One Night in the Capital City

As pro-democracy activists and armed police battle in the streets of Hong Kong, ordinary citizens are choosing sides. Historically an outlier of both western and Chinese power, Hong Kong wields its own economic force, affording the city and its people a spirit of independence that has now erupted into clouds of tear gas. Filmmaker Bing Zhou uses a nimble camera to follow a group of protagonists—two opposing political candidates, a tea shop owner, a cab driver, a police officer, a paramedic—on two separate days of conflict. On September 21, 2019, protestors from three districts join forces, resulting in unprecedented violence. Just 10 days later on October 1, the National Day of the People’s Republic of China, previously undecided onlookers show their stripes. Thoughts transform into action in this demonstration of how mercurial and personal Hong Kong’s politics have become.

For Sang-yu, to be rich in Hong Kong means you get to make choices instead of someone making them for you. Hired by giant property developers to buyout ownership of tenement buildings, she earns considerable income and lives the kind of life lauded by mainstream society. During one of the buyouts, she starts to realize the harm her work inflicts upon others. She falls further into a moral dilemma when her boss assigns her a difficult buyout task, a profitable opportunity for her. In Hong Kong where real estate is considered above all else, the grassroots are left to fight for survival in desperation.

Choying Drolma, a child of a forced marriage and a victim of domestic violence, seeks refuge in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery where she learns to sing. An American musician brings her music to the United States of America, from where she starts her global music journey.