多謝《給十九歲的我》的參與者。 #終身學習 Thanks Participants of “To My 19 Year Old Self” #LifelongLearning

Thanks Participants of “To My 19 Year Old Self” #LifelongLearning
多謝《給十九歲的我》的參與者。 #終身學習

Related: “Kempton & 張婉婷 給十九歲的我 (National Treasure) To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self – Mabel Cheung 2.5 hrs chat”

Related: “回應張堅庭導演 #給十九歲的我”

0) Thanking ALL participants and not just the leads (“主角”)
1) Dear Shirley (best friend of 「阿佘」Britney),
2)「阿佘」Britney and family
** 2a) Dear Britney’s Mom,
** 2b) Dear 「阿佘」Britney,
3)「阿聆」Ling and family
** 3a) Dear「阿聆」Ling,
** 3b) Dear Ling’s Parents,
** 3c) Dear Ling’s brother Mr. Wong Lik Tin 王力天,
4)「阿雀」“Birdy” Chloe and family
** 4a) Dear Chloe’s Parents,
** 4b) Dear 「阿雀」 Chloe,
5) Dear「香港小姐」“Miss HK” Katie
6) In Closing

0) Thanking ALL participants and not just the leads (“主角”)

Many have thanked the “lead participants” (“主角”) of the Hong Kong award-winning documentary 《給十九歲的我》“To My 19 year old self”. My thanks go to all appearing in front of camera and behind the scenes, you have taken precious time in these 10 years to shine light on the most precious thing in life, which is life itself.

After taking some time to reflect after watching 給十九 ToMy19 for 6+ times, I’ve found many “Teachable Moments“. I will try to share a few scenes in the film and people that I was deeply touched by. Each of us of course will have moments that touched us more than others because of our own live experiences. And I think that is expected. Here are some of mine.

I will put my thanks in the form of letters addressed to some of the people I watched in 給十九 ToMy19 directly in no particular order. Due to space and time limitation, I’m only able to share small parts of what I want to say so my apologies in advance.

1) Dear Shirley (best friend of 「阿佘」Britney),

Dear Shirley, I wish 給十九 ToMy19 is longer and we audiences of 給十九 ToMy19 get to see more of you on screen in your own words, telling your own stories, including more of you talking about your passion in music. Were you studying conducting in that scene near the end? One thing we got to watch clearly is that you were such a good and loyal friend of 「阿佘」Britney (more on Britney later) in her times of greatest need. Your firm and unwavering support of Britney showed us hope and possibility for goodness in a “Mean Girls” movie-style school environment. Shirley, Have you heard of the “Anne Frank Test“? No? Before I explain it, I want to say you passed the “Anne Frank Test” with flying colours! The Anne Frank Test as told by a Holocaust survivor years ago, is actually a single question: Which non-Jewish friends would risk their lives to hide us should the Nazis ever return? To me, you passed the “Anne Frank Test” when 「阿佘」Britney became an outcast for those periods of time in school and you stood by her all those years when she most needed your support. So much so that years later, Britney remembered your kindness and told others including the Former Principal Ms. Ruth Lee (前任校長 李石玉如) who recognized the good job that you did for your classmate in need. I often quote the Chinese saying, “錦上添花易, 雪中送炭難” and it is rather true for you. These days, I see too many HongKongers who are willing to 落井下石 because they have been primed to quick “Like” and even quicker “Hate” thanks to Social Media (like Facebook) algorithms that have been designed to maximize engagement (another word for “angry”/”hate”/”dislike”).

Thanks Shirley for giving us viewers (young, old, and very old) opportunities to learn to behave like you did for your good friend Britney. In case you and others are interested, I first read about test/concept in The Atlantic, “John McCain Would Have Passed the Anne Frank Test” after the passing of Senator McCain.

2) 「阿佘」Britney and family

2a) Dear Britney’s Mom,

Watching you showing your love of Britney by scheduling and limiting her activities (including limiting her TV time) reminded me very much of the love my own parents showed us when we were little. My parents were busy working like you and Britney’s father and they did not want us children to watch too much TV either “for our own good”. And in the summer holiday, my mom would plan my schedule a little so I would take time to study. You were like my parents, you tried and that was kinda “Universal Truth” of how some parents show love!

2b) My Dear 「阿佘」Britney,

Dear Britney, I wish 給十九 ToMy19 is longer and has more time to explore (even briefly) your current work in nursing. I worry the nursing profession in HK has also been decimated by the Covid19 pandemic like in Canada (shortage of nurses) and US (more shortage). How are things in nursing? Now back to the documentary. Thank you so much for sharing your stages of growth with HongKongers of all ages including students’ parents. So some (not all, but some) of those parents may learn to better love & spend quality and quantity time with their HongKongers students/children. I think every little bit makes a positive difference.

Speaking about parents who didn’t want us children watching too much TV “for our own good”, may I share something with you? Well, when my dear parents weren’t home to stop us from glued to the TV, at one point, they would unplug the TV, tied the TV’s electric cord into a knot, then my dad would tape the whole electronic cord knot onto the side of the TV and signed his name onto the tape itself, yes, as a tamper-proof security feature! Very inventive father! That invention stopped us from watching TV for a few days until I bought an electric extension cord to power the TV! 💞🤔😃💞 Of course, 道高一尺, 魔高一丈, soon they would start to “feel” the back of the TV, and if the TV was hot, it meant we were watching TV “illegally”! And then I discovered water would cool TV down so I just poured cups of water right into the back of TV minutes before they arrived home. Thank goodness TVs weren’t made in China and were more reliable then, and us children did not die from TV explosion from all the water poured into the back of high voltage cathode-ray tube TVs! Kidding aside, we can see in the documentary, your parents worked hard to provide for you. And your parents didn’t get their “training manuals on parenting” as neither did my parents get theirs.

Britney you are so brave in sharing your mental health condition (Depression) and Serotonin medication that may help many HongKongers’ (young and old) in discussing and treating their mental health condition, something that you now know as important given your nursing profession. Mental health condition is something many HongKongers including HongKongers students may have but aren’t brave enough to face or share like you. Britney, you have my deep admiration and I cried (ok, I cry easy) in support of your bravery! In Canada, we are a bit more enlightened as we have the awesome Clara Hughes, a beloved Canadian cyclist and speed skater who has won multiple Olympic medals in both sports. Britney, Our dear Clara wasn’t as brave as you because Clara could only share her mental health condition (Deep Depression) in 2011 after she was a full grown adult and a highly decorated successful Olympian winning multiple medals! Britney, you opened up when you were in secondary school and some of your classmates weren’t your most supportive friends except your best friend Shirley which I think we can agree as super cool! Britney, would you agree that Shirley has passed the “Anne Frank Test” as I described above? By the way, have you studied from your nursing training, the concept of Neurodiversity, a term I much prefer? I recently learned about it from the CBC podcasts “Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal” (part 1) and (part 2). With stories like yours more widely shared, do you think we can be hopeful that HongKongers will be more enlightened in the coming months and years?

