I Miss You When I See You 看見你便想念你
:: UK PREMIERE ::
Hong Kong / 2018 / Colour / 93 min
In Cantonese with English subtitles
Dir. Simon CHUNG
LONDON
2022 / 03 / 24 (Thu) - 7:30 PM
* In-person post-screening Q&A with the director
King's College London
MANCHESTER
2022 / 04 / 04 (MON) - 6:00 PM
* In-person post-screening Q&A with the director
Chapeltown Picture House, Manchester
Jamie reencounters his old school friend, Kevin, who has been suffering from depression and must choose between following his heart or society.
Kevin and Jamie have known each other almost their entire lives, having gone to the same well-known primary and secondary school together. When they are both in Form 4, Kevin's mother decides to re-marry and move to Australia. Kevin’s imminent departure increased his emotional attachment to Jamie. One night, Kevin confesses his feelings for Jamie, and their pent up feelings for each other erupt, and they start kissing passionately on the beach. Their nascent relationship is cut short by Kevin’s departure.
Fast forward a dozen years later. Jamie tracks down Kevin in Australia. Jamie finds Kevin in a group home for people suffering from affective disorders, where he has been languishing for the past two years. It turns out that Kevin has been suffering from depression since his late teens, was in and out of mental institutions, and that his mother had all but given up on him. Yet, meeting Jamie again reminds Kevin of his youthful ambitions, and he decides to return to Hong Kong to start life anew.
With Jamie’s help, Kevin tries hard to readjust to life in Hong Kong, but its fast pace and culture proves a strain for Kevin. Jamie, on the other hand, finds that his feelings for Kevin are reawakened. At the same time, he enjoys a steady relationship with his girlfriend, Elaine, who is increasingly suspicious of the close bond Jamie and Kevin share. Kevin, meanwhile, tries his best to stay away from Jamie by starting a relationship with a young man. Jamie, on the other hand, must choose between being true to society’s expectations and following his heart.
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Simon CHUNG graduated from York University in Toronto, where he majored in film production. After returning to Hong Kong, he worked in the local film and television industry. Since 1996, he worked as an independent filmmaker, his shorts Life is Elsewhere, Stanley Beloved and First Love and Other Pains won multiple awards in international film festivals. Innocent, his debut feature, premiered at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and won the NFB Best Canadian Film Award at Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. His second feature, End of Love, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009, while his third feature, Speechless, premiered at the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
CHUNG is a founding member of Ying E Chi and an independent film distributor in Hong Kong.
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Kevin and Jamie are high school buddies who share one brief but passionate kiss before Kevin departs for Canada. They lose contact and it is more than ten years later when they meet again. If they hadn’t reconnected, their lives would probably be very different, yet they would not have realised what they had missed — thus the name of the film. Hong Kong appears to be a tolerant international city, and there are few cases of overt homophobia. Homosexuals can live a comfortable life within their bubble, as long as they remain socially invisible.
This film explores what it means to be gay in Hong Kong through the stories of two characters who wrestle with their outsider status in vastly different ways, and in the end, they must choose whether to follow what society dictates or their hearts.
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Hamburg International Queer Film Festival 2018
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2018
Seattle International Film Festival 2018
Zurich Film Festival 2018
Capetown International Festival 2018
