Stay If You Can / Go If You Must

The Implementation of the new security law in 2020 marked a major historical shift for the people of Hong Kong. This 2-year process brought on the reality which was not expected to have materialized until 2046. This harsh, unexpected acceleration fueled feelings of anxiety and distress. The fear of prosecution mixed with the impulse for self-censorship, the desire to leave wrestled with a sense of loss. Room 404 is an essayistic response to the documentary Room 525 shot by the same artists during the art residency in Hong Kong back in 2019 while the social unrest was growing.

Facing a debilitating illness, a former dancer recounts her life of movement—onstage, travelling and now through remembrance.

Reenacting the suicide episode of the last Ming emperor, Chong-zhen from the classic Cantonese Opera Floral Princess, this experimental short film blending Cantonese Opera and modern dance elements reveals the journey of the defeated emperor accompanied by his faithful eunuch, Wang Sing-yan, on their way to the summit of Coal Hill to end their lives. Apart from inviting new perspectives towards their ambiguous queer overtones, it also explores the crossroads of life and death, authority and obedience, love and sacrifice, power and duty, that befall under the traditional patriarchy.

"5 cops only in Sham Shui Po tonight!" PC46700 said. In the deep of the night, a police officer was dispatched to an old building where he found a Vietnamese drug addict in a partitioned room. His investigation was inexplicably filmed by a would-be documentarian, which led to a conversation with the police constable recollecting his early days and involvement with the Vietnamese refugees more than twenty years ago. An apparently unrelated group of people had this unexpected encounter when the majority of the police force gathered at Mongkok during the Umbrella Movement.

Lee Wai Shing’s short film focuses on family in response to Huang Canran’s poem ‘So Close’, narrating a son’s journey to visit his mother in North Point

We see a rock. It transcends languages and cultures. It traverses time and space. Perhaps it has its own nature and memories.