3) 「阿聆」Ling and family

3a) Dear「阿聆」Ling,

Dear Ling, It was a breath of fresh air watching your open, fair, and hard fought school election that determined which of two teams would get to lead the Ying Wa Student Council. Documentary film doesn’t exist in a vacuum. And 給十九 ToMy19 exists in 2022/2023 when the Hong Kong 47 are being accused of breaking National Security Law of Hong Kong for their election related activities and some had been put in prison without bail for 700+ days. Under this context, watching your open, fair, and hard fought school election campaign and the insightful & emotional speech given by Vice Principal Ms. Siu-Fung Chow 周小鳳 became deeply touching & insightful as good documentaries can do sometimes. Maybe I cry too easily, but I cried watching you and your schoolmates’ school election campaign. I want you to know those election campaign scenes touched me.

And watching the clear love between you and your younger brother Mr. Wong Lik Tin 王力天 is an example of the “Universal Truth” that is the unconditional love that exist between siblings. Which led me to fondly remember some experiences with my own sibling. We love each other unconditionally. You and Mr. Wong also taught me more about the further need for inclusivity in Hong Kong which I will expand below.

3b) Dear Ling’s Parents,

Dear Ling’s Mother, You showed and taught me about unconditional motherly love in every frame you appear in the movie. I’m not a smart man but I think and hope your on screen actions has inspired and give solace to other HongKonger mothers who have their own life experiences to live.

Dear Ling’s Father, We got to watch you in a few places in the documentary and I appreciate your special fatherly love. As us children (we are ALL children of our parents, so this includes you, Mr. Ling’s Father) get older, we learn that parents are not given “training manuals” of how to be good parents and sometimes even our own parents make mistakes and that is another “Universal Truth” I myself discovered when I got older. My own parents tried their best. And so did you. The difference is that, I now understand that fact of “parents make mistakes too” better, the change of understanding happened inside me.

3c) Dear Ling’s brother Mr. Wong Lik Tin 王力天,

Dear Mr. Wong Lik Tin 王力天, Thank you for sharing precious moments of your life with us. Thanks especially to you, I have taken the initiative (a few hours) to learn more about Neurodiversity. In the film, your mental health condition is described as autistic (自閉症), of which I’m now more comfortable in using the term Neurodiverse to describe after listening to the CBC podcasts “Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal” (part 1) and (part 2). And I’ve put a library hold on the book “Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity” (see also audio NPR segment). I know some HongKongers are more progressive than others, and as we learn more about ideas like Neurodiversity so we can, ultimately, bring out fuller potential of Neurodiverse HongKongers to contribute to communities in unique ways as Prof. Temple Grandin (who is neurodiverse herself) talked about in details in the CBC podcasts “Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal” (part 1) and (part 2) that I hope readers of this post will take time to listen. To quote Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” I will tell people reading this to not take my words blindly for it, have a listen to “Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal” (part 1) and (part 2) and decide for yourself.

4) 「阿雀」“Birdy” Chloe and family

4a) Dear Chloe’s Parents,

You both show your clear unconditional love of Chloe. And in the documentary, Chloe even explained she is not going to leave Hong Kong so she can take care of you both. So sweet.

Dear Chloe’s Dad, You got up everyday to give Chloe rides to school (until the school moved to the Sham Shui Po) reminded me of how my loving late dad took care of us by driving us around to where we needed to go. The pair of scenes that touched me deeply were the ones you held Chloe’s hands when she was little. And then on that rainy day when Chloe was older, she pushed your wet hand away. This is another moment that I call “Universal Truth” as we children all do “this” at some stage of us growing up. Inevitable. Part of “growing up”. This scene made me cried a little as my own 80+ years old dad passed away last year. I wish I had more years to hold my dad’s hands but Covid19 and Hong Kong’s isolation policy robbed us of the final years, final months, final days, and final hours as I watched him over video as he passed on.

4b) Dear「阿雀」Chloe,

Dear Chloe, Watching 給十九 ToMy19, I feel (rightly or wrongly?) you are easy going and yet very principled. Your scenes bought lot of joy and insight to me personally. After watching your wonderful role in “The Nightingale”, I even Google to find and sample longer segments of “The Nightingale” Part 1/2 and Part 2/2 to watch for fun! And watching the scene of you, “Madam”  Karen, Ying Wa’s First Police Inspector Ms. Sheila Tong (湯玉英, 英華首位警務女督察), and others discussing the then “Live” Hong Kong protests (“佔中” in the words of Karen) also show your independent minded personality which I admire deeply. I’m almost certain that when I was your age, I would not have the clarity of mind and wouldn’t be able to explain my reasons as clearly as you to a person as experienced in policing as Sheila.

5) Dear「香港小姐」“Miss HK” Katie

Dear Katie, It was heartbreaking watching many scenes of you growing up alone in Hong Kong as it also shines light on real life experiences that more and more families of blended families and parents not living with the children. Of course, it was heartwarming to see you adapted to your American life really well.

6) In Closing, I wish I have more time and words to write about more people in 給十九 ToMy19 that touched my heart and taught me insightful lessons. I think the nice thing about good documentaries is not unlike other things in life, we ultimately decide what we see as “Teachable Moments” to learn from. Good luck and I hope you find your own valuable “Teachable Moments” in life.

