Blue Island 憂鬱之島@KCL

Description

This film is being played as part of A Mirror Image : Hong Kong X Taiwan Documentaries parallel programme- Kindred Histories with Taste of Wild Tomato

Synopsis: 

These are all stories of youth. A young man preferred to risk swimming across the raging sea towards a safe haven in order to avoid being caught up in the Cultural Revolution on the mainland. Another young man resisting colonialism was imprisoned for printing patriotic periodicals during the riots, and was long forgotten by the country after his release. A third youth went to Beijing to support students' demands for freedom, only to see their dreams and bodies crushed under the treads of tanks. 

The beliefs and ideals held by each generation are eventually submerged by the deluge of history. How do these generations recall, confront, and narrate their irreversible fates?

The film documents three real-life characters who engaged in rebellions when they were young. Through reconstructing these events, the film dramatises their scarred memories and experiences by showcasing the stories of four young people who participated in the 2019 Anti-extradition Law Amendment Movement in Hong Kong. These real protagonists are separated by time and history, yet their lives parallel and overlap, because they have similarly defiant backgrounds and find themselves the same chaotic predicaments. 

Images flow between documentary and drama, blending archival materials, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, weaving an expansive tapestry that encompasses these tumultuous eras… 

How do the young people of this city envision their future today? What do they think about this seemingly unwinnable revolution?  

這一切都發生在他們年輕時：一個寧願冒生命危險撤逃香港，衝向怒海濤波，也不願在文化大革命中身不由己；一個反抗殖民、於暴動中印刷外國主義的宣傳單張，未成年便成為階下之囚，釋放後卻發現社會一切如常，自己已被遺忘；一個到北京支持學生對民主自由的訴求，卻只看到夢想和肉體被坦克履帶輾碎。

每一代人抱着的信念與理想，終究淹沒於歷史洪流之中，他們要如何去記述、回憶和應對自身看似無法逆轉的宿命？

電影記錄了三位曾在年輕時投入抗爭的真實人物，同事以劇情重構的方式，由經歷過2019年香港反修例運動的年輕人，來重演他們傷痕纍累的回憶和經歷。平行的真實人物，因為相似的反抗背景和混沌境況而重疊。影像流動於紀實與劇情之間，揉合檔案素材、訪問和幕後片段，沉重編織出一幅動盪時代格局的巨大繡帷……

今天，這城的年輕人又會怎樣預視他們的未來？他們如何看待這場看似無法取勝的革命？

 

Awards:

• Best international feature(outspoken outstanding) at hotdocs 2022 
• Comcast Xfinity Documentary Competition award at CAAMFEST 2022

 

Selected in:

• Official selection at MIFF 2022
• Official selection at BFI London Film Festival 2022
• Official selection International Film festival Rotterdam 2022
• Official selection at New directors New Films 2022
• Taiwan International Documentary Festival 2022

 

Director's Statement:

I was born in the very last decade of Britain’s colonial rule over Hong Kong. Along with a population full of trepidation about the impending transfer of sovereignty to China, I grew up under a shroud of uncertainty. The accompanying political and social upheavals prompted me to embark on an exploration of the nuances of 'Hongkongers' collective identity. The intertwining destinies of Hong Kong and China is therefore a topic close to my heart.

My conception of this film emerged during the low tide right after the Umbrella Movement of 2014. Shrouded in a collective feeling of failure and hopelessness, I considered seeking out people who experienced other major historic events in Hong Kong. I wondered if, through reminiscences of their experiences, we could explore the universality of the plight of civic activism.

As the project proceeded, this impression of a sweeping atmosphere of melancholy on an isolated island became even more pronounced. Especially following the Anti-extradition Law Movement in 2019, the title Blue Island suits even better the limbo we now find ourselves in.

This is a story about those generations who have contemplated the nature of Hong Kong and their identities as Hongkongers, but are depressed by their inability to shape the city's fate. This kind of disillusionment is a universal tether that binds all of us together.

導演的話

香港經歷一九年的劇變，這城市的人盡是憂鬱失語。離散與失去自由，原來沒有離自己很遠。

我出生在英籍香港的最後十年，中國政權延續的不安與不確定性、隨之而來的政治和社會動盪，種種促使我探索香港人集體身份的細微差別。審視這座城市的過去時，我看到歷史在短短幾十年如此頻繁地重演。

這電影，是在快將沉沒的島嶼中，盡可能拍攝下來。這是關於「我們」，但「我們」是什麼？香港，又是什麼？這電影重過去到今日，看不同年代的人，他們沒有停止過想像香港，想像香港的未來，並因此各自付出了代價。

透過記憶的重新呈現，並置不同年代的香港人，連結、碰撞或探索一群香港遺民的心路歷程。這電影不僅是動盪裡的個人見證，也是這個島上將幾代人持續聯繫的紐帶。

 

Director’s Biography: 

Chan Tze Woon is a Hong Kong-based director and writer. Born 1987 and raised in this city, his debut feature-length documentary Yellowing (2016) examined the Umbrella Movement, a large-scale civil occupation in 2014. This documentary explored Hong Kong's fraught relationship with mainland China. It won the Shinsuke Ogawa Prize at the 2017 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2016 Taipei Golden Horse Film Awards.

