Master Plan
Tolga H. Yuceil / Turkey / Col / 29' 58" / In Turkish with English subtitles
The man tries to kill himself. Every time he tries it, an angel keeps him from doing, by showing him the simple pleasures in life. Little does he know, that he has a purpose in life.
Recommended by Shek Kei
Remembrance, the Lasting Perfume
Lam Wing-yan (Anyan Willis) / Hong Kong/ Col / 7' 05" / In Spanish with English subtitles
“Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume.” By Jean de Boufflers. It brings back scattered fragments of memories as sharp as integral photographs that had left the conscious mind. Of the seven senses, despite it can be one of the most remarkably evocative; smell is one of the most neglected senses. They recall memory of a worst period or remind us of a time when we were at the best.
Creating the story was a thrilling process. There were no obvious boundaries of cause and effects, just like in the real life.
Recommended by Tamas Waliczky, Lo Che-ying
Encounters
Chan Hin-ko / Hong Kong/ Col / 8' 20" / No dialogue and subtitles
Chance encounter can come anytime anywhere.
Recommended by Adam Wong
The Congee, for You and Me
Lee Tsz-ka / Hong Kong/ Col & B/W/ 10' 00" / In Cantonese with Chinese subtitles
People are busy making a living in Hong Kong. Luckily, with the support and care from the community centre and charitable organisation, they are getting by.
Recommended by John Chan
NIL
Wong Lai-ki/ Hong Kong/ Col / 5' 06" / In Cantonese with no subtitles
a story about a girl that living in a hell.
Recommended by Adam Wong
saba
Roqiye Tavakoli / Iran / Col / 15' 00" / In Persian with English subtitles
Fazed by the untimely death of her sister , a young girl (saba) is urged to rear her sister's children. In the meantime, her mother starts worrying over nonstop visits of her late daughter's husband to the house. Eventually, she is forced to...
Recommended by Clement Cheng
Little Kyota Neon Hood
Satsuki Okawa / Japan / Col / 20' 00" / In Japanese with English subtitles
A Japanese boy with neon hood finds an escape from daily life in a post disaster country---by befriending a foreigner who returns to the town he once fled.
Recommended by Clement Cheng
The Dual
Abhilash Vijayan / India/ Col/ 29' 30" / In Hindi and Chattisgarhi with English subtitles
Poverty ridden remote village in Chhattisgarh, India. Armed Maoist Rebels are fighting against the Government.
The curfew, imposed in the village after the battle between the Maoists and the Army started, has been lifted. The Captain of the armed forces appears comes for a shave. The Barber, who is a sympathizer of the rebels, is thrown into a dilemma getting the Captain unarmed in the chair right at the tip of the shaving blade. He could kill him easily or complete his job of giving a good shave. Meanwhile, the Captain is playing another game with the Barber.
Recommended by Shek Kei
Delight
Wong Wong Chun-man/ Hong Kong/ Col B/W/ 8' 00" / No dialogue and subtitles
Dig deep for the forgotten dream, make it happen and share the joy with others.
Recommended by Adrian Chow
New "The Three Moves of Mencius' Mother"
Kwan Sum-yi, Lung Sin-mei/ Hong Kong/ Col / 4' 23" / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
The news of pregnant women from mainland going to Hong Kong for birth has stirred a lot of negativities in society. We shouldn’t discriminate even we don’t agree with what they do. I would like to use our camera to express the idea of respecting others.
Recommended by Adrian Chow
The Puzzled
Wan Kei-yan/ Hong Kong / Col/ 4' 30" / In English with English subtitles
A Russian guy proposes to his girlfriend, or tries to.
Recommended by Long Tin
2012
Wong Yin-fung, Mok Tik-yung, Chan Hon-wa/ Hong Kong / Col/ 12' 00" / In Cantonese with Chinese subtitles
The fat boy from Hong Kong was only interested in video game but not school because he truly believed the world would end in 2012…
Recommended by Tsang Tsui-shan
Kouezhañ
Judy Tong/ Hong Kong/ Col / 3' 00" / No dialogue and subtitles
Life is flooded with illusions in the midst of expectation, observation, comparison, fulfillment and group consciousness. In this imaginary space there is no exit for escaping from the others. Acting is a way to harmony. Life itself is a psychedelic drama. When will the authenticity of truth be shown?