Kempton & 張婉婷 給十九歲的我 (National Treasure) To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self – Mabel Cheung 2.5 hrs chat

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Related: “多謝《給十九歲的我》的參與者。 #終身學習 Thanks Participants of “To My 19 Year Old Self” #LifelongLearning”

Related: “回應張堅庭導演 #給十九歲的我”

====

• 10 years in the making, 300,000 hours of footage, and 3 years editing
• Calling 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self a “National Treasure“
• What good can documentaries do? Can you imagine documentaries changing lives or society?
• Director Mabel’s “Final Cut” & Ying Wa’s “Final Decision”
• re Mabel and her filmmaking & loving life partner the late Alex Law 羅啟銳
• Has Mabel thought of donating Alex’s and her creative archives to her alma mater HKU or NYU like Canadian author & living national treasure Margaret Atwood had donated 600+ boxes to create the Atwood archives at U of T?
• Sending my thanks & love to Mabel & team, student interviewees, and Ying Wa Girls’ School 英華女校 staff
• Concluding thoughts
• Postscripts 後記

10 years in the making, 300,000 hours of footage, and 3 years editing

It was my great honour and pleasure to have an extensive ~2.5 hours four parts insightful video interview (watch here) with Ms. Mabel Cheung 張婉婷導演 , an award winning director from the start of her career including her first student film (the famous “Migration trilogy“: The Illegal Immigrant 非法移民 (1985), An Autumn’s Tale 秋天的童話 (1987) and Eight Taels of Gold 八兩金 (1989)). My previous “record” of longest film interview was ~2 hours with Taiwan director Mr. Shen Ko-shang 沈可尚 to talk about his documentary LOVE Talk 幸福定格 which he took 7 years to film 8 couples.

Mabel and I chatted last Sunday Hong Kong time (2023/01/15) to talk about her documentary (10 years in the making, 300,000 hours of footage, and 3 years in the editing room) 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self (in short 給十九 ToMy19). And then the film won 2022 Best Film from Hong Kong Film Critics Society 香港電影評論學會 one day later on Monday (2023/01/16). Perfectly timed for Mabel‘s words of thanks to be appended to Part 4/4 of the interview clips.

My extensive ~2.5 hours chat with Mabel covers many topics, including scenes I love in 給十九 ToMy19 from the perspectives of movie viewers and also things that documentary filmmakers like myself or aspiring filmmakers want to know. Some viewers and filmmakers maybe curious how Mabel worked with 300,000 hours of footage to create a film that is loved by many? Or when the student interviewees didn’t want to be interviewed anymore, what did Mabel & team do to keep things going? What kind of advices does Mabel have for documentary or drama filmmakers or aspiring filmmakers wanting to create their first film?

Have a watch of all four parts of the interview. Mabel & I were originally scheduled to chat for 2 hours and those time flew by in the blink of an eye. And Mabel was so kind in giving me a 30 minutes extension. I used my additional time to ask questions I previously collected from a photographer friend interested in filmmaking and three questions by Norris Wong 黃綺琳 (note: Norris 黃綺琳 is Mabel’s former university student and current filmmaking project mentee 香港電影發展基金「薪火相傳計劃 ((2022?)-(3) 張婉婷 / 黃鐦 黃綺琳)」).

Calling 給19歲的我 To My 19-Year-Old Self a “National Treasure“

Right from the start, I mentioned to Mabel that I’ve watched 給十九 ToMy19 6+ times and I love it. In the same way that many Brits now love the Up (film series) (a series of docs featuring group of ~14 people in UK when they were 7, 14, 21, 28, … all the way to 63 years old) and consider Up (film series) a National Treasure, I love 給十九 ToMy19 a ton and also consider it a National Treasure.

Love is hard to explain. In some sense I started falling in love with longitudinal documentaries in 1988 as I was lucky to discover and watched the first four Up (documentary series) when the subjects/interviewees were 7, 14, 21, and 28 years old, at the SigSam audio-visual library of my alma mater University of Toronto. To my knowledge, the Up (film series) produced by Granada Television for ITV is the oldest, most famous, and most successful longitudinal documentaries of all time. Hoop Dreams (1994) is another longitudinal doc I love. There is also longitudinal dramas like director Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood (2014) (same actors filmed from 2002 to 2013) and the Before trilogy (Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013)) of romance films featuring the same leads.

And now you see why I’m primed to LOVE Mabel’s 給十九 ToMy19 which has become my latest favourite. Yes, a National Treasure. If I were a betting man, the 2022 Best Film mentioned above may just be the first of many awards. Of course, “winning awards” should never be any good filmmaker’s goal and definitely wasn’t Mabel’s as she told me. But a good film about HongKongers should be watched by more HongKongers.

What good can documentaries do? Can you imagine documentaries changing lives or society?

Many documentarians (good and even bad ones) aspire to capture their times for history. You may ask what good can documentaries do? Is it even possible that documentaries can change lives or society? Let me share two examples to illustrate.

Oscar winning director Errol Morris‘s documentary The Thin Blue Line (1988) was instrumental in Randall Dale Adams‘ (wrongly convicted of murder) exoneration the following year. Dear Zachary (2008) is a documentary that is instrumental in changing the legal system (specifically, bail reform) in Canada which I had the heartbreaking honour to video interview David & Kate Bagby when they attended the 2008 Calgary International Film Festival screening.

I hope a good documentary like 給十九 ToMy19 can lead to self and collective reflections, follow by positive changes in minds and actions of Hong Kong students, parents, teachers, school admins, education system, and even Hong Kong society in general. I wonder can and should 給十九 ToMy19 be screened at Ying Wa for all incoming new students in future years? Or will other Hong Kong schools want/plan to screen the film for teachable moments and learning purpose? I think the film contains many universal truths and can be used as good teaching aids in the hands of wise and loving teachers, vice-principals and principals. I think. I hope.

One scene that breaks my heart into a million pieces is the one that Vice-Principal Siu-Fung 小鳳 talked about some school where students (and their parents?) were thrilled to burn their school books after public exams were over. How tragic? Joi Ito (伊藤 穰一), former director of the MIT Media Lab, said this in a cool TED talk which I love, “Learning over Education. To me, Education is what people do to you. And Learning is what you do to yourself.”

For the books burning students, their cheering teachers & parents, I wonder what were they thinking? Do they think all their learning were “finally over” once they got accepted into university or graduated and got their undergrad degrees? Have they ever heard of or aspire to the idea/ideal of “Lifelong Learning“?

I want to especially thank the student interviewees and their families for their open sharing of a wide range of topics, including public health topics like mental health, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and many other topics that we can all learn more about and become better members of our communities. Be kind, be caring, and be loving of others.

Director Mabel’s “Final Cut” & Ying Wa’s “Final Decision”

As Mabel told me in our chat, she has the Director’s Final Cut on the documentary so that means anything that is on screen (or not on screen), the length, etc were all her decisions to make and her decisions were final. And “luckily”, the Hong Kong film censor did not have to cut one frame off her film.

