Almost a perfect day

Kevin from Shenzhen is my second house guest in a month--perhaps a trend is developing. We went to Half-Moon Bay in Sai Kung for some sun and surf. The weather was great, and the water crystal clear, but proved too cold for swimming. Later we went to J's for BBQ, where I lit the charcoal stove for the first time in my life. It was almost a perfect day.

震驚電影業

【星岛网讯】为扶助香港本地电影业发展，港府一掷三亿元成立“电影发展基金”，该基金审批标准11日正式出炉，工商及科 技局建议，全新基金将资助不多于1200万元的中小型电影制作。不过，电影内容不可涉及渲染色情暴力、罪行、恐怖、性事等十多种主流电影常见的元素。香港 电影导演会批评设置这样的道德标准十分荒谬，最后只能推动电影人拍公民教育片，无助本地电影发展。

至于电影内容，当局批核时会考虑是否适合大众而非小众市场，而剧本内容必须受到基本审核，包括不可过份渲染色情、暴力、罪行、恐怖等九种元素，也不可侮辱 个别种族、宗教及性别等，以确保公帑资助的电影不会严重违反社会接受的道德标准及社会价值观。当局又规定，申请人须有十年的电影经验，以确保有能力掌握电影制作。

I've known about this piece of news for some time but have not been able to finds the words to respond to something so utterly idiotic. I've been studying film policy for two years now, and I know of no country whose film policy includes restrictions on subject matter in this way. What could they be thinking? It boggles the mind.

I've been half expecting some official to come forward and explain that this has all been some misunderstanding, that the Hong Kong government respects artistic freedom and will not dream of policing the morality of local films. But no. So far not a peep from anyone. So perhaps they are serious about this?

Innocent Trailer

What a brillient piece of filmmaking! Wonder who's the genius that directed this masterpiece...

I'm a Fanjaya

Guess what? I'm a Sanjaya fan!
He's so fucking cute. Pop stardom is never about talent, but charisma. Check out how he flirts with the camera in the last shot. The guy really is a natural!

Against censorship

I had previously written about how I'd enjoyed Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndrome and a Century. I love it's dreamlike serenity, the way the director infuses everyday encounters with grace and humour. I was quite shocked to learn that this quiet masterpiece has run afoul of Thai censors, who had demanded cuts to the film. Among the scenes they find objectionable are ones involving a monk playing a guitar and another one depicting doctors drinking whiskey in the basement of the hospital! (For full story click here) It is all completely arbitrary and senseless, as censorship often is. If you would like to support Apichatpong or are against censorship, please sign the online petition.

訪客

最近家裡來了一個訪客，他是一個來自印尼的旅客。有天忽然收到一個陌生男子來電，問我可否來我家住幾天--原來我早前參加了一個為旅客提供home stay的website, Hospitality Club 但其後一直忘記有這件事。

他的名字叫李勇訊，他不是個一般的遊客，原來他希望來香港找工作，還問我有什麼門路。我說一個無親無故又沒工作證的人要來香港工作是十分困難的事。我問他為何要來香港工作，他說自幾年前印尼暴動後便不想繼續在當地生活。我還以為他家人在暴動中受了什麼傷害，但原來傷害只是心靈上的，confirm了他覺得自己不屬於那片土地的感覺。

李是個很奇怪的人，他住在我家的三天內幾乎足不出戶，每天不斷播放同一張CD，第一天是梅艷芳告別演唱會，第二天是關淑怡的「Ex」，第三天是Beyond的tribute專輯「祝你愉快」，我那幾天剛巧大部分時間要留在家工作，被他疲勞轟炸得幾乎發瘋。

起初我也為自己的安全問題擔心，但後來發玩他是茹素者便放心一點(雖然不排除他不愛殺動物但喜歡殺人)。他信奉一個叫「一貫道」的教，據wikipedia說，是個合儒、釋、道、耶、回的宗教，源於中國，但於台灣流行。李在香港找不到工作，下一站會到台灣寄居佛堂。

Closure

Saw my final film at the festival, Syndrome and a Century. A lyrical, dream like film, set in two hospitals, one rural, one modern. The same charaters appear in both settings, and some of the scenes are similar, but taken from diffeent perspectives. It's a surreal film, not in the Dali/Bunuel sense of outlandish, but more like a lucid dream, half conscious. The scenes are composed of daily life in the hospital, of casual friendships and romantic confessions. A sense of good-natured serenity underscores all the relationships in the film, giving these seemingly banal encounters added weight, like the act of rememberance itself. I like the way director Apichatpong doesn't try to force closure towards the end of the film. (The easiest thing would have been to end the film with scenes regurgitated from the beginning.) Instead, the films extends outwards, we see almost random images of everyday life, of people exercising in the park, then a strange shot of smoke being drawn into a large metal pipe. Amorphic and nebulous, life simply continues.

My friend V thinks that the festival is going downhill by pandering to the masses. But I happen to agree with David Bordwell that the HKIFF is many festivals in one, and that there can be as many different kinds of festival experiences as there are festival goers. People like V are nostalgic for the days when the festival was about high-brow art films from Europe and America. But I think that the festival is heading in the right direction by nurturing Asian auteurs and Asian stars. Of course there are still many kinks to be worked out in the Asian film awards, as the Golden Rock blog rightly points out, but any show that gives Jia Zhangke and Apichatpong Weerasethakul exposure on TVB has to be a good thing.

A twitch upon the thread

Chris Berry and LK interviewed me regarding my work with Ying E Chi for their research project. Afterwards LK revealed to me what I had always suspected, that I had bombed on my Mphil interview, and had come so very close to not getting in.

