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For some Hong Kongers, the monthslong anti-extradition invoice protests might already really feel like one thing from a distant previous.
However Hong Kongers dwelling in Taiwan had been just lately reminded of the feelings related to the protests after the island started to run a documentary movie in dozens of film theaters on February 25.
“I hope audiences can respect the movie with out a mounted political stance or quite a lot of stereotypes,” stated Kiwi Chow, the director of the movie, in a recorded message to the general public in Taiwan.
The movie, whose identify is derived from the second half of a now-banned slogan in Hong Kong, chronicles the monthslong protests that remodeled the semi-autonomous metropolis.
It paperwork how the preliminary protests in opposition to a proposed extradition invoice that might doubtlessly enable residents in Hong Kong to be tried in Chinese language courts advanced into mass demonstrations in opposition to police brutality and the federal government’s failure to fulfil its guarantees.
It was reportedly filmed and directed by a gaggle of nameless filmmakers in a collaborative vogue.
In an interview with DW final December, Chow described the expertise in 2019 as “a collective trauma” for all Hong Kong folks.
He stated since the Chinese language authorities imposed the controversial nationwide safety regulation (NSL) on Hong Kong, folks now not have shops to undergo these traumas.
The movie captured a number of episodes of fierce clashes between protesters and Hong Kong police
“Somebody as soon as thanked me for making the movie, as a result of he stated it reminded him that his experiences within the 2019 protest had been actual,” Chow stated. “I feel one factor this movie can obtain is to witness and protect historical past, particularly after we realized that sure histories in Hong Kong might not survive after the NSL got here into power.”
‘A transparent visible proof of police brutality’
The movie captured a number of episodes of fierce clashes between protesters and Hong Kong police, together with the storming of the legislative council, the Yuen Lengthy assault on July 21, the Prince Edward MTR station assault on August 31, and the siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic College.
Some Hong Kongers in Taiwan, who took half in a few of the protests, stated their fast response after watching the movie was “fury,” as they had been reminded of the police’s usually violent remedy of protesters all through the monthslong protests.
“I believed I used to be going to be crying quite a bit however I feel proper after the film started, I used to be very indignant the entire time,” stated Kacey Wong, an exiled Hong Kong artist in Taiwan.
“The film vividly jogged my memory how loopy it was again then. One scene was the Yuen Lengthy assault, the place native villagers and alleged triad members carrying white shirts attacked protesters and residents. However in the course of the press convention, the police claimed nobody was carrying any weapons on that evening,” he added.
Jennifer Lu, an LGBTQ rights activist from Taiwan who used to journey often to Hong Kong, described the expertise of watching the movie as “painful.”
As she had personally been to lots of the locations featured within the movie, the scenes reminded her of her buddies in Hong Kong.
“It is actually unhappy, however I additionally assume that whereas it was painful for me to observe the movie, my buddies in Hong Kong really need to undergo such issues,” she informed DW.
“The one factor I can do is to observe the movie and share my ideas with most people in Taiwan. To some extent, I am frightened that Hong Kongers in Taiwan is likely to be traumatized after they watch the movie. Alternatively, I feel they could need extra folks to know what occurred in Hong Kong,” she added.
Transformation of the protests
Other than the emotional parts, Wong thinks the movie additionally captures how Hong Kong’s civil society deployed numerous ways in response to the usually brutal responses from the police and authorities authorities.
“This movie clearly documented how the police mainly abused their rights and the way the folks tried each peaceable means all the way in which to the martial technique of resistance,” he stated.
All through the course of the motion, the Hong Kong police and authorities usually described protesters as “rioters” and accused them of paralyzing the town.
Throughout a New Yr deal with in 2019, Hong Kong’s Chief Govt Carrie Lam stated the protests introduced “unhappiness, anxiousness, disappointment and even rage” to the town.
Months after that deal with, China’s Nationwide Individuals’s Congress, the nation’s rubber-stamp parliament, adopted the Nationwide Safety Legislation that was imposed on Hong Kong in July 2020.
Since then, greater than 160 folks have been arrested beneath nationwide safety costs, whereas a few of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy media shops had been compelled to close down.
“Whereas I can do nothing once I lose the liberty to launch the movie, I nonetheless have the liberty to create. That is the one second I can maintain onto,” Chow stated.
Kiwi Chow: ‘I hope audiences can respect the movie with out a mounted political stance or quite a lot of stereotypes.’
To stop the movie from being focused by the NSL, Chow offered the movie’s copyright to abroad pursuits earlier than its premiere eventually 12 months’s Cannes Movie Pageant.
‘It is potential to rebuild Hong Kong elsewhere’
Taiwanese activist Jennifer Lu says the movie resonates with totally different generations of Taiwanese folks.
“For the older technology of Taiwanese, who’ve lived by the martial-law period, they really feel that there’s a connection between the Hong Kong expertise and their private experiences,” she informed DW.
“As for the youthful technology, I feel the movie affords an necessary reminder that Taiwan went by comparable experiences up to now, and it is not inconceivable for Taiwan to return to that sort of governance mannequin. It exhibits us how we should always defend Taiwan’s democracy,” she stated.
Lam Wing-kee, the proprietor of the distinguished Causeway Bay Books retailer in Taiwan, says Hong Kongers ought to look to the longer term.
“I feel we should always keep away from sticking to the identical feeling that we felt in 2019, and take into consideration what Hong Kong folks can do sooner or later,” Lam informed DW.
“It’s potential for us to rebuild Hong Kong elsewhere like Taiwan, the UK and Canada. If Hong Kongers from totally different walks of life collect in a single place, we will nonetheless deliver again Hong Kong’s tradition. What’s necessary is Hong Kong folks, not the placement,” he stated.
Director Chow says that whereas many individuals have urged him to go away Hong Kong on account of concern for his security, he feels fairly protected within the metropolis.
“If I left Hong Kong due to worry, then Kiwi Chow will stay in worry eternally,” he stated. “I can solely be free if I keep in Hong Kong as a result of I wish to witness the whole lot in Hong Kong and I wish to expertise the ache with all Hong Kongers.”
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
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