And if my memory serves me, Mabel in one of her many interviews with media directly said (or implied) that it is always Ying Wa‘s “Final Decision”, in it I took it to mean that Ying Wa could have nixed the whole documentary after Mabel had done all the hard work. But Ying Wa did not. And for that, I thank the higher-ups at Ying Wa for letting 給十九 ToMy19 have her own life with us HongKongers and viewers around the world.

re Mabel and her filmmaking & loving life partner the late Alex Law 羅啟銳

My heart was broken into million pieces as I watched hours & hours of YouTube videos of insightful interviews of Mabel and her filmmaking & loving life partner the late Alex Law 羅啟銳. (see links below) The sudden passing of Alex last year came as a shock for Mabel and HongKongers and deeply saddened us all. Many in the film industry and media lovingly call the duo “雌雄大導” (for directors) drawing parallel to the saying “雌雄大盜”. To me, Mabel & Alex were 形影不離, the duo were actualization of the word inseparable for their creative & personal lives (see this 美紙 Art & Piece 2022 Nov cover (FB link)).

Some day I would love to ask Mabel about her & Alex’s creative process. Hopefully Mabel will let me interview her again in the future. Will see.

Recommended YouTube videos: a) 書展2013：移民3部曲 – 羅啟銳、張婉婷 (2013, 76 minutes), b) 影談系列——張婉婷 · 羅啟銳《秋天的童話》映後談Movie Talk—Mabel and Alex “An Autumn’s Tale” Post-screening Talk (2022, 105 mins), c) 影談系列——張婉婷 · 羅啟銳《玻璃之城》映後談 Movie Talk—Mabel and Alex “City of Glass” Post-screening Talk (2022, 88 mins)

Has Mabel thought of donating Alex’s and her creative archives to her alma mater HKU or NYU like Canadian author & living national treasure Margaret Atwood had donated 600+ boxes to create the Atwood archives at U of T?

Knowing how precious Mabel’s and Alex’s creative archives can be of inspiring values to filmmakers of this and future generations, I asked if Mabel had thought of donating Alex’s and her creative archives to her alma mater HKU or NYU like Canadian author & living national treasure Margaret Atwood had donated 600+ boxes to create the Margaret Atwood Papers at U of T that anyone can access digitally and freely?

Mabel thought who (no one really?) would be interested in Alex’s and her creative papers? I promptly said I would and think many people would too! And I suggested the papers should be digitized for easy and free global access. (Yes, I’m selfish and thinking of making sure me in Canada can access easily.) Mabel wasn’t thrilled of the amount of work involved. Of which I said it would totally be the receiving institution’s job (in fact, a pre-condition) to make sure these precious papers and creative materials of Mabel’s and Alex’s are as easily, digitally, and freely accessible for research purpose as the Margaret Atwood Papers at U of T that people can access and have a look anytime, like now.

If and when Mabel has decided to donate more of their creative papers, I would love to chat with Mabel to talk more.

Sending my thanks & love to Mabel & team, student interviewees, and Ying Wa Girls’ School 英華女校 staff

I want to send my thanks & love to Mabel & team for their hard work in the last 10 years. Without their dedicated and persistent hard work, 給十九 ToMy19 would have been impossible to make. My special thanks to the so called “師奶兵團 (義務導演) C9 Army corps (Volunteer Directors)“!

And I want to send my thanks & love to all 30+ Form 1 student interviewees, all 13 student interviewees that appeared on the film credit list that, I understood, to have participated till the end. And in particular the 6+3 interviewees that we got to know a little in the film.

In order of featured appearances

「阿佘」Britney

「阿聆」Ling

馬燕茹  Jenny

“Madam”  Karen

「香港小姐」“Miss HK” Katie

「阿雀」“Birdy” Chloe

plus

“Ken” Myra

Shirley

Angel

And I also want to send my thanks & love to all of Ying Wa Girls’ School 英華女校 teachers, vice-principals, and former & current principal.

To all who appear in front of the cameras, I again thank you for making 給十九 ToMy19 possible.

Concluding thoughts

After watching 給十九 ToMy19, a National Treasure, that took 10 years to make, it is easy for us viewers to think we, all of a sudden, “know” all of the interviewees “deeply” because we watched them “grew up” in front of our eyes for 10 years, right? 10 years flew by in the blink of an eye. Some of us may think we know something or even a lot about them, right? I’m afraid that will be wrong. I think, all documentaries, no matter how good, can only capture some very small parts of people. In fact we only know very little about our beloved student interviewees as there have been a lot of growths and changes happening off cameras. Especially since the film finished shooting in 2019 which was over 3 years ago.

If I may use a “musical tangent” of a song example to illustrate growth and changes. Do you remember in the first few minutes of the film 「阿佘」Britney sang an excerpt of “Think of Me” from Phantom ? I love it. But Britney didn’t. Britney wasn’t too happy as she told Mabel, because she thought she kinda sang off-key (走音) for a few words and would rather see her singing cut. But I (we) love it, right?

Thing is life is all about growing & learning. We all mature in time. Our singing. Thinking. Now here comes my “musical tangent” from me doing “too much research”. This is a clip of the talented Emmy Rossum singing “Think of Me” in The Phantom of the Opera (2004). And in 2012, eight years later, Emmy on a late night comedy talk show singing “O Mio Babbino Caro” impromptu and it was, to me, 20x better than her 2004 movie singing because her voice has more practices and time to mature. I’m no expert in music. Maybe Britney can have a listen and tell me? Or better, maybe we all can have a “listen” to the “music” of growth, learning and maturity with our “ears” in our hearts.

Postscripts 後記:

P1.S.) 張堅庭 Alfred Cheung’s take ===> I read from Facebook that Mabel’s director good friend Alfred Cheung 張堅庭 watched 給十九 ToMy19 in Taiwan twice in three days. Alfred shared a story of an interesting encounter with a 2x viewer concluding with the comment “這就是「給19歲的我」的另一種吸引，有時紀錄片比劇情片更讓人刻骨銘心。近期的心水推薦。”.

