Date: Monday, 21 Sept 2020 Time: 5 PM (GMT +8) Speaker: Katrien Jacobs, Associate Professor in Cultural Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Moderator: Dr. Tim Gruenewald, Assistant Professor, American Studies, HKU
Pepe the Frog as a mascot of the global alt-right and male supremacist hate wars has been liberated by the Hong Kong anti-extradition protest movement and its pro-democracy ideology. What are some of the reasons that this mascot figure has crossed political frontlines and what does it now mean to liberate Hong Kong? In this talk I will explain how USA and EU far-right netizens and activists have made great efforts to hijack and rebrand online imagery and personas within a Gramscian quest for cultural hegemony. I also critically ponder if the re-hijacked mascot personifies collectivism or elitism, inclusivity or xenophobia, gender freedom or machismo within the Hong Kong protest culture.
About the speaker: Katrien Jacobs is Associate Professor in Cultural Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Program Director of the MA in Visual Culture Studies. She has lectured and published widely about sexuality and gender in and around digital media, contemporary arts and media activism. She moved to Hong Kong in 2005 and devotes most of her research to contemporary Chinese, Japanese and trans-Asian arts and digital media platforms. She has authored three books about Internet culture and sexuality and her work can be found at www.katrienjacobs.com
Department of Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts and the University Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) jointly present — “Eileen Chang at the University of Hong Kong: An online presentation of images and documents from the archives” on the occasion of the centennial celebration of Chang’s birth in 2020.
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).
Evans Chan’s To Liv(e): Screenplay and Essays, edited by Tak-wai Wong
“To Liv(e) was inspired by actress Liv Ullmann’s 1990 visit to Hong Kong, where she decried the forced deportation of 51 Vietnamese refugees. This, coupled with the Tiananmen Square the year before, contributes to a dark cloud of apprehension that shades this film as the British Crown colony faces imminent takeover by China in 1997… To Liv(e) is filled with the kind of style, performances and ambition one might expect from a film critic turned filmmaker, and for which no apologies need be made…With a painter’s eye in capturing the bohemian fringe of the Hong Kong art scene, and the mature voice of a seasoned filmmaker, Chan examines love, family and the fate of Hong Kong, and the culture clash between East and West with equal depth and assurance.”
— The Hollywood Reporter
“Evans Chan has made a singular contribution to Hong Kong cinema and at the same time a major contribution to the whole spectrum of contemporary film-making. His work achieves a seamless blend of fact and fiction to produce an innovative kind of essayistic cinema, driven equally by issues and by his own experiences and perceptions. He draws on everything from literature and political studies to journalism and social-activist campaigns for his subjects—and on everything from film history to performance art for his images. Best of all, he’s rigorously non-conformist: he asks the awkward questions, probes the areas of sensitivity and challenges orthodoxies at every turn.”—Tony Rayns, film-maker, critic and festival programmer
*Best Actress & Best Supporting Actress Awards, The 29th Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan 1992
*Best Actress Award, Portugal Sintra Festival 1991
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Date: Thursday 25 June 2020 Time: 10 AM (GMT +8) Speaker: Daniel Elam, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Hong Kong
Karen Cheung and Daniel Elam will discuss their reflections on the ongoing Hong Kong protests, both on the ground as well as part of a long tradition of anticolonial activism.
About the Speakers J Daniel Elam is an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong. His book, World Literature for the Wretched of the Earth, will be out later this year.
Karen Cheung is a writer, journalist, and editor in Hong Kong. She has written for New Statesman, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, and other publications. She’s currently working on a nonfiction book about Hong Kong.
Date: Monday, 22 June 2020 Time: 8 PM HK Time (GMT +8) Speakers: Patricia Zimmermann, Mercedes Vazquez, Ria Sinha
This panel addresses the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on arts and humanities research with specific emphasis on the challenges facing women and minorities in academic life. Initial research, for example, shows a precipitous drop in journal submissions from women since the lockdown. The crisis also adds fuel to debates surrounding the relevance of the arts and humanities in the twenty-first century. Our panelists cover a range of disciplines and geographic regions to provide a multidimensional conversation and widen our perspective on gender, diversity, and democracy during the pandemic.
