directors who worked on the project have been unofficially blacklisted from working in the burgeoning Mainland market. Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai, responsible for the Self-Immolator short, has joked that with his involvement in the production, he “self-immolated my own career”.