P2.S.) 小鳳 Siu-Fung is #cool ===> Check out this interview of Vice-Principal Siu-Fung 小鳳 shared by the movie Facebook page, “我要用上帝的愛浸死他們——訪《給19歲的我》英華女校副校長“

P3.S.) Words about translation of National Treasure and pandas 熊貓 ===> I’ve decided to keep on using the English words National Treasure and not translate it to Chinese for this article. For my generation, it feels easier to say “love you” to my parents instead of saying the words “我愛你” which feels very 肉麻. To me, the words 國寶 should ONLY be used to describe pandas 熊貓 like the adorable Jia Yueyue (加悅悅 ‘Canadian Joy’) and Jia Panpan (加盼盼 ‘Canadian Hope’). So 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self will always be a National Treasure to me. :)

P4.S.) 金成 + 張婉婷 ===> Of the many recent interview videos of Mabel I’ve watched, 金成 has done one of the most comprehensive and insightful interview and I highly recommend watching, 叔叔的愛（番外篇）：金成、張婉婷對談.

P5.S.) Unprofessional to call 給十九歲的我 “National Treasure”? ===> I can always count on my Better Half being frank with me and call my bull beep out. She warned me that by calling 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self a National Treasure, I appear rather “unprofessional” and appear to “suck up” to Mabel and others. But did I? Did I NOT ask some tough questions during my extensive interview with Mabel? Did I NOT try to correct Mabel about some minor factual info (about the Up (film series)) when I could easily have said nothing? I felt important to ask questions in a respectful manner as Mabel is an accomplished filmmaker and yet, to do a good job, good (and sometimes tough) questions must be asked. While I was typing this, I kept thinking of Alex telling Mabel that her 1st and 2nd versions of 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self was “boring” 好悶啊. Something only an honest and loving partner can and must keep on telling each other. I continue to mourn the passing of Alex, one half of a beautiful creative duo. To expand, “雌雄大導” focus on their creative work, while “形影不離” transcend work and become encompassing of work and life with love. Me think.

P6.S.) Ming Pao’s insightful interview with video ===> worth a read and watch, “花十年拍紀錄片變「老頑童」 張婉婷面對生活像快要崩潰的牆｜張婉婷專訪” [HT YWGS]

P7.S) 張婉婷想做飛機師 ==> I love this interview a ton, “(端傳媒) 導演張婉婷專訪：用十年紀錄香港千禧世代之後，她想做飛機師” [HT YWGS] I wish I had more time to chat with Mabel about her dream (or desire) to be a pilot (想做飛機師). You see, my US Wyoming based political talk show host friend Glenn is a private plane pilot and owns a small plane. With my previous CAATS – ATC (Canadian Automated Air Traffic Systems – Air Traffic Control) Software Engineering experience, we love to talk shop sometimes including topics like glass cockpit, Boeing 737 MAX tragic crashes & groundings, … and sometimes Glenn shares beautiful made-by-pilots cockpit YouTube videos like “Vancouver Island Series – Tofino, Long Beach – Can’t believe this is allowed! – Part 4 – (S3:E4)“. I would love to ask Mabel if she really wants to fly herself? Or would she be just as happy (like me) to watch beautiful clips like Vancouver Island Series – Tofino, Long Beach – Can’t believe this is allowed! and be amazed? Or Mabel really want to fly in the air?

P8) 說自己想說的話 ==> Check out am730 “張婉婷是香港的童話” as I love this line a lot, “然後，張婉婷輕輕笑一笑：「我們拍電影，不是為賺錢，是為說自己想說的話呀！」” [HT YWGS]

P9) 20230128 Ming Pao 明報OL, (with video) “《給十九歲的我》成績超乎預期 張婉婷盼成功為母校籌錢建泳池” 20230128 香港01, “優先場票房600萬　張婉婷面對負評︰不能客觀評價“

P10) 20230129 “文化誌，人物記 時日再變　樂天不變　《給19歲的我》阿雀：啲人笑我似林敏聰” (Youtube video) & “時代論壇 – 英華女校榮休石玉如校長專訪“

Update history: 20230128 6:28am Minor editorial changes + adding news links. 20230125 11:20pm Minor editorial changes + adding internet links. 20230121 12:25pm Created Internet archive saved page to properly and permanently link info to 香港電影發展基金「薪火相傳計劃 ((2022?)-(3) 張婉婷 / 黃鐦 黃綺琳 project. 5:52am Added P8 and reworded the beginning of each Postscript a little. 20230120 12:50pm Title change to match video clips and few other editorial changes. 11:22am MST Style and top picture position change. 5:18am MST – Add a pix up top which links to YouTube list of all 4 videos. Add P6.S., P7.S. and other minor updates. 20230119 10:25pm MST – Added P4S 金成 video interview recommendation. Added P5S My Better Half challenged me and asked: Did I “suck up” to Mabel and others by calling 給19 ToMy19 a National Treasure? P5S is a reply to her legitimate question. 20230119 9:47pm MST – Fixed typos and making minor changes

First published: 20230119 ~8pm MST

I am the F**King Virus – a Pandemic #Covid19 Documentary Poetry short film

“I am the F**King Virus” is Kempton‘s first foray into Poetry, specifically Documentary Poetry (see note below), and even more specifically the form of Documentary Poetry short film.

==== See Director’s statement plus more reference notes below after the documentary poetry ====

I am the F**King Virus – a Documentary Poem by Kempton

(20200417 version 2.48163264128256512102420484096)

I am the F**King Virus

You covered me up. And let me killed thousands

Thank you. Xie Xie. Or is it Xi Xi

WHO studied me and recommended how to beat me

but few read her report so I infected 100,000s more

How do I say thank you in Italian, Spanish, German, Persian, French, Korean, and Trumpian

I am the F**King Virus

We shall fight on the beaches

We shall fight under the cherry blossom trees

We shall fight in the churches, mosques, and synagogues

We shall fight in close combat less than 2 meters apart (with no Physical Distancing)

We can stop fighting now IF you accept my price of 1.4% of you ALL
(mostly elderly, the weak plus some healthy young human beings)

I am the F**King virus

I am on the Edge of Tomorrow or is it Live Die Repeat

4th Anniversary of Umbrella Revolution

On this 4th anniversary of Umbrella Revolution in HK, I will be frank as I had not planned to revisit/watch any Umbrella Revolution video footage including my own documentary because I had watched my documentary and the footage in it probably hundreds of time during edit. But 4 years later, while I of course remember and appreciate the major players’ roles and efforts, the unnamed strangers who helped out by sweeping water on the the street are what affected me and what I want to remember the most.

An unnamed strangers who helped out by sweeping water on the the street (timecode 49m34s)

I will always be in debt to the 100+ content creators who helped made my doc possible. So I rewatched the credit sequences to remember and say thanks.