SPEAKER AND MODERATOR BIOS Ria Sinha Ria Sinha trained as an infectious disease scientist at Imperial College London and Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands, and is currently senior research fellow in the Centre for the Humanities and Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Her interdisciplinary research considers the complex and dynamic sociocultural, ecological, technological, and scientific determinants of infectious disease emergence and management.
Mercedes Vazquez Mercedes Vázquez is a Lecturer and Honorary Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts of The University of Hong Kong where she leads the research subcommittee of the Committee on Gender, Equality and Diversity. Her most important recent publications include a monograph on contemporary cinematic representations of class in the cinemas of Latin America—The Question of Class in Contemporary Latin American Cinema (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2018)—, a book chapter comparing diverse figurations of precariousness in Venezuelan cinema, and the Oxford Bibliography on Latin American Cinema (OUP). At HKU, she teaches undergraduate research skills applied to the study of Latin American and European cinemas, Spanish language and Hispanic Cultures, with a focus on gender and sexuality. She has shared her teaching approaches in journals such as Cinegogía and Tinta China, and is currently preparing a webminar comparing pedagogies during COVID in Hong Kong and Mainland China and conducting research on women filmmakers and Latsploitation cinema.
Patricia Zimmermann Patricia R. Zimmermann is Professor of Screen Studies in the Roy H. Park School School of Communications and codirector of the Finger Lakes Environment Film Festival at Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York. Her most recent book is Documentary Across Platforms: Reverse Engineering Media, Place, and Politics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019). She is the author of Open Space Collaborative New Media: A Toolkit for Theory and Practice, with Helen De Michiel (London and New York: Routledge Press, 2018); The Flaherty: Fifty Years in the Cause of Independent Cinema, with Scott MacDonald (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2017); Open Spaces: Openings, Closings, and Thresholds in International Public Media (St. Andrews, Scotland: University of St. Andrews Press, 2016); Thinking through Digital Media: Transnational Environments and Locative Places with Dale Hudson (New York and London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015); States of Emergency: Documentaries, Wars, Democracies (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000); and Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995). She is coeditor with Karen Ishizuka of Mining the Home Movie: Excavations into Historical and Cultural Memories (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007). Her new book, Flash Flaherty: Tales from a Film Seminar, with Scott MacDonald, will be published in early 2021 by Indiana University Press.
Moderator: Gina Marchetti Gina Marchetti teaches courses in film, gender and sexuality, critical theory and cultural studies at the University of Hong Kong. She is the author of Romance and the “Yellow Peril”: Race, Sex and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction (Berkeley: University of California, 1993), From Tian’anmen to Times Square: Transnational China and the Chinese Diaspora on Global Screens (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006), and The Chinese Diaspora on American Screens: Race, Sex, and Cinema (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012), Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s INFERNAL AFFAIRS—The Trilogy (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007), and Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema (Hawai’i, 2018), among other publications.
Date: Monday, 22 June 2020 Time: 8 PM HK Time (GMT +8) Speakers: Patricia Zimmermann, Mercedes Vazquez, Ria Sinha
This panel addresses the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on arts and humanities research with specific emphasis on the challenges facing women and minorities in academic life. Initial research, for example, shows a precipitous drop in journal submissions from women since the lockdown. The crisis also adds fuel to debates surrounding the relevance of the arts and humanities in the twenty-first century. Our panelists cover a range of disciplines and geographic regions to provide a multidimensional conversation and widen our perspective on gender, diversity, and democracy during the pandemic.
SPEAKER AND MODERATOR BIOS Ria Sinha Ria Sinha trained as an infectious disease scientist at Imperial College London and Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands, and is currently senior research fellow in the Centre for the Humanities and Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Her interdisciplinary research considers the complex and dynamic sociocultural, ecological, technological, and scientific determinants of infectious disease emergence and management.
Mercedes Vazquez Mercedes Vázquez is a Lecturer and Honorary Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts of The University of Hong Kong where she leads the research subcommittee of the Committee on Gender, Equality and Diversity. Her most important recent publications include a monograph on contemporary cinematic representations of class in the cinemas of Latin America—The Question of Class in Contemporary Latin American Cinema (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2018)—, a book chapter comparing diverse figurations of precariousness in Venezuelan cinema, and the Oxford Bibliography on Latin American Cinema (OUP). At HKU, she teaches undergraduate research skills applied to the study of Latin American and European cinemas, Spanish language and Hispanic Cultures, with a focus on gender and sexuality. She has shared her teaching approaches in journals such as Cinegogía and Tinta China, and is currently preparing a webminar comparing pedagogies during COVID in Hong Kong and Mainland China and conducting research on women filmmakers and Latsploitation cinema.
