Hong Kong’s Young Independent Filmmakers Break New Ground Despite Crackdown –

Less than two years after China imposed a far-reaching national security law, which saw dozens of Hong Kong activists and journalists arrested, the iron curtain is finally falling on the city’s once-vibrant film industry: A new film censorship law was passed last October to deter films that “glorify” or “incite” subversion. Not only does it enable the authority to render film licenses void, filmmakers and distributors could also face penalties – including up to three years of imprisonment – for screening unlicensed films.

By that point, the move hardly came as a surprise; a private screening had been raided by police, and the theatrical premiere of “Inside the Red Brick Wall,” the documentary chronicling the 13-day siege of Polytechnic University at the height of the 2019 protests, had been cancelled at the last minute. The clampdown left many lamenting the seemingly inevitable demise of Hong Kong’s status as Asia’s film capital – or so they foretell.

There is a kernel of truth to the claim; commentators note, for instance, the dismally small number of locally produced films compared to the industry’s heyday in the early 1990s, when more than 200 local films were released per year.

And yet, to a new breed of young Hong Kong filmmakers, the industry’s looming fate is a question mark, not a foregone conclusion. The death of Hong Kong film is only a self-fulfilling prophecy if one lets it be.

“There’s no denying that these constraints are closing in on us,” said Sam Lam, one half of the directing duo behind the Golden-Horse-nominated feature film “May You Stay Forever Young,” which is currently screening at the Hong Kong Film Festival U.K. (HKFF) and will hit big screens across Taiwan from April 8.

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“But don’t forget the pandemic has hit the mainstream film industry just as hard. As long as you keep your desire to create alive, you would figure out ways – reinvent them, even – to make things happen.”

When Filmmaking Becomes an Act of Defiance

The film, self-funded on a budget of less than US$77,000 with a skeleton crew, began production in mid-2019, in the thick of the political unrest in Hong Kong that erupted over the then-proposed extradition bill. Then, beset by the pandemic, the production was forced to be put on hold for nearly a year. By the time the post-production was completed, the tightening censorship had already crept in: The film was banned for “glamorizing” violence and suicide, and an interested local distributor subsequently dropped out.

“May You Stay Forever Young” (a title borrowed from a Bob Dylan lyric) employs a fast-paced dramatic style and guerrilla shooting to tell a story of protesters racing against time to save a fellow protester they barely know – a young girl nicknamed YY – from committing suicide.

The inspiration came from the prolonged protests’ toll on the mental health among young people: The incidence…