The amazing credit sequence (timecode 1h47m6s) itself is also packed with photos and artworks by some content creators’ works at the time.

(video) LOVE Talk 幸福定格 (7 years filmed 8 couples) director Shen Ko-shang 沈可尚 interview

I recently had the great pleasure of having an extensive 2-hour interview with Taiwanese award-winning director of LOVE Talk 幸福定格 (see below for synopsis) Mr. Shen Ko-shang 沈可尚. after watching his new documentary (spent 7 years to film 8 couples) which I really enjoyed and found insightful.

最近慶幸有機會訪問台灣得獎導演沈可尚兩小時，詳談他非常好看及發人深省的新紀錄片”幸福定格 LOVE Talk” (七年時間拍攝八對夫妻) (影片簡介見文章末).

LOVE Talk 幸福定格 movie poster

Trailer 預告片

Ko-shang was very accommodating in letting me asked questions in English (with some Mandarin translation when necessary) and then he answered in Mandarin.

沈導演非常包容合作, 樂意讓我用英語發問（必要時加上一些普通話翻譯），然後沈導演用普通話回答。

Since Ko-shang gave some very broad, in-depth, very insightful and sometimes unexpected answers, I wasn’t sure if it is useful or unhelpful to break the Q&As down and provide precise time codes to help viewers access a specific section.

由於沈導演給出了一些非常廣泛，深入，有見地且有時出乎意料的答案，我也不確定是否應該把每一段問答(Q＆A)分開，並提供時碼 (time codes, 時分秒)以幫助觀眾跳到訪問特定的時碼是否有益。

My suggestion is to watch the whole interview from beginning to end so it flows better. But if you must, see below for linked time codes and my questions.

我建議從頭到尾觀看整個訪問，以保流暢。 但是，如果你覺得有幫助，訪問片段之後有我的題問和相關的時碼 (time codes) 連接。

LOVE Talk 幸福定格 director Mr. Shen Ko-shang 沈可尚 interview

========

Here are some of the questions asked: 以下是訪問中的一部份問題:

Question @1m45s I heard from a HK organizer of Chinese Documentary Festival (第十一屆華語紀錄片節) the first screening of “Love Talk” was sold out on the first day of ticket sales. And the second screening are almost sold out. So they added a third screening.

How do you feel when hearing this good news? Do you feel pressure from anticipation of the audiences?

Question @3m52s Are you looking forward to Q&As with HK audiences?

Question @5m10s In 2010, you pitched 幸福定格 with the English title “Double Happiness Limited” at the CCDF pitching forum (華人紀錄片提案) and now 7 years + editing time later, 幸福定格 has evolved into “LOVE talk” (with the letters
L.O.V.E. in upper case).

Can you talk about what did you try to capture in the beginning and what did you get at the end?

Question @14m07s So it took 14 months to make: 賽鴿風雲 RACING PIGEON IN TAIWAN, 3 years to make: 築巢人 A Rolling Stone, and now 7 years to make 幸福定格 LOVE talk filming 8 couples.

How did you feel during the 7 years of filming and about one year of editing? Were you very worried about not getting what you want or need?

Question @21m28s When you decided you to start editing, did you ever go back to film more footage?

Question @29m03s Are there cases after their chats were filmed, they asked you to delete the footage or promise not to use them? If not, what would you have done if you were asked?

Question @37m26s If you had a time machine and could time travel to 10, 20, or 30 years into the future to talk to the grown up children of the couples, what would you tell them? Would you thank them? What would you say?

Question @44m11s How did you decide to place the funny moments, the heart warming moments, the tense and stressful moments in the film? In a sense, how did you discover the flow of the film?

Question @1h03m14s Since LOVE talk has already screened at film festivals in places like 西寧, 武漢, and 北京, and you’ve Q&As, something I understand you enjoyed. Can you give examples of three memorable audience questions that you were asked and your answers?

Comment @1h12m01s Mr. Shen: “In the three screenings, audiences all have asked this question.”

Question @1h15m20s Some viewers who have watched a promotional clip would have learned one of the women in the movie had stage 3 liver cancer. After rematching the film, I realized it wasn’t mentioned it the movie. Can you explain a little of your reasons of actually NOT giving much details about the couples and what happened to them as some scenes ended mid-argument?

Comment @1h16m42s Mr. Shen: “The most important message of this film is “TALK“.”

Question @1h18m56s My question about naming the film “TALK love” since TALK is so important?

Question @1h20m56s In the end of the film, we learned one of the husbands was in HK? Is he still working in HK? And do you know if he plans to attend one of the screenings?

Question @1h23m37s German director Werner Herzog is known for making some great documentaries and drama. I love his documentaries: Grizzly Man , Cave of Forgotten Dreams and his dramas like Rescue Dawn. You yourself have made both dramas and documentaries in your career. Can you briefly talk about your processes in coming up with ideas, planning, and making documentaries vs dramas? Do you have a favourite genre: documentaries or dramas?

Question @1h33m10s When you write your script, do you have actors/actresses in mind playing those roles? And how do you cast actors/actresses to act in your movies? Canadian director David Cronenberg once used YouTube interview videos to help him cast a movie (Twilight superstar Robert Pattinson in his movie Cosmopolis).

Question @1h44m42s What next for you with “LOVE talk”? Which festivals are you scheduled to attend? And will people in Taiwan get to see “LOVE talk” in film festivals or main theatres?

Question @1h47m25s What do you look forward in your upcoming trip to HK? What do you like to eat? What do you usually do in HK?

Question @1h48m33s Some of your HK friends make documentaries. Do you end up talking shops and each others’ movies with your documentary filmmaking friends?

========

Here are some official film stills of LOVE Talk 幸福定格:

========

LOVE Talk 幸福定格 @ The 11th Chinese Documentary Festival 2018
Date Time Venue
17/10 (Wed) 2:30 pm Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Science Museum*
18/10 (Thur)【Additional Screening】 9:50 pm MOViE MOViE Cityplaza*
20/10 (Sat) 3:30 pm MOViE MOViE Cityplaza*
*Q&A session with the director

** From LOVE Talk 幸福定格 promotional materials **

//LogLine:
He spent 7 years looking for the secret to the preservation of marriage. Taiwan director Shen Ko-shang, after his first year of marriage, started to question his marital life, and with these questions, he had been shooting 8 couples for 7 years. He invited them to have conversations in front of the camera, while the topics ranging from their in-law issues, children upbringing problems, to the division of responsibilities in their marriage, in order to seek for the answers to two questions: Do people really need marriage? How exactly do two people get along with each other for a lifetime?