Patricia Zimmermann Patricia R. Zimmermann is Professor of Screen Studies in the Roy H. Park School School of Communications and codirector of the Finger Lakes Environment Film Festival at Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York. Her most recent book is Documentary Across Platforms: Reverse Engineering Media, Place, and Politics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019). She is the author of Open Space Collaborative New Media: A Toolkit for Theory and Practice, with Helen De Michiel (London and New York: Routledge Press, 2018); The Flaherty: Fifty Years in the Cause of Independent Cinema, with Scott MacDonald (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2017); Open Spaces: Openings, Closings, and Thresholds in International Public Media (St. Andrews, Scotland: University of St. Andrews Press, 2016); Thinking through Digital Media: Transnational Environments and Locative Places with Dale Hudson (New York and London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015); States of Emergency: Documentaries, Wars, Democracies (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000); and Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995). She is coeditor with Karen Ishizuka of Mining the Home Movie: Excavations into Historical and Cultural Memories (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007). Her new book, Flash Flaherty: Tales from a Film Seminar, with Scott MacDonald, will be published in early 2021 by Indiana University Press.
Moderator: Gina Marchetti Gina Marchetti teaches courses in film, gender and sexuality, critical theory and cultural studies at the University of Hong Kong. She is the author of Romance and the “Yellow Peril”: Race, Sex and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction (Berkeley: University of California, 1993), From Tian’anmen to Times Square: Transnational China and the Chinese Diaspora on Global Screens (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006), and The Chinese Diaspora on American Screens: Race, Sex, and Cinema (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012), Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s INFERNAL AFFAIRS—The Trilogy (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007), and Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema (Hawai’i, 2018), among other publications.
SPEAKER: Arina Rotaru, Lecturer, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU MODERATOR: Daniel Elam, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU
This presentation discusses the aesthetic potential of artistic experiments emerging in the diaspora and some ways in which they can be tied to an ecology. I position ecology in relation not only to the environment but also to contemporary racialization. The focus of my inquiry lies in the theoretical and performative concept of migritude, which designates migrant strategies of living in the metropolis rather than returning to one’s homeland. Initially applied in a Francophone context, migritude has also taken shape in narrative performance across national borders. I apply the possibility associated with this concept to a discussion of the work of Afro-German author Olumide Popoola, especially through a reading of her account of the refugees of Calais. I then read it in conjunction with a Francophone film on the “jungle camp.”
Film Synopsis Shot over an eight-year period (2007-2015), this documentary film aims to present women’s struggle in the private and public spheres, both in China and Hong Kong. It offers a view into the lives of female factory workers, artists, rights activists, and intellectuals – whom deal with political violence, sexual harassment, online bullying, long-term separation from family, arbitrary treatment by transnational factory, management, and/or poverty in their home villages.
Filmmaker Bibliographies HuangWenhai, Director, Cinematographer, Editor Huang Wenhai (aka: Wen Hai) studied at the Beijing Film Academy and has since 2001 been active as an independent film director. Among his best known films are Floating Dust (2004), Dream Walking (2006), We (2008), and We the Workers (2017). *Huang Wehnhai was unable to attend the panel
Trish McAdam, Animation Director Trish McAdam, Filmmaker and Visual Artist, best Know for Snakes and Ladders (1997), Hoodwinked (1998), No Enemies Liu Xiaobo (2012) and Strangers of Kindness (2015). Member of Aosdana (2017). Irish Film Institute Director in Focus 2019.
Zeng Jinyan, Producer, Co-director, Cinematographer, Performing Artist Zeng Jinyan, scholar, writer, and documentary filmmaker, a HKU alumna, the 2017 Oak Fellow at Colby College, is the 2020 -2022 Outstanding Chinese and Indian Post-doc Fellow at the University of Haifa.’
