We Have Boots (2020), dir. Evans Chan Trailer
An exhaustive chronicle of the protests that gave rise to the Umbrella Movement as a rejection of lack of freedom imposed by China to Hong-Kong, with interviews to the main leaders of activist groups, and the authoritative response from the Chinese government.
About Evans Chan
Evans Yiu Shing Chan is a New York- and Hong Kong-based critic, librettist and an independent filmmaker of more than a dozen fiction and documentary films, which have been screened around the world. His directorial debut To Liv(e) (1991) was listed by Time Out as one of the 100 Greatest Hong Kong Films. A critical anthology about his work, Postcolonalism, Diaspora, and Alternative Histories: The Cinema of Evans Chan was published by the HKU Press in 2015. We Have Boots is the sequel to his acclaimed documentary Raise the Umbrellas (2016). Click here for more on the works of CSGC Virtual Guest Artist, Evans Chan.
Hong Kong on the Edge: Actors and Observers Part 1
Professor ho-fung Hung (Co-Moderator), Benny Tai, Alex Chow, Evans Chan, Tom Vick (Co-Moderator)
Hong Kong on the Edge: Actors and Observers Part 2
emily lau, Michael C. Davis, Antony Dapiran, Gina Marchetti, Evans Chan
To read Gina Marchetti’s essay “Sexual citizenship and social justice in the HKSAR: Evans Chan’s Raise the Umbrellas (2016)” click here.
Evans Chan Sign Award 2020 Acceptance Remarks
Review: We Have Boots
“Rogue Cops – Return the eye!” [Free access to uncensored version through July 6 at end of review.]
“We Have Boots” is a fiery documentary interspersed with moments d’art. Echoing throughout the film is the rich full voice of Marion Anderson singing (1924), “Go down Moses/Way down in Egypt land/Tell all pharaohs to/Let my people go!” The refrain, “Let my people go,” repeats amidst interludes of dance, music, artistic representation, and drama, reflecting the issues Hong Kong students passionately use to convince China and the world to support their freedom. Ultimately, they want self-determination for Hong Kong and they are willing to give up their lives for it.
In a world already gone mad, Hong Kong’s insurgency movement, specifically beginning in 2014 and accelerating through 2017-19, is a reflection of people’s movements around the world, beginning with the Arab Spring and American Occupy protests.
In 2019, NPR (National Public Radio) referred to the 2010s as “A Decade Of Protests Around The World.” Now, in 2020, spurring worldwide response, is Black Lives Matter. People are rising up, especially against police brutality and injustice in a demand for true democracy.
“We Have Boots” documents the Hong Kong uprising against China’s gradual but determined reclamation. When a crowd of people in the Yoho Mall were attacked by police seemingly gone wild, one policeman shot a woman at close range with a rubber bullet to her eye. Like George Floyd’s killing, this act was caught on camera. Blood gushes out and a movement rises in even greater outrage.
The problem is that Hongkongers were brought up in the British system and schooled with antipathy towards the Chinese governmental system and culture. Since 1843 when the Hong Kong area was bequeathed to Britain as a leased colony and spoil of a trade war, the area has had a double identity. Once the lease expired in 1997, China insisted on its return to the mainland. Britain agreed after Chinese assurances that Hong Kong’s systems, freedoms, and way of life would be retained.
However, after the return was actualized, and the Hongkongers reasonably expected universal suffrage with free elections, Chinese immigrants moved in and the Chinese government insisted on vetting candidates so that only those following the Communist hard line were allowed on the ballot.
Hongkongers, especially students, wanted their own representation, freedom, and values. An incensed culture clash ensued, with young students, 16-24, willing to sacrifice their lives for the cause.
The chant about rogue cops is analogous to their loss of freedom, their oppression, and their surprise. A student tries to tell a policeman that they come from the same place. Why is he fighting against his own people? The call to return the eye, though based in a true attack caught on camera, is also a call to return Hong Kong to its people. They grew up with Western values, an incredibly healthy economy, and a preparation for democratic self-rule.
