Grim future of Chinese-ruled Hong Kong depicted in indie film "Ten Years"

Five indepentently directed short films expose the voices of young and frustrated Hong Kongers
By Anna Dimoff

In the short film, "Local Egg," which centres around censorship, the last chicken farm in Hong Kong is forced to close and the shop owner suffers daily heckling from grade-schoolers on patrol who report the use of any banned words, such as "local."

Brainwashed grade schoolers, politically calculated assassinations and dialect discrimination are all part of a grim imagining of Hong Kong's future, nearly three decades after the country was handed back to the People's Republic of China.
The dystopian depiction of Hong Kong in 2025 follows five short stories, each independently directed, in the film "Ten Years."
Shot on a budget of around $65,000, the film earned $790,000 and won Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards this year, a future producer Andrew Choi could not have predicted when they began filming in 2013.
"We're asking a question, 'What's next for Hong Kong?' and back then Hong Kong was facing different changes, challenges," said Choi.
"During our production the umbrella movement took place and it definitely influenced the outcome of the film. It's a more bleak future that we portrayed."
The umbrella movement in 2014 brought tens of thousands of demonstrators to the streets of the Admiralty district pushing for free and open elections.
Politically charged and ripe with commentary on the current state of Hong Kong, Choi says that they set out to create more discourse on the topic of the country's future from the perspective of the younger generation.
On one night, 35 different screenings took place simultaneously around Hong Kong at parks and basketball courts, community centres and universities.
"I think over 10,000 people that day came to see the film. We were so excited by the response from all of the people," said Choi.
"I think it's the right time and right moment that this film came out and what's happening in Hong Kong just after we released the film also let people pay more attention to our film."
Although the film's tone is dark and pessimistic, Choi says he still has hope thanks to the large population of youth he has met around the world while travelling with the film who are looking for change.
"I definitely see hope because I met a lot of younger generations and the hope is from them. They pay more attention to the social issues, they have more courage to voice different things. The future is definitely in the next generation, so in 10 years time if they have the independent thinking, if they have the critical mind, I think that will be important for Hong Kong people."
The anthology is banned in China but has made waves on the festival circuit around the world and is screening at the Vancouver International Film Festival at the Vancouver Playhouse Oct. 8th at 9:15 p.m. and at International Village Oct. 10 at 4:15 p.m. PT.