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| Showtimes | Thu March 18 7:00 PM / KAB318A |
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USA, 1999, 86 mins, video,
color, English/ Cantonese/Mandarin & sign language w/e.s.
Director/Editor Ruby YANG; Producer Lambert YAM, Exec. Prod. William SMOCK; Video Diarists Edward CHAN, Edwin CHAN, QI Ke Jia, Louise WONG, Ed WU
NAATA and the San Francisco Art Institute cordially invite you to attend the Closing Night Gala of the 17th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
Thursday, March 18, 1999
7:00 pm Screening
AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres
1881 Post Street
San Francisco9:30 pm Golden Circle Gala Reception
with Director Ruby Yang and Diarists Edward & Edwin Chan, Louise Wong, & Ed WuDiego Rivera Gallery
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco
On June 30, 1997, the British flag was lowered for the last time over Hong Kong, marking the end of a colonial era that began with the Opium Wars in the 1800s. Amid dire predictions of economic collapse and political repression under Chinese rule, the future of Hong Kong still remains uncertain. Once the "crown jewel of the British empire," Hong Kong has much to gain and much to lose by shedding its colonial status.
In CITIZEN HONG KONG, filmmaker Ruby Yang returns to her childhood home to learn how Hong Kong might reconcile its British past with a Chinese future. Raised as a Chinese Briton, Yang wonders if Hong Kong will lose its special character as a cultural bazaar and fount of innovation. She looks for clues in the transition generation—those born under British rule who will come of age during the Chinese era. Through video diaries, five young Hong Kong residents help her chronicle the evolution of a new post-colonial identity.
Newly arrived from mainland China, high school senior Qi Ke Jia wants to fulfill her parents’ dreams by getting into Hong Kong University, but unceasing work puts her on a thin line between success and burnout. Ed Wu, a 34-year-old buyer for a music store, stayed home with his ailing father while his elder brother went abroad to study. He now fills his life, and his mother’s tiny apartment, with an ever-growing collection of Star Wars memorabilia. Aussie expatriate Louise Wong returns to reconnect with her Chinese roots. A radio reporter, she hopes to break into TV. Brothers Edward and Edwin Chan perform with the Hong Kong Deaf Theatre Troupe. Their day jobs as office boys call for brashness and free-form improvisation—the very traits that characterize Hong Kong.
CITIZEN HONG KONG is an affectionate portrait of a city of constant comings and goings, and a world of borrowed traditions, where hopeless failure and wild success perch just over the horizon. Yang’s personal perspective, interwoven among the video diaries, gracefully frames both prospects.
San Francisco-based Yang’s extensive editing credits include Spencer Nakasako’s national Emmy Award-winning A.K.A. DON BONUS and Avon Kirkland’s STREET SOLDIERS. Most recently, she was associate producer and editor for Joan Chen’s directorial debut XIU XIU: THE SENT DOWN GIRL, which won seven Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, including best picture.