These students are some of the best-educated, most literate, most intelligent people in the world. They are outraged by what they view as a totalitarian society sucking them into a mass automaton state. It’s a clash between collectivism vs. individualism. The students are fighting for their very identities, their spirits, and the democratic futures that they were educated to fulfill.
The film’s title, “We Have Boots,” was inspired by a poem written by Nikki Giovanni, an African-America poet: “We begin a poem / with longing / and end with / responsibility / And laugh / all through the storms / that are bound / to come / We have umbrellas / We have boots / We have each / other.”
In 2020, the year of BLM, we now know the reason for the umbrellas – to protect the protestors from the tear gas and pepper spray used by the police to debilitate them. The boots are for walking for as long as it takes.
Credits
Director/Editor: Evans Yiu Shing Chan
Producer: Williams Cole
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/raisetheumbrellas/
Website: http://www.raisetheumbrellas.com/
Released: June 26, 2020
Sheffield Doc/Fest Part 1: We Have Boots, Flint, Me and the Cult Leader
Uncertain times call for creative solutions and, like many film festivals, Sheffield Doc/Fest would rather compromise than sacrifice, offering film-goers an alternate way to see incredible new documentaries after confirming a physical edition would not go ahead due to the current pandemic. Over the past month, the festival launched an online platform called Selects, on which UK audiences were able to digitally see new documentaries via a great pay-per-view model. Furthermore, the festival won’t be discounting theatrical screenings altogether, intending to continue in Autumn with a series of weekend screenings in Sheffield.
Whilst I greatly missed the city, the people, and the Showroom Cinema, I was appreciative of Doc/Fest’s determination to go ahead in this new form. Over three columns, I will be reviewing the highlights of my viewing experience on Doc/Fest Selects. To begin with, here are my reviews of We Have Boots, Flint, and Me and the Cult Leader.
WE HAVE BOOTS (EVANS CHAN)
Hong Kong Second Wave auteur Evans Chan brings an essayist touch to his new documentary film We Have Boots. Creatively constructed and highly informative, this is a cinematic anthem for Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement.
The film opens by juxtaposing a nationalist Chinese passage of words – criticising HK’s education, the US’s history of colonialism and slavery, how the rise of China has “blazed a new trail for mankind – before cutting to the reality of the 2019-20 protests where we witness police brutality and misconduct attempting to suppress the thousands who took to the streets to protest against the Fugitive Offenders Amendment Bill, which would have potentially seen China exploit its power over dissident voices in neighbouring countries.
Before these recent protests, though, the Umbrella Movement happened in 2014, serving as a catalyst for the events of five years later. We Have Boots thoroughly recaps the revolution, collating the perspectives of activists, academics, and other intellectuals in Hong Kong who provide historical and cultural context. Former Hong Kong student union leader and current Berkeley student Alex Chow is a key talking head, speaking of his unique experience in jail wherein he learned of the reality for the underprivileged people in the region.
Likewise, social activist Agnes Chow has an interesting origin story, talking about how Scholarism – the leading organisation during the Umbrella Movement – was founded after she went viral for calling for transparency regarding the missing booksellers of Causeway Bay in late 2015. “People are powerless only wielding the meagre power of voting”, she says, succinctly endorsing the power of protest that many Hong Kongers have believed in over the last ten years of controversial government ruling.
As secure of a learning experience, it is to view talking heads and archive footage of demonstrations, it’s the cinematic flair that makes We Have Boots so enthralling. As aforementioned, the opening sequence is a brilliant example. There’s also a staggering drone shot over thousands of protestors that are augmented by picture-in-picture dissolves of the possible changemakers on both sides, including former legislator Margaret Ng and Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
We Have Boots is a great piece of journalism that could only have improved if there was access to the alternate perspective. All the academics and activists interviewed are on the side of the Umbrella Movement. However, when it’s clear that mainland China can control the narrative, thus resulting in such widespread protests, the inclusion of pro-government POV’s becomes less appealing.
