National security law: Hong Kong director has sold rights to protest documentary screened at Cannes, but says he won’t leave city in spite of risks

Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow says he does not want to be ruled by fear of the Beijing-imposed security law

His film, Revolution of Our Times, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday after being kept secret until the last minute

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Filmmaker Kiwi Chow says he will not leave Hong Kong in spite of security law risks after his film was screened at Cannes. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:13pm, 16 Jul 2021Updated: 11:10pm, 16 Jul 2021

The Hong Kong director of a protest documentary screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday has sold the copyright of the film to protect himself from legal repercussions, but has decided to stay in the city, saying he does not want to be ruled by fear of the national security law.

Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai, an award-winning local director, surprised the Hong Kong film industry on Friday by having Revolution of Our Times, a 2½-hour documentary about the city’s anti-government protests in 2019, featured at the internationally renowned cinema showcase in France.

But Chow, 42, told the Post he no longer legally owned the film after handing it off to a distributor in Europe, noting he had also taken the step of deleting all the footage in his possession.

“I sold my copyright too,” he said. “You can say it’s a kind of risk assessment. In Hong Kong, I did not do any distribution of the film and I don’t have any clips with me.”

The poster for Kiwi Chow’s Revolution of Our Times, which screened at Cannes on Friday. Photo: Facebook

He added the film would not be screened in Hong Kong, publicly or underground, in the foreseeable future because he did not want to risk the safety of his team, interviewees and cinema operators.