Hong Kong is comprised of 263 islands, and, naturally, some get more attention than others. Cheung Chau is one of the most popular outlying islands, but the daily lives of its locals remain a mystery to many Hongkongers.
Visible Record, a local organisation that promotes documentary filmmaking in Hong Kong and hosts the annual Chinese Documentary Festival, is holding a screening of “Cheung Chau Diary 2014” this Saturday on its eponymous island.
“Cheung Chau Diary 2014” consists of 10 short documentaries (all with English subtitles) made by attendees of Visible Record’s second “Youth Talent Training Camp”, which brought together more than 20 budding filmmakers between the ages of 20 and 40 for an intense eight-day workshop.
Check out the trailer:
Through the films you’ll meet an expat who lives on Cheung Chau and makes ukuleles, the “ambulanceman”, the person responsible for running one of island’s mini-emergency vehicles, and a paper-model-making father-son duo.
You’ll also get to know a man tasked with the sad job of clearing out the Cheung Chau Theatre before it was to be demolished, and another man holding on to his job at the shipyard despite the industry’s slow demise.
A still from Man Beside the Sea, a film by Nicole Leung about a Cheung Chau ship repairer
It’s a cast of fascinating characters, all of whom live on a small island with less than 25,000 inhabitants.
In addition to “Cheung Chau Diary 2014”, there will also be a screening of a series of short films about Cheung Chau made by last year’s training camp attendees, as well as a performance by three local music acts: Benny Cheng, Hak Gwai, and Evan Binkley (the ukulele maker).
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to not only support Hong Kong’s indie filmmaker and musicians, but also to also get a deeper understanding of life on Hong Kong’s outlying islands.
Click here for the full programme with descriptions of the films and here for the Facebook event.
Date: Nov. 8
Schedule:
– “Cheung Chau Diary 2013” screening: 1pm – 2:45pm
– Music performance: 4pm – 6pm
– “Cheung Chau Diary 2014” outdoor screening: 6:30pm – 9pm
Location: LOHAS Cheung Chau (Fisheries Joint Association School), Tung Wan Road, Cheung Chau Island (Google Maps)
Tickets: Free entry, RSVP not needed
Photo: Jacaranda Lilau via Wikimedia