Recommended by Tamas Waliczky, Lo Che-ying
Gogona Goridan
Eka Papiashvili / Georgia/ Col/ 13' 50" / In Georgian with English subtitles
Shortly after the war of 2008 in a Georgian mining village: Little Datho (8) is an outsider and ignores the other children of the village as they tend to confront him with his Russian background. On top of that, when the girl Tamari (8), a South Ossetian war refugee, arrives in her new class, she is told to take a seat right beside the Russian boy. Dathos antipathy towards Tamari knows no limits once she tells the class that her dog was killed during a Russian attack. However, after having destroyed Tamari´s color markers, the boy´s attempts to reconcile with her are rejected, which prompts him to realize that he has indeed gone too far. Seeing that he does not have enough money to buy Tamari a new packet of markers, Datho is urged to come up with something better
Recommended by Teresa Kwong
Last Day of the Year
Tseng Ying-ting/ Taiwan /Colour / In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles
On this night, mother watches the world’s most beautiful fireworks…
Recommended by Teresa Kwong
Showcasing experimental images is the highlight of ifva this year, so how do experiments and creations seamlessly connected to one’s emotion and living? You’ll be enlightened and find the answer from the two opening films of the 18th ifva Festival – Adventures of Tom Tomiczky by legendary Hungarian computer animation master Tamas Waliczky and CHIRI/Trace by world-renowned Japanese director Naomi Kawase.
Adventures of Tom Tomiczky can be counted as the memoirs of Tamas Waliczky. Different from an ordinary traveler, there is no final destination for a nomad. Tamas Waliczky subconsciously turns himself as Tomiczky, wandering Monte Carlo, Karlsruhe, Venice and Japan with his dreamy steps, and cannot wait to take audience along a fantasy journey between dream and wakefulness.
Since Katatsumori in 1994, Naomi Kawase’s camera once again focuses on the portrait of her one and only “Grandma” (that’s how she called her adopted mother). Delicately and beautifully crafted, the heart-warming film creates poetic images which document Kawase’s final moments spending together with her beloved Grandma who passed away at the age of 95.
Experiment is not necessarily something abstract but could be approachable to everybody. Yet with no doubt innovation is the core element of being experimental. Tamas Waliczky and Naomi Kawase bravely blend experimental techniques into their familiar fields of creations, showcasing audience their self emotions and relationships with their beloved one with a total new angle. Who said that experimental spirit is always contradict to main stream genre? No matter what genres of films we are going to create, as long as we embrace the flow of life with perseverance and experimental spirit, our path of creation will always be full of sparkling moments and ideas.
Naomi Kawase has already made a series of short documentaries before rising to fame with her debut feature Moe No Suzaku in 1997. Her documentaries were eclectic, usually depicting everyday life with candor and sincerity. Her images were delicate and heart﹣warming, and instantly recognisable with her “signature”. The two documentaries chosen this time were made with a time span of almost 20 years in between. The protagonist of both works was Kawase’s “Grandma”.
Kawase’s parents got divorced when she was little. She was adopted by the sister of her maternal grandpa at the age of 10, while her adoptive parents were already 65 years old. Four years later her adoptive father passed away, and over the next few decades, Kawase lived and developed a close bond with her “Grandma” (that’s how she called her adoptive mother).
Katatsumori (1994) captured the two of them sharing good times together. CHIRI/Trace was the final tribute the artist paid to her Grandma, who was on her deathbed. One is hard to name a film that is more compelling than these two on subject matters such as family, filial piety, aging, illness and love. Director Naomi Kawase will be present for audience discussion after the screening.
After so many years, I still hope to have a few hours each day to capture her in her nature habitat… not a repeat but a reborn?!
What is a Director without one’s own distinctive storytelling approach and visual disposition? What is a singer without one’s style and musical persona? In the rarity of the short film Faye Reborn, Director Susie Au blends the two, depicts the very essence of her long time collaborating artist, Faye Wong, through her scrutinising eyes.
The fruit of the exercise is a nouveau en forme “MusiDocu” that goes beyond the common notion of a regular documentary…
In the sharing session, Director Susie Au is going to retrace the intriguing journey of this creative endeavour with a demonstration of her film clip. She will share with the audience the process, where the French psychoanalyst, Disuse Anzieu, nicely put as “from the creative chill to the crop of the harvest… where it should already be there once a truly brilliant creative idea is in conception”.