Synopsis
One finds love, marries and then expects happiness. Once in marriage, love alone ceased to be the only thing that bonds the two together; things of more complexity are added to the play. A conversation, an exchange, is the only possible means of dissolving the boundary between two individuals. The film focuses on daily conversations between eight couples. In their trivial dialogues of love, husband and wife question each other on topics ranging from sex, parenting, housework division, problems with their mother-in-law, and even dullness of marital life. The conversations reflect the authenticity of characters’ conditions of living, exploring the depth of intimate relationship in marriage while at the same time shedding a dim light on the significance of happiness. Perhaps this sort of happiness lies in the journey where seeking is the end itself, and it can certainly not be captured in frame.//

//影片簡介
作品曾獲亞太影展最佳紀錄片、臺北電影節首獎導演沈可尚,歷時七年,執著記錄八對邁入婚姻殿堂、時間長短不一的夫妻生活對話,他們開誠佈公、質問著對方日常生活中不會觸及的話題,從為什麼要與對方結婚到不再有激情的婚姻生活;是否厭倦對方到一觸及發的婆媳問題;還有關於性、關於生孩子、關於受不了對方的點點滴滴…。
其中中國大陸的小夫妻阿飛和樂會,他們在共同打工的地方認識、相愛、結婚,通過質樸的對話,可以看到內地年輕一代農民工的婚戀觀念;來自臺灣的白領年輕夫妻勇諴和薇之,他們展現了城市新潮夫妻的對於婚姻生活的期待與妥協;另外還有教授、小吃店老闆、白領職員、藝術工作者、創業家、家庭主婦等來自不同地方不同處境的夫妻,將帶領觀眾再次反思自身對婚姻與幸福的定義。//

========

Further exploration (interviews & news):

*) Ko-shang did an insightful and fun to listen to hour long interview with 人氣心理專家鄧惠文 (精神科醫師/心理治療師) on her radio show. You can listen to the full News98 radio show on YouTube.

*) 《幸福定格》導演沈可尚：婚姻，比愛情深刻，比親情好玩 (ref)

*) 导演沈可尚：爱比我们想象中的复杂得多

#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.“

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.”

Watch “Revolution Trilogy” 睇「革命三部曲」

(Watch my trilogy of documentaries.)

Watch my docs Revolution Trilogy 睇「革命三部曲」

20190812 Director new preface re the word “Revolution”:

The title of my debut documentary “Long Hair Revolution 「長毛革命」” was decided in 2004, so 15 years ago. The rationale is similar to “industrial revolution” or “internet revolution”, ideas for improvement. Nothing to do with violence.

“長毛革命”在2004, 即是15年前定名, 其實跟”工業革命”或者”互聯網革命”道理相同, 是嶄新改革的意思, 完全同”暴力”沒有任何關係.

Watch HKtv Revolution

Watch my new documentary HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命 (with English & Chinese subtitles) in this stranger than fiction time. Love to hear your feedback. (note: you can use Chromecast or Apple TV to watch this on your HDTV)

在這個比小說更離奇更荒謬的世代，請讓我分享紀錄片「香港電視革命」(中英文字幕)。請留言，寫下您寶貴的意見。(注意：您可以使用Chromecast或Apple TV 放上您的高清電視觀看)

HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命 (full-length 2015)

1) Watch HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命 in a “stranger than fiction” time

As our real world is often stranger than fiction, you are invited to watch HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命 to witness and reflect what HongKongers had gone through in the last few years in fighting with the CY Leung Hong Kong SAR government for their simple “rights” to watch some good TV shows.

Why March 2016 is especially “stranger than fiction”? When HKTV’s license application was first rejected in 2013, as you will learn in the start of the film, the CY Leung government claimed it worried about “cut throat competition” might lead to lower programming quality. Well, after watching the slow sinking of ATV (the one of only two free-to-air TV broadcasters in HK) in 2015/2016, we now have positive proof how ridiculous that “cut throat competition” claim was!

In recent months, ATV had trouble paying salaries of its hundreds of employees, still own many employees millions in wages, hadn’t been paying its broadcast license fees to the government for months, and couldn’t even pay the service/maintenance fees for its elevators (so ATV employees had to walk up the stairs to work), etc. And ATV’s liquidator accounting firm Deloitte finally announced on Thursday (March 3rd) evening that it will dismiss almost all ATV employees!

And after Deloitte’s announcement, ATV investor came out to flaunt a case of ‘cash’ at press conference in last-ditch attempt to save ATV (see news #2 below). The cash flaunting event later became even more of a farce as news media spotted (news #5 and #7 below) that the stacks of HK$ 1,000 bank notes were propped up by empty boxes and HK$ 100 notes to give an appearance of a fuller box of HK$ 1,000 bills!

As ATV shuts its broadcasting down in the coming days, after close to 59 years of continuous operation, I hope you will enjoy and gain some insight watching HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命 in our turbulent and “stranger than fiction” time.

2) Review HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命 on IMDb

Please (pretty please) rate & review the film at IMDb, it is easy and it helps spread the words of the film.

I hope you enjoy the film (on your big screen HDTV or your computer) as much as I in making it. Feel free to post any questions you may have re HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命. And I definitely appreciate your time in leaving me any words of encouragement.

My best,
Kempton

Director of “Revolution Trilogy” (革命三部曲)
2005 Long Hair Revolution 長毛革命 (watch online)
2015 HKtv Revolution 香港電視革命 (watch online)
2015 Umbrella Revolution: History as Mirror Reflection 雨傘革命實錄：以史為鏡

Opening Windows and Doors

Database search of Long Hair Revolution at Library and Archives Canada=

It will always be one of my great honours to have my first documentary in 2005 “Long Hair Revolution (長毛革命)” be placed and collected by the National Archive of Canada (Government of Canada Item Number (ISN) 416953 at Library and Archives Canada). At the same time, as an independent filmmaker with limited resource, I’ve tried, shamelessly, to leverage this honour help me open many windows and doors in my documentary making journey.