The past two years had been wonderful. The opportunity to study and not have to worry about making a living is a rare one indeed, and for this I'm so grateful. From a personal point of view, the classes I audited in theology and Biblical studies had been much more important to me than thecultural studies courses. I learnt that doubts can co-exist with faith, that questions concerning the interpretation and even authenticity of the Biblical text can be seperated from one's relationship with God.

In all this I see the hand of God, pulling me close, as Waugh writes in Brideshead Revisited, with a twitch upon the thread.

C1頭條

《八月的故事》被電影節取消播放，導演麥婉欣與監製葛民輝大轟港台「阻礙電影發展」，在淡靜的長週末居然上了C1頭版，明報郭繾澂還撰文大撐麥導演，連電影節貼出來的告示也強調63分鐘版本早於東京、Fribourg等電影節曝光，把芧頭直指港台。

《八月的故事》屬港台外判計劃的作品，由港台負責全部製作費，製作人以包拍形式承包節目製作，交貨後節目版權屬港台，這一切合約都寫得清清楚，不需要很有法律專業知識也應知道不可能另剪輯一個版本就當作是自己作品到處參展。麥氏走精面搏大霧早有前科，五年前的「哥哥」也一鷄兩味有港台22分鐘版和90分鐘長片版，上次勉強可說其中也有藝發局資金在內，今次卻全部資金來自港台，麥氏的做法很值得斟酌。

其實事件某程度上也反映獨立電影人的窘景--一方面想拍自己的東西，一方面要在工業裡生存，於是要出盡法寶扭六壬，本來無可厚非，但藝術家也應有藝術家的氣度，不應偷鷄摸狗完又輸打贏要，影片去了幾個國際影展其實已經賺了，現在港台依照合約執正來做是人家的權利，麥導演應向買了票的觀眾道歉才是，怎可還厚著臉皮在大家面前呼寃？

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

This is the best Tsai Ming Liang film in years. Tsai takes minimalism to new heights. As usual, he dispensing with dialogue almost entirely, and relies on mise-en-scene to tell his story. Whereas in the past, Tsai's films are often meandering and flat, the strategy works surprisingly well in this film. Every small gesture, every prop, every location takes on added weight, revealing an almost spiritual dimension to the every day. Lee plays a duo role, as a comatose man and a mute drifter who gets beaten up by street con-men. The film unfolds in a dualistic pattern, as we see the people taking care of the two men, a hapless young woman, played by Chen Siang-chyi, and a Bangladeshi migrant worker played by Norman Bin Atun. Set in Kaula Lumpur, it shows a depressing, dilapidated and smog filled city never seen in tourist brochures. But like the cheap multi-colored lamp the drifter gives to the young woman at one point, there is an almost surreal beauty to the place. I really like the love story between the drifter and the Bangladeshi worker, the selfless altruism of the latter and the strange way that the drifter takes it all in stride, without a word of thanks, but at the same time not ungrateful. Never settling for sentimentality or cheap thrills (watermelon, anybody?), Tsai manages to surprise me at every turn with this film.

A good day at the Festival

看了《檳榔》.兩個廣西頹廢年青人的故事，有點熟口熟面，像《任逍遙》+《童年往事》+《精裝追女仔》。喜歡導演簡約的風格，省去很多不必要對白，也避重就輕不是現場收音的問題。鏡頭調度以第一部作品來說很純熟，有幾場前中後景做戲有點太刻意，但並不討厭。聲音處理也蠻有趣，但重復使用香港流行曲太有賈樟柯影子。

昨天的highlight 是第二場的《曙光球隊》，充滿溫情與人性的紀錄片，描寫一隊由露宿者組成的足球隊，怎樣從踢足球重新發現人生方向。與香港很多有太多作者風格的紀錄片大相逕庭，導演把焦點放在被紀錄的人物上，處處流露對人物的關懷。球隊有很多不同類形的人，有雙失青年，有吸毒者，有working poor，難得的是視點沒有由上而下的憐憫，也不故作冷眼旁觀的客觀，讓隊員自我發聲，效果是無比powerful和感人。

生命不能承受的重

吾友J雖然假假地都係碩士畢業生，是個高級知識分子，但很多時她衝口而出的問題和意見，往往令人哭笑不得，好像昨天看完Larry Clark 的四仔短片，她居然問那個說話溫文的男孩是否gay，大佬，你啱啱睇完個男仔打真軍以勃起的陽具大插女人的不同部位播！
J小姐的神怪語錄：
「吓？乜安士唔係即係gram咩？」(問的時候臉不紅心不跳，究竟答唔答佢好？)
有一次看完La Jatee問「咁係咪真架」 (個故仔講第三次世界大戰之後播！)

可能J小姐的大腦太重，要成日放喺屋企唔帶得出街？

HKIFF

It's been a pretty lacklustre festival so far. I've only seen one good film, and I've already walked out of two. Yesterday I saw Destristed, two shorts about porn and censorship by Larry Clark and Gasper Noe. After the first one, the lights went up. I looked around, confused. Everybody started filing out of the theatre. Outside people gathered around a small notice that says the other short was cancelled. What? No announcements, no nothing? The Larry Clark short was quite interesting. Guys audition for a possible role in a porn film. They talk about their first sexual experiences and their views on porn. Then one guy is selecetd as the lead, and he interviews potential actresses. By the end he does it on camera with the woman of his choice. He fucks her in the ass and literally, shit happens. Gross!