All About Us is now in its 3rd edition, and continuing to provide a series of short film production camps and outdoor shooting activities for ethnic minority youths. Professional film directors including Adam Wong, Lai Yan-chi Mo, Chan Wing-chiu, Wu Hong-lun Joseph, Chan Hon-yan Ryan and Amos Why acted as instructors to teach participants about filmmaking and guided them in telling their own stories using creative media.
This year, All About Us participants are youths from various countries of origin, including Nepal, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Japan, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Israel. The six shorts they produced range widely in subject matter, including campus comedies, action, police drama and even horror. These works showcase the boundless creativity and energy of ethnic minority youths. There will be an after-screening discussion, too. Audience are welcome to stay behind, discuss with the instructors and participants as well as share their trials and tribulations behind the making of their short films in order to learn about the lives and cultures of ethnic minority youths in Hong Kong.
《Killer X 2》
Hamza Ali, Umair Ali, Sami Usama Javed, Jahanzeb Haider, Usama Haider
7′ 37″ / Col & B/W / In Cantonese and Urdu with English subtitles
One day, Usama and Umair are playing basketball. Suddenly, Sami and Fai come. They also want to play basketball so they start to bully Usama and Umair. Then Umair calls Hamza and Jahan for help. A fighting between two parties begins… At the same time, this story is also based on ”Killer X Translator”, which is one of the “All About Us 2011” video production. Sami killed Chan Tai Man last year. But now Chan Tai Man is reborn and decides to take revenge…
Santiago Clause
Regienne Mae Zamora Bajala, Barua, Olique Kumar, Gonzalez, Joseph Anthony JR. F., Junie-Llene Flores Ifrah, Tavleen Kaur, Kubota Masaharu, Le Ngoc Tan, Harjot Singh, Harvin Singh, Singh Palvinderjit
7′ 48″ / Col / In English with English subtitles
"Santiago Clause" is a modern twist to the classic story of Santa Clause and takes place in a High School. Santiago, who is a trouble maker, likes bullying people to the extent where no one wants to be around his presence. One day, he was stumbling upon a new student at school, Julia. He was moved by her kindness when she stands up for a child he bullied. So he decided to change his ways… On the Christmas Eve, he disguised himself and went on a “Secret Mission” not only for those he had previously bullied before, but also for Julia…
The Doll
Chloe Denise Alquitran, Shannen Kyle Buxani, Gurung Sanjina, Kaur Navjot, Michelle Maninggo, Mohamed Nauzer Fathima Shadaa, Monima Pun, Purnima Singh
3′ 05″ / Col / In English with English subtitlesLinda is a teenager. Her mother just died and her father works very hard.
One day, they both attended a memorial. A stranger went up to Linda afterwards and gave Linda a doll that belonged to Linda’s mother. The doll repeatedly says ‘Don’t leave me alone’
That night, her father went on a business trip and she was left all alone. But she couldn’t sleep. She went into her parents’ room to look in a box of memories, leaving the doll behind…
The Day after Today is Another Day
Farooq Azam, Shoehb Hassan, Adeel Maroof, Mohammad Sohail, Shahul Hameed Nuaim, Anis Ur Rehman / 9′ 28″ / Col / In English with English subtitles
A boy, who is always late and annoying but always with new ideas, meets with his friends to do a project. He obviously thinks that this is the platform to prove himself and he starts bombarding the other members with his ideas. Their patience dries up. The boy gets alone…
Reflection
Ishtiak Rabaab Kiran, Prakriti Gurung, Rai Swarnim, Thapa Dipti, Thapa, Sarjeet Singh
6′ 39″ / Col & B/W / In English with English subtitles
A girl has suffered from much strange noise in her flat for two months but struggle to explain it. Not until an inspection of photo taken with her mobile phone for the same period of time, she finally realised that she is in fact not the one suffering but transforming.
