Screening + Conversation
Friday, 2 December 2022, 18:00-20:30 PST
Keep Rolling 動態Rolling (2022):
Four Directors, Four Stories About Hong Kong under the Pandemic
Place of Many Trees, Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC
6476 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver

This in-person screening will be followed by a virtual conversation with the directors and the producer. Registration required: hksi.ubc.ca/events/event/screening-conversation-keep-rolling

About the film:
Hong Kong | 2022 | 108 min | In Cantonese, English, Minnan with Chinese & English subtitles

In the age of pandemic, everything seems to be frozen. In fact, there are still things we can do. Through the short film project Keep Rolling, four Hong Kong directors capture alienation and sorrow in their home city.

In “Same Boat” (directed by Lo Yan Chi), Yin’s grandma has not returned to Xiamen for two years since the pandemic and Yin has to take care of her at home every day. They share each other sentiments as if sharing the same boat.

“Rubbish Ban” (directed by Chow King Kan Kingston) sees a young man Genius dumped by his girlfriend because of a piece of garbage. His boss also told him to throw away a cardboard box but he just could not found any trash cans. Is Hong Kong, which can’t even hold a trash can, still the city we used to be familiar with?

In “A Letter from Prison” (directed by Yiu Man Kwan Jason), film director James planned to write letters to his friend Man in prison, Although James was outside the wall, the freedom of his mind was also bound by invisible shackles. This made him question if the world is just another prison.

“April’s Interlude” (directed by Kwok Chung Yee Erica) tells a story of a cosmetologist Shan under lockdown during the pandemic. An old friend suddenly appeared, filling Shan’s feeling of loneliness; however, after learning about each other’s life, Shan felt that the friend who returned had an incomprehensible detachment from what happened in Hong Kong in the past few years. In the end, Shan made a choice in the struggle between emotion and reason.

Watch the trailer here

香港 | 2022 | 108 分鐘 | 粵語、英語、閩南語對白，中英文字幕

導演: 羅恩賜 、周敬勤、姚敏堃、 郭頌儀

疫情時代下所有事物仿佛都定格，其實可做之事仍然不少，一於動態Rolling，用電影述說時下的疏離與憂愁。《同渡》自疫情後，婆婆已兩年沒回廈門，阿燕每天都要在家照顧婆婆，兩人朝夕相對，彷彿同坐一條船，在湧動的風浪中分享著各種或正或負的情緒。《阿才》阿才因一件垃圾而被分手，又因老板交托處理的一件垃圾而被折磨了一天，才發現曾經到處可見的垃圾桶在社會上無影無蹤。連一個垃圾桶都容不下的香港，還是曾經熟悉的香港嗎？《第一封信》導演 James的好友阿 Man 無奈入獄，他想透過書信開解困在牆內受苦的好友。然而，自己在牆外的心靈自由也被無形的枷鎖栓住，牆外牆內或許都是個困局。《四月的變奏》美容師菀珊在疫情停業期間與多年前的友人重聚，填補了菀珊無可適從的孤獨感。但在互相了解彼此早年間的生活時，珊有感兩人的經歷不同，離港後歸來的友人對香港過去幾年發生的種種有著她不能理解的抽離，最終珊在情感及理性的掙扎下作出了選擇。

Details: hksi.ubc.ca/events/event/screening-conversation-keep-rolling

A City Rebegins event.

This screening+conversation is organized by the  UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative in partnership with Ying E Chi, and generously co-sponsored by: Department of Asian Studies, Department of History, Centre for Chinese Research, Department of Theatre and Film, Public Humanities Hub, and the School of Social Work.

HKSI Convenor Dr. Helena Wu has been named Canada Research Chair in Hong Kong Studies.

// The Canada Research Chairs Program enables Canadian universities to achieve the highest levels of research excellence and become world-class research centres. Chairholders improve our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen Canada’s international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of highly skilled people through student supervision, teaching and the coordination of other researchers’ work. //

Details: hksi.ubc.ca/awards-dr-helena-wu-canada-research-chair-in-hong-kong-studies/.

Cultural Events
Jade Music Festival
28 November - 3 December 2022

Jade Music Festival is a global music industry conference being held in Vancouver, British Columbia, presenting a majority of Chinese-language artists from Canada in panel discussions and concerts. Check out the program: https://jmfa.ca/

This festival is organized by The Society of We Are Canadians Too.

Conference
Site-Image-Object: Rethinking Place in Chinese Visual and Material Culture
7 - 9 December 2022
University of British Columbia, Vancouver

// The conference examines how place is shaped by artistic production, and how, at the same time, visual and material expressions shape place and its perception. “Place” here is not an existing given, to which art reacts or that it depicts; rather, we conceive of the interaction between place, its representations, its products, and its architectural framing as a continuously evolving process. //

Details: site-image-object.sites.olt.ubc.ca

This conference is organized by the Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory, UBC.