Abstract
Photo Caption: From the film screening in Hong Kong by Zamuel Wong.
The controversial and political film Ten Years (2016) tells the story of five possible futures in Hong Kong. Filmed quickly in response to the Umbrella Movement that swept the city in 2014, the film imagines a situation in which the control of mainland China in Hong Kong has extended from ‘soft’ to ‘hard’ power, and central aspects of Hong Kong culture and identity have become lost. In one, everyday household items are labelled and bagged as museum specimens; in another, an elderly woman self-immolates in front of the UK embassy; in another, the livelihood of a taxi driver is threatened by a new requirement that Putonghua is spoken. The film has been banned in mainland China, and all mention of it censored. In response, on 1 April 2016, the film was broadcast via ‘guerilla screenings’ across 34 sites in Hong Kong. Some of the locations were indoors – schools, coffee-shops, art centres, community spaces – but many were outdoors, in public space. One took place in the ‘people’s square’ where the Umbrella Movement had centred 18 months before. Another, shown in this image, took place in a historic community site in Sheung Wan, organised by a small group of local activists.
A screen had been set up at the base of a large set of steps, forming a street stage; a few small clusters started to gather near the screen. As time went by, more and more people began streaming in until close to five hundred were crammed together. Every inch of seating space was taken, with dozens more watching from behind the screen; from walkways above; and from other patches of standing room. Unlike a crowd on public transport, where elbows are out and its everyone for themselves; the crowd operated in an accommodating way, finding space for whoever was looking, making fractional accommodations to allow another person in. Huddled together in public space, the collective sense was one of collectivism and anticipation; an atmosphere not unlike the camps of the Umbrella Movement. It felt like the beginning of a new chapter in the Umbrella Movement, from 'solid' to 'liquid' forms of protest. The feeling was electric.