The Dark Dream
Dhaliwal Anurag, Arjun Buduja, Iqbaljit Singh, Thapa Bishwash
- 7′ 57″ / Col & B/W / In English with English subtitles
It is a story about revenge, love and emotion. It began with a guy called Roy, who was an ex-police officer. He was now enjoying his stable life. One day, one of his enemies from his dark memory came back. He was the one who had been nearly arrested by Roy. His name was Jack. Jack planned to kidnap Roy’s brother. He wanted money from Roy. Roy did all the things that Jack asked for but Jack’s real target is not money. Jack was planning something which Roy was afraid of…
If the 1970s and 1980s represented a period when Hong Kong experimental films and videos were at the germination stage, then the next decade were years in which the medium reached full bloom. Hong Kong experimental films and videos since the 1990s, in terms of their subject matters, form and artistic styles, were greatly varied and displayed international vision. It was these two qualities that distinguished their unique cultural characteristics and mature identities. In contrast with the downhill path taken by the mainstream film industry since the mid-1990s, the burgeoning development on experimental films and videos in Hong Kong over the same period was all the more remarkable. Not only did the quality and quantity of works went up greatly during this time, talented artists also emerged, many of whom are still mainstays of the Hong Kong cultural and art scene today.
This eventful period contains a wealth of noteworthy personalities and memorable happenings, and "Lost moments: experimental tendencies in Hong Kong films and videos between 1995-2005" takes a look back at local experimental films and videos from the first ifva in 1995 to 2005. The three programs in the series will allow audiences the chance to revisit a seldom seen piece of Hong Kong cultural history through its experimental scene, and appreciate the vibrancy and variety of Hong Kong’s alternative film and video creations.
Yuan Ping
Yu Lik-wai/ 1995 / 12′ 00″ / In Putonghua with no subtitles
The 1st ifva Awards - Experimental Category Silver Award
A former Beijing opera actor in the past, Yuan Ping “reconverts” himself into a travesty singer and now earns his living in a shabby circus. Behind the past-present duality is concealed a self-derision of a shattered dream. The soberly subversive disguise is only a facetious revolt against the social impasse.
A “cinematographic portrait” of a marginal figure in today’s China.
Hong Kong Road Movie
Fung Bing-fai/ 1996 / 29′ 00″ / In Cantonese and English, Chinese and English text with English subtitles
The 2nd ifva Awards - Documentary Category Distinguished Award
01-07-1997 will be historical…
30-06-1997 will be historical too…
How about 31-06-1997???
Any meaning???
Just an imagination? Or an expectation for a birthday present.
One person is here and one person is there…
we meet in cyber space…
This work is a cyber letter to the forthcoming generation.
The Circle’s Corner
Lam Kin-hung / 2001 / 30′ 00″ / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
The 7th ifva Awards - Grand Prize, Open Category Gold Award
The film presents a familiar place from the perspectives of three persons who are respectively born blind, mute and deaf. Representing the old, middle-aged and young, they share their life experience with audience and lead them to a brave new world of cinematic experience. The Circle’s Corner has no specific dramatis personae, not even visible actors; it, however, depicts the audience with familiar landscapes. With down-to-earth but uncommon shooting techniques, voice-over, location sound and bilingual subtitles in Chinese and English, it brings in a new angle of film presentation.
Mean Meanings
Yuen Kin-to/ 1995 / 1′ 30″ / Chinese text with no dialogue and subtitles
The 1st ifva Awards - Animation Category Silver Award
Warning: This film contains offensive material which must not be distributed, circulated, sold, hired, given, lent, shown, played or projected to a person who enjoys his life.
Music Video III – Ding Dong (AIDS Virus)
Anson Mak/ 1995 / 6′ 00″ / In Cantonese with no subtitles
The 1st ifva Awards - Music Video Category Distinguished Award
Other than cinematic practices of story films, if we look into history of music video seriously, it has a strong connection with the conventions of documentary — Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues in Don’t Look Back (1967) and experimental works — Oskar Fischinger (1930’s and 1940’s). This work aims to explore the overlapping areas for a new form of music video in HK in the early 1990’s. There is documentation of a talk by a doctor/specialist explaining his work analysing slides of virus and diseases related to HIV. Plus other images captured which intentionally being use in decontextualized ways. The music is created by a local band, Ding Dong by AMK in which the lyrics carry messages about being more socially and culturally conscious hoping for a better world. This was what the artist thought, vital in that era as well.
Getting Used to Run
Jamsen Law/ 1997 / 9′ 00″ / No dialogue and subtitles
The 3rd ifva Awards - Music Video Category Gold Award
What kind of psychological preparation do I need to make before I run? Does that mean I need to be ready to speed up, keep going, change, or escape? How would I feel after I get used to it? What would I think of if you ran? How would you feel if I ran? And how would it be if we ran?
