Short Film Programme: The Inbetweeners 短片集：不港不英
“The Inbetweeners” is a series of 5 short films surrounding stories of people or pieces of land that carry double identities and meanings. It captures conversations across seas and lands; contemplates the meaning of “home”; rediscovers one’s identit(ies); sees the mundane in new light; and reimagines old images through modern lenses. Through these short films, we invite you to explore questions of who you are and where you are at as you manoeuvre between here and there.
The screening in London on 30th March will be followed by an in-person Q&A session, featuring Dir. Carrie SHEN and Dir. Michael HO and Dir. Fredie CHAN. The screening in Edinburgh on 23rd March will also be followed by an in-person session, featuring Dir. Fredie CHAN moderated by Dr. Fraser ELLIOT.
short story long 漫漫長話 (UK Premiere 英國首映)
Hong Kong, UK / 2022 / 28 mins / Colour / In Cantonese with Chinese & English subtitles / Dir. Carrie SHEN
In the aftermath of the social movement in 2019, a large number of Hong Kongers immigrated to the United Kingdom. This film documents conversations between five pairs of strangers. They are separated by distance, yet connected by the same artistic pursuit in art, drama, film, literature, and music. As the seasons change, those who stay behind face further challenges to create art outside of the mainstream while the walls continue to close in on them. However, no future is guaranteed even if they leave.
Flipping through pages of Hong Kong and London, the participating artists talk to each other in their mother tongue with implications perhaps only they will truly understand. Among the most familiar yet unfamiliar places—a bridge, a rooftop, a cafe and a station, as different as night and day, they reveal their hesitation or expectation, disappointment or comfort, sorrow or possibly even a change of heart as the first light seeps into the sky.
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Having obtained a Bachelor’s degree of Psychology with a minor in Journalism and Communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2017, Carrie started a Master’s degree in Expressive Arts Therapy in the University of Hong Kong in 2019. She later withdrew from the programme and moved to London in 2021. She currently works in an art museum. She creates across media not for a future, but a past that no longer existed. Her artworks in the form of performance and video have been exhibited in Tate Modern and various art spaces. Her writings have been published in literary magazines, including Fleurs des Lettres, Bit Zi and Resonate. She started directing art films in 2022 and Short Story Long is her first work.
Simon Says, Simon Says 呼～
Hong Kong / 2022 / Colour / 30 mins / In Cantonese, English and Tagalog with Chinese and English Subtitles/ Dir. So SIU
In the past few years, more and more people have left Hong Kong rashly to live in a foreign land. Some of them are forced while some are not. What will happen to those who choose to stay? And why did they stay? Grandma Yang's son is about to leave Hong Kong where he was born and raised all his life and to start a new life in a different place. His return date is unknown and he hopes his mother will go with him. With the approach of him leaving Hong Kong, Yang begins to learn about life in a foreign country from his maid Rhea...
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From Hong Kong.
Graduated from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.
Majored in Directing.
Engaged in film production since graduation.
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Simon says, Simon says… the wind blows away everyone’s homes… "Home", is the place where the family is? Or is it the root of life? In recent years, the social atmosphere in Hong Kong is full of a strong sense of parting. Some of them are forced to leave, some choose to go away, and to those who choose to stay, why? When people leave the city where they grew up in, where will their home be? Where would their family lives? Or is it their hometown that they would see as their true roots?
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16th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival - Local Competition 2022
The Dispute （World premiere 全球首映）
UK / 2023 / 34 mins / Colour / In English with English subtitles / Dir. Fredie Chan
Shortly after moving from Hong Kong to Edinburgh and settling into his student flat, filmmaker Fredie Chan discovers a clash among locals and overseas students over the massive housing shortage in Edinburgh. Developers are converting empty lots and unused old buildings into new housing stocks for international students rather than the locals. Through an empathetic and personal documentary lens, Chan befriends 91-year-old Harry, a long-time resident and community councillor, and follows a group of grassroots housing advocates in order to understand the clash and today’s global housing crisis.
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Born in Hong Kong, Fredie Chan is a documentary filmmaker and teacher with 15 years experience. He received the Andrew Grant PG Scholarship to study MA Film-Directing at the University of Edinburgh in 2021, and began to be involved in Living Rent, a Scottish Tenants Union, to advocate for housing justice. The movement inspired him to make his first documentary film,The Dispute, in the UK to connect with nation-wide grassroots communities.
From HK to MK
UK / 2017 / Colour / 10 mins / In English / Dir. Michael HO
What does it mean to be British? Gabriel, a dentist originally from Hong Kong, has lived in Milton Keynes for nearly 50 years. His mixed race son Michael couldn't wait to leave. Now a film-maker, he returns to the city to discover how his father feels about the place he has made home.
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Michael Ho is a BAFTA and Peabody award-winning film editor, filmmaker, and educator. He graduated from the National Film & Television School in 2006 and has worked across features/drama, documentary, animation, and artists film. In addition to his film work he teaches at the NFTS, UCL, Central St Martins and London College of Communications. He has also been a mentor for Mira Nair’s charitable foundation Maisha, the Doha Film Institute and AiR Lovere short film festival.
BFI Archive footage - Around the New Territories - Hong Kong
UK, Hong Kong / 1938 / Colour / 14 mins / No Dialogue
Making up over 86% of Hong Kong, the New Territories beyond the famous island had been under British sovereignty for some 40 years before Edwin G Phillips toured the region with his wife, and recorded his travels on 8mm film. This footage, which was actually captured in over 2½ years, is compiled into one seamless trip, with contrasting new trends, such as that of the smiling boy scouts, and the ancient walled city.