I often mention”Long Hair Revolution (長毛革命)” and sometimes the National Archive connection (like today) when  arranging face-to-face or Skype video interviews, requesting copyright owners’ permissions to use their works (photos, artworks, video clips, etc) to help give myself instant “credibility” and hopefully smooth things out. Opening these windows and doors are crucial to my ability to try to make (HKtv+Umbrella)Revolution (香港電視+雨傘)革命 a reasonably “good” documentary since part 2 my documentaries (namely the “Umbrella Revolution” part) is heavily (or almost totally) “crowd sourced”.

P.S. To my friends and supporters: Yes, I am trying to fix the giant 10 years gap between my first documentary and my second film! I guess which is why I am making my 2nd and 3rd film together! Will see what happen.

Interview with Adler Yang, director of Taiwan documentary “If There is a Reason to Study” (學習的理由)

If there is a reason to study

Taiwan documentary “If There is a Reason to Study” (學習的理由) by Adler Yang (楊逸帆) will be screened at Chinese Documentary Festival 2014 in Hong Kong. This reporter has the great pleasure to have an in-depth video interview with the young 19 years old director to talk about the film. Here is a brief film description from the festival,

“Humanity [RenWen] Junior High School is a non-traditional school in Taiwan. To encourage free development, there is no ranking based on grades. On the other hand, however, students must face the same standardised tests as students from traditional schools in order to progress to senior high.

The director, aged only 14 at the time of filming, used his camera to record what his classmates said as they faced the challenge, and to explore the motivations behind studying.“

When Yang was only 14 years old in 2009, he started filming footage for an earlier 6 minutes version of this film called 《不想考基測 The Soul》(2010)). Majority of the filming for Reason to Study was completed in 2010 with brief update footage of the documentary subjects at the end of the film. Readers may be amazed to hear that Yang already had 70+ hours of footage to work with to create his 6 minutes short 2010 film《不想考基測 The Soul》 (viewable on YouTube). And then 300+ hours of footage to work with in his latest 93 minutes feature  “If There is a Reason to Study” (學習的理由).

The film is a frank and interesting look at education in RenWen and it even features the film director taking a public exam specifically for this film in order to experience what his schoolmates experienced through the eyes of the young director (14/15 years old at the time). The film is screening on 17/9 (Wed) at 7:30 pm & 21/9 (Sun) at 2:30 pm at agnès b. CINEMA, Hong Kong Arts Centre (香港藝術中心 agnès b. 電影院).

Here is my in-depth video interview with Yang to talk about the film,

Here is a trailer,

Cantonese interview with Jo Ho, co-director of HK documentary Women’s Horizon (好風景)

Jo Ho Ka Wui (何嘉滙) is the co-director of HK documentary Women’s Horizon (好風景) with Bryan Chang Wai Hung (張偉雄). A documentary that recorded the lives of five Hong Kong women from 2010 to 2012. Here is a description of the five women from the film outline,

“Kitman, a big fan of online sweepstake; Charlene, a dance instructor and urban fashion shop owner; Esther, growing up in in a christian community aspiring to live the life within the church; Chan Hei, was an advocate for the fair treatment of sex workers and is employed at a bookstore; Kai Kai, Representative of the League of Fanling North Villages and Residents.”

Here is a trailer,

When Jo and Bryan were first planning to shoot Women’s Horizon in 2010, they talked about being inspired by the British Up Series documentary that has “followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old.” The directors of Women’s Horizon hopes to revisit the lives of the five Hong Kong women in a few years to make another documentary. Over the two and a half years, the filmmakers made the documentary with their own money and shot ~60 hours of footage and editing the footage down to a 58 minutes documentary.

Here is an extensive and exclusive interview with co-director Jo Ho Ka Wui (何嘉滙) conducted on the eve of the film’s world premiere on September 9th at the Chinese Documentary Festival 2014.

Money is the cheapest thing – New Quote I Love

I’m adding this Bill Cunningham quote to my long list of Quotes I Love,

“Money is the cheapest thing. Liberty/freedom is the most expensive.“

If you can, check out this fun and deeply insightful documentary “Bill Cunningham New York” (trailer):

You can also check out Bill’s video work at NYT. And Bill is definitely one of the Great Minds if Our Time!

[HT Saw this great brief note about the doc by Kathrin]

interview Horatio Tsoi, former HKTV documentary producer/director

This is my Cantonese interview with Horatio Tsoi, former HKTV documentary producer/director on 2013/10/27 訪問蔡錦源港視前高級編導.

Interview with CIFF documentary Bending Steel director Dave Carroll

The 2013 Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF), running September 19-29, just announced the moving documentary Bending Steel is having its Alberta premiere on Sept 20th & 21st (CIFF info & tickets purchase), a film that world-premiered at Tribeca, selected by Hotdocs and has received praises from The Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire, and Toronto Standard. Bending Steel‘s trailer is quite moving . It is a documentary “about an introverted man who decides he wants to become an old-time strongman.” Director Dave Carroll said, “The conflict in the film is when he tries to get out and perform in front of people, he is really up against some of his greatest fears, interactions with people and judgement, and it becomes quite a problem, something he has to overcome.”

Bending Steel is Carroll’s documentary directorial debut funded out of his and award-winning producing partner Ryan Scafuro‘s own pockets with friends’ help and money from a $25,000 Kickstarter project. Carroll first met the documentary introverted subject Chris “Wonder” Schoeck when he and his dog heard a noise while doing laundry in the basement of the building he and Schoeck lived in and  that “startling” chance encounter lead to an idea for a short documentary which turned into a feature-length documentary project that spanned 2.5 years and generated 200+ hours of footage.

Have a watch of my interview with Bending Steel director Dave Carroll, which has made me want to watch Bending Steel even more. Carroll told me that Schoeck and producer Scafuro plan to attend CIFF so you may get to meet them.

I love the spirit contains this excerpt from Schoeck‘s “Why Bend?” blog entry (with emphasis added), “Always remember constant progress. Grab a tougher bar and push with everything you got. The bar may not go at first, but remember if it flexes it can be bent. Through time you will bend it. The struggle forces you to reach deep into your mind. Remember its all about the journey. Soon you pity those that have early success. They miss out on that journey.” Have a watch of Schoeck doing some cool steel scrolling! Love it!

Here is Bending Steel‘s short synopsis via CIFF,

“Introverted, middle-aged Chris Schoeck has lived in the New York City borough of Queens his entire life. He feels no sense of home or belonging—until he starts bending steel, transforming himself into an old-time strongman. Suddenly, his life changes.

Bending Steel follows Chris as he prepares for a major performance at Coney Island. As he trains