Happy Valley (Waiting at T zero)
Chan Kam-lok/ 1997 / 20′ 00″ / In Cantonese with English subtitles
The 3rd ifva Awards - Grand Prize, Others Category Gold Award
A “documentary” about Happy Valley.
>You reproach me because each of my stories takes you right into the heart of a city without telling you of the space that stretches between one city and the other, whether it is covered by seas, or fields of rye, larch forest, swamps, I will answer you with a story.< (Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino)
Birth /Death of a Painter
Kwen Park-huen / 1998 / 9′ / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
The 4th ifva Awards - Special Prize (Film)
In a world where no other animals but human beings exist, a man was able to trace back the fading memories of his previous life before his death.
Transmigration
Hung Keung/ 1998 / 8′ 30″ / In Cantonese with no subtitles
The 4th ifva Awards - Others Category Gold Award
According to an old grandmother’s tale, the soul of a person wanders out of her body when she is asleep. Here, I try to imagine the soul of an old lady playing around, despite her being serious during her daily life. At the same time, I record the sound/ voice from 7 women sharing with us their precious experiences.
Invisible City (Wall)
Hui Nga-shu/ 1998 /11′ 00″ / In Cantonese and Putonghua with English subtitles
The 4th ifva Awards - Others Category Silver Award
Many things happen under the wall, and many people always talk with the wall just like Charlie Brown. This story is talking about the relationship of the wall, city, memory and history.
I’m Starving
Yau Ching / 1999 / 13′ 00″ / In English with Chinese subtitles
The 5th ifva Awards - Open Category Silver Award
I’m Starving is an erotic love tale between a ghost and a woman who share a small apartment in New York’s Chinatown. The ghost who eats paper money and Chinese takeout menus contrasts starkly with the woman who thrives on instant ramen noodles; both, haunted by their landlord, decide eventually to invent a future together.
Neon Goddesses
Yu lik-wai/ 1996 / 46′ 00″ / In Putonghua with English subtitles
The 2nd ifva Awards - Grand Prize, Documentary Category Gold Award
Three provincial girls debark in Beijing. Each tries to make her life in the capital. Yu Quin, with a degree in lyric arts, works as a bar hostess in a night-club frequented by the Nomeklatura, but retains a nostalgia for her past. Hu Jin, following her intuition, deserts her studies to seek her fortune in the labyrinthine city. Bit part player and model, her search is sown with misadventure. After several suicide attempts, Zun Ji, a repentant junkie, become a “dancing-queen” in Beijing’s discotheques. Rebellious and “devil may care”, she dances to forget her heavy past. Under the harsh light of the gaudy neons and through the sketches of their daily marginality, hopes are tainted with mockery.
Name of Wu Mei
Kong Khong-chang/ 2005 / 16′ 00″ / In Cantonese with English subtitles
The 11th ifva Awards - Open Category Special Mention
The story of this video is based on a short novel The Name of Wu-mei by Yuen Siu-cheong. Yuen uses an extraordinary narrative direction to present the story. The readers come to question the perception they get from the reading. The story is about the narrator – Nin Kuen who tells us the process of completing the novel The Name of Wu-mei. But how credible is his narration?
#Please refer to the 37th Hong Kong International Film Festival Programme & Booking Folder or the official website: www.hkiff.org.hk
The 18th ifva greenlab short film commission project is pleased to have Google as its creative partner. With Google’s search function as the starting point of the stories, three past ifva award-winners, Tsang Tsui-shan, Leung Ming-kai and Ng Ho-yin Chris, tell three life-altering and heartwarming tales: a metropolitan lady who survived a severe traffic accident tries to pick herself up by exploring the delicate relationship between food and human beings; an actress who grew up on foreign soil goes back to the home of her artistic career in search of her roots and dreams; a young and aspiring entrepreneur who combines Chinese culture with Western tourbillion technique works wonders in the field of domestic watch making.
Search for the Taste Buds
Search for the Dream of Red Pavilion
Search for the Tourbillion
About ifva greenlab
In order to fully fulfill the role as an “incubator”, ifva founded the greenlab in 2006 by collaborating with various organisation to produce commission works. greenlab provides past winners or finalists of ifva with opportunities to hone their skills and to produce more creative works. This year, greenlab is pleased to have Google as its creative partner. ifva collaborated with the Employees Retraining Board and made 4 short films last year. These works will be shown along with the finalists at the 18th ifva festival.
