#Fukushima #documentary 《311 – Revival 》

Earlier in 2017, my Facebook friend Horatio Tsoi (蔡錦源 Kam Yuen), an experienced TV/film director & producer, and his Hong Kong team completed a stunningly/hauntingly beautiful/insightful independent documentary 《311 – Revival 》 that is also thought provoking. We get to see different parts of Fukushima Prefecture up close through the eyes of the presenter Clarisse Yeung 楊雪盈 (a HK district council politician), the film crews, and the high flying drone camera that shot some hauntingly beautiful footage. We also get to hear from local residents, a farmer, restaurant operators, NGO volunteer radiation measuring group, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company ran the destroyed nuclear plants) official interviewed for the film to get their perspectives on things.

Many parts of this film touched me deeply.

*** Film summary from IMDb ***

“Fukushima used to be a wonderful place. Unfortunately, since March 11, 2011, “Fukushima” has been superseded by another name: Nuclear Disaster Zone. Six years have passed, but over 80,000 Fukushima residents still cannot return home, still cannot return to their former lives. How did they get through it? Reconstruction work is slow. Several years on, surrounding the site of the Fukushima nuclear incident, there remain many refuge-seeking residents whose homes are still in lockdown. In the streets, people are taking it to their own hands to save their communities. Psychologically and practically, how does one rebuild? Does the civil society’s self-rescue mission conclude in recovering what was lost, or in reviving an even better community? In their eyes, what is “revival”? What is the meaning of “rebirth”? Our crew went all over the coastal areas of Fukushima, recording stories of residents each finding their own ways to save themselves.“

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Museums Restaurants Kitchens

Museums: Inspirations from artists of the past (and present).
Restaurants: Inspirations from living artists’ #experiments.
Kitchens: Experiments by the artists in us all.
#yam’Tcha #paris #restaurant Chef’s Table: France – Adeline Grattard

Dec 22, 2017 Update: Wonderful to try the baos (buns) yesterday lunch and got a chance to have a wonderful long chat with Chi Wah as the store was a bit quiet because of the rain in Paris.

Long Hair Revolution Deleted & Extended Scenes – Support LH fight

Long Hair (Leung Kwok-hung 梁國雄) was forced into the biggest fight of his political life with the recent unjust retroactive court ruling that robbed his Legislative Council seat. As I was digitizing the 25 hours of miniDV tapes I filmed to make Long Hair Revolution, I decided to turn some clips into deleted and extended scenes and used them as calls for help for Long Hair. #Donate #LHRDeletedExtendedScenes I stole the following words from a friend, I hope she doesn’t mind.

//Long Hair needs money for the battle ahead. The HKSAR and CCP government will do everything possible to bankrupt him, jail him, and destroy his movement for democracy in Hong Kong. They are threatening to dun him for 9 months of back wages, and have saddled him with millions of dollars in court costs.
I’m reaching out to all of my friends, in and out of Hong Kong, to ask for your help. Please, please donate to keep his work and our dream alive. Here is an easy link. https://www.lsd.org.hk/donate/?lang=en

The donations are done with PayPal or credit card, and can be recurring or one-time-only. (For those of you unfamiliar with HK dollar amounts, 200 HKD is about 25 USD.)

Many many thanks! You are backing a noble man and a worthy cause. And if you’d like to know more about our Hong Kong situation, please reach out with questions and I’ll be happy to answer.//

Deleted & Extended scenes

Long Hair talks 2004 first elected to LegCo – LHR deleted scenes

粉筆少女 The infamous Chalk Girl

This is NOT my documentary but I really enjoyed the newly released Guardian documentary “The Infamous Chalk Girl” by San San F Young (web, @ssfyoung) (Producer, Camera, Director) so I want to share it here. Have a watch!

The Infamous Chalk Girl

P.S. My favourite scene is at the 20:45 mark and I left this comment: “This is a very touching scene to me. Chalk girl was asked what would she draw now?“

Hobbyhorse Revolution – North American premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival

Hobbyhorse Revolution sounds like an interesting film and I hope to watch it soon. CBC Radio show As It Happens has a 22 minutes story on this documentary as it is having its North American premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival (two more screenings on May 4th and May 6th, 2017).

Hobbyhorse Revolution (Official trailer)

Hobbyhorse Revolution (Official trailer #2)

Here is the info from Hot Docs,

“Once the plaything of children, the hobbyhorse—a stick with a horse’s head—takes on greater importance and symbolism for a group of Finnish teens who organize flash mobs and post videos dedicated to the object of their devotion. The (mostly) girls who practise competitive hobbyhorse dressage and show jumping are not horsing around. With backs straight, shoulders square, knees up and toes pointed, these fantasy athletes are part of an underground scene and sport that’s taking hold of a new generation of riders—who also happen to be the ride. With a punk rock attitude, these hobbyhorse rebels use make believe and social media to challenge what’s considered age-appropriate or different. Bullies be damned. Hobbyhorse Revolution catches a trend in its infancy along with the imaginative and brave pioneers who refuse to be categorized or kept down for being true to themselves and their passion. Angie Driscoll“

As a bonus, here is a video of “Making a hobbyhorse”

There is definitely beauty in the movements reminding me of feet of ballet dancers.

“LET US HOLD EACH OTHER” from windna’s YouTube channel.

“past comes back to life”

Wukan (烏坎村): China’s Democracy Experiment – great documentary

A documentary about the Wukan Village’s (烏坎村) Democracy Experiment that happened after the protests is a film that I wish I had the guts, access, ability, and talent to make. Have a watch of the full six-part series playlist on Youtube (more info on Aljazeera) or you can click the episodes below. Also check out Lianain Films’ James and Lynn Facebook and website.

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 1

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 2

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 3

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 4

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 5

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 6

Werner Herzog and Errol Morris videos

I posted this collections of videos on this post, “Two great friends and documentarians – Werner Herzog and Errol Morris” Here are two more videos.

An Evening with Werner Herzog – posted Sep 30, 2010 by University of California Television (UCTV)

Wings of Hope (2000) Quoting Wikipedia, “In 1971, while Herzog was location scouting for Aguirre, the Wrath of God in Peru, he narrowly avoided taking LANSA Flight 508. Herzog’s reservation was cancelled due to a last-minute change in itinerary. The plane was later struck by lightning and disintegrated, but one survivor lived after a free fall. Long haunted by the event, nearly 30 years later he made a documentary film Wings of Hope (2000) about it, which explored the story of the sole survivor Juliane Koepcke.”