Hong Kong director of documentary on 2019 protests hits out at ‘self-censorship’ after cinema chain scraps romance drama rescreening

MCL Cinemas announced cancellation of special showings of Kiwi Chow’s Beyond the Dream, a romance drama that was highest-grossing domestic film in city in 2020

Chow says he has encountered similar situations after release of his documentary on 2019 social unrest, which was released overseas but not locally

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Director Kiwi Chow has said he was not used in any marketing materials for the rescreening and he was not invited to speak to the audience at the sessions. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:32am, 29 May 2024Updated: 5:00pm, 29 May 2024

A Hong Kong director known for his controversial documentary on the 2019 anti-government protests has hit out at “self-censorship” in the city, calling a decision by a cinema chain to abruptly cancel the rescreening of one of his films “absurd”.

MCL Cinemas on Tuesday afternoon announced the cancellation of the special showings of Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai’s Beyond the Dream, a romantic drama released in 2019, at its Tsim Sha Tsui outlet. It offered refunds for the two sessions, previously set for June 15 and 28, but did not cite any reasons for the move.

Chow said the rescreening had been a welcome surprise that he learned of from the film’s distributor.

He said he believed the original decision to show the film was for commercial reasons and he suspected it was related to the resurgence in popularity of actor Terrence Lau Chun-him, who also featured in the recent blockbuster Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.

Lau’s performance in Beyond the Dream won him plaudits and a number of awards.

The film became the highest-grossing domestic film in Hong Kong in 2020 amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Chow said he heard from the distributor on Tuesday morning that MCL had scrapped the rescreening without providing a reason.