Chan's first two short films, The AqueousTruth (2013) and Being Rain: Representation and Will (2014), both broached the subject of HongKong's political situation by means of conspiracy plots and mockumentary form.

Blue Island is Chan's second feature-length film.

導演簡介
香港獨立電影導演及編劇，畢業於浸會大學電影學院電影電視及數碼媒體（製作）碩士。

他的首部紀錄長片《亂世備忘》（ 2016 ）記錄雨傘運動，奪得山形國際紀錄片影展的「小川紳介獎」，亦入圍金馬獎最佳紀錄片、2020年鹿特丹國際影展等。

過去創作一直嘗試模糊記錄劇情的界線，短片作品《香港人不知道的》（ 2013 ）、《作為雨水：表象及意志》（ 2014 ）亦以偽紀錄片方式切入香港的政治景況。《憂鬱之島》為他第二部長片作品。

 

Taste of Wild Tomato 野蕃茄

Taiwan / 2021 / Colour / 123 mins / In Taiwanese with Chinese and English subtitles
Director: Kek Huat LAU

Full Synopsis:

Kaohsiung served as an important military base under Japanese rule. It suffered heavy casualties during the 228 Incident, in which the civilians were brutally suppressed. The film shows how each individual survives and sustains their memories through the different eras of oppression. To this day, memories of it still live in some people and places, and the wild tomatoes grown from this land.

 

Awards:

• Taiwan Competition Grand Prize at Taiwan International Documentary Festival 2022

 

Selected in:

• Busan International Film Festival 2021 
• Kaohsiung Film Festival 2021

 

Director's Statement: 

Regardless of identity, I hope the traumatic memory of every individual on this island will be treated with dignity and respect. 

 

Director’s Biography: 
Kek-Huat LAU is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan. His debut film, “Boluomi”, was shortlisted for Best New Director at Busan International Film Festival, New Currents section and was nominated for the Golden Horse Awards. The project won him the Tokyo Talent Award in 2015, Best Script Award in 2013 Taiwan and was selected for La Fabrique. Cinema du monde. His short film “Nia Door” won Best Short Film Award, Sonje Award in Busan International film festival, selected for 38th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Both his documentaries “Absent Without Leave” and “The Tree Remembers” still face censorship today in Malaysia. He is an alumnus of Golden Horse Academy and Berlinale & Tokyo Talents. Lau was also jury and mentor for regional filmmaking events such as Doc Doc, Asiadoc, FFD, New Asian Scenery.
 

高雄是日治時期的軍事重地，也是二二八事件中遭受嚴重軍事鎮壓的地區。本片尋訪經歷過二戰的台籍日本兵、二二八事件雄中自衛隊成員，及二二八事件受難者遺族，他們走過被噤聲的年代，恐懼及創傷如影隨形，成為一生都無法卸下的歷史馱負，鏡頭緩緩隨著他們的日常身影流動，他們從日常中撿拾記憶，還原歷經歷史劫難的生命軌跡，從被迫參戰的無奈際遇，到失去親人又背負標籤、跌宕波折的成長處境，沒有悲憤控訴，只有娓娓傾吐，讓他們重新擁有屬於自己的個體傷痕記憶。深植在他們身體裡的記憶，也留存在時間、空間的縫隙中，本片亦靜靜凝望散落高雄各地的軍事遺址，見證著工兵的血淚與青春；當倖存者逐漸凋零，就以訴說及凝視抵抗遺忘，記憶猶如在這塊土地上努力生長的野番茄，結出強韌的生命果實，展現堅毅不拔的姿態。

 

導演的話 

我希望在這塊土地上，無論任何身份，每個人的傷痛都可以被尊重。

導演簡介

廖克發，臺灣崛起的導演。第一部劇情長片《菠蘿蜜》入圍釜山國際影展新潮流競賽單元以及金馬影展最佳新導演提名。短片《妮雅的門》也曾在釜山影展獲得超廣角亞洲最佳短片。《菠蘿蜜》被選為2015法國南特影展，台北劇本工作坊，並獲選康城影展「世界電影工廠新導演工作坊」。創作持續反映真實世界，其兩部拍攝家鄉的紀錄片《不即不離》與《還有一些樹》依然面對馬來西亞政府的審查禁止。曾參與柏林影展新銳營與金馬電影學院。

Date & Time

Tue, Mar 28, 2023 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Venue Details

Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre

King's College London, Strand
London, London WC2R 2LS

Hong Kong Film Festival UK