Curtains down for
“Fresh Wave 2014 – International Short Film Festival”
8 Young Winners to Take the Lead in Filmmaking
(19 December, 2014) The 15-day long “Fresh Wave 2014 – International Short Film Festival”, organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), celebrated its success today at the Closing Ceremony cum Award Gala. The Festival has screened 64 short films, including local shorts in competition and overseas titles, and organised plenty of post-screening Q&A sessions and exchange opportunities. This year the Local Competition Section saw 37 entries, under the Student and Open Divisions, competing for the “Best Film”, “Best Creativity”, “Best Script” and “Best Cinematography” awards in each Division, and also the highest honour of the Festival, “Fresh Wave Award”. Winners were announced tonight at the ceremony.
The Closing Ceremony cum Award Gala of the “Fresh Wave 2014 – International Short Film Festival“ was held today at Chai Wan Youth Square Y-Studio. Presiding at the ceremony included Dr. Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, Chairman of the HKADC, Mr. Yuen Wo-ping, renowned martial arts choreographer and film director, Mr. Johnnie To Kei-fung, founder and advisor of “Fresh Wave”. Also joining the ceremony to witness the birth of a new cinematic force were Chief Adjudicators Prof. Lee Daw-ming, professor of Taipei National University of the Arts School of Filmmaking and New Media and Mr. Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of USA Tribeca Film Festival. The other Chief Adjudicator is Mr. Yank Wong, renowned screenwriter and art director from Hong Kong.
This year’s “Fresh Wave Award” went to “The Sea Within” directed by Wong Wai-nap from the Open Division. The winning short film was screened in full immediately after the awards presentation. Wong also won the Best Film Award (Open Division).
New Creative Force for Local Film Scene
37 shorts in the Local Competition Section of “Fresh Wave 2014” are divided into the Student and Open Divisions. Each participating team receives a subsidy to make a short film within 30 minutes in six months. The organiser has assigned to each team a mentor who is a film veteran, to enhance their knowledge and skills in filmmaking and to share with them practical experience. Nowadays Fresh Wave has become an annual focus for young film talents in the territory. The number of applicants and the quality of the short films has been on the rise. Many of the titles have been officially selected or nominated for overseas film festivals.
Tonight the Award Gala witnessed the birth of a new cohort of award-winning young filmmakers, injecting new energy to the local film scene. This year’s “Fresh Wave Award” winner will be recommended to attend international film festivals, while the other winners will also be given subsidies in attending international film festivals to broaden their horizons. Fresh Wave has nurtured quite a number of young film talents in the past 9 years, and they will be joined by the new winners tonight for the future of Hong Kong film art.
For more high-res photos of winners and the ceremony, please visit: http://goo.gl/gfJiM3
Appendix:
Results of the Local Competition Section of “Fresh Wave 2014”:
| Division | Award | Title | Winner | About the Film | Comments from Adjudicators |
| — | Fresh Wave Award | The Sea Within | Wong Wai-nap (Director) | Fishermen couple Ah Shing and Mei-wah, having lived from boat to shore, stayed together for most of their lives. After their son grew up, they have different visions towards the rest of their days. Ah Shing insists on fishing amid the decline of the local fishing industry. Mei-wah works as a factory worker and wishes for a more stable life provided by Ah Shing working on other jobs he is not fond of. Even when there are subtle and profound changes in their relationships due to the different views, their affections for each other never stopped and they still support each other. | This story of a couple from fisherman’s families is told in a detached and realistic manner. Its portrayal of the psychologies and decisions made in face of harsh reality is at once touching and appealing. |
| Open | Best Film | ||||
| Open | Best Script | Hong Kong’s Weepie | Chow Yiu-kanTsim Ho-tat
(Screenwriter) |
Raymond is a boyish thirty-something content with his wife Nancy and son Kai Zhen who studies K2. Nancy decides to spur up Kai Zhen’s “talents” with an onslaught of extracurricular activities. They are tickets to a handful of certificates and awards so that Kai Zhen will not be overshadowed by other kids and may receive placement in more elite schools. Disapproving of the move, Raymond hopes his son could enjoy his childhood. Nancy insists and asks Raymond to find Kai Zhen a referee for school enrolment. In the meanwhile, Raymond was sacked and had to leave his job of twenty years. A painful journey begins with his job hunt and eventual sale of his own favourite toys and pleasures. For the sake of his son, he swallows his pride and begs his old boss to be his son’s referee. | Well-structured. The film gives a fine presentation of the internal/external conflicts of the characters. The themes are highly relevant to our time.Terrific script and story that stays complex and relevant and that avoids the pitfalls that often plague this kind of storytelling. Great cast, humour and insight! |
| Division | Award | Title | Winner | About the Film | Comments from Adjudicators |
| Open | Best Creativity | Being Rain: Representation and Will | Chan Tze-woon(Director) | A group of documentary filmmakers began to shoot the civil social movement in Hong Kong, which became part of the city’s common landscape. Spanning over two years, the filmmakers attempt to reveal the visible and invisible control behind. They trace a mysterious organisation which is suspected to secretly control the weather which dampens the mood and suppresses the intention of the public to participate in social movements. On the surface, the question on inclement weather could be answered by climate changes around the world. The underlying sordid discussion, however, is really about intervention, pervasive suppression and control instead of any conspiracy theory. | This pseudo-documentary presents topics that engaged in our time in this is both creative and professional, and grips the audience’s attention.Adventurous and minute attention to details to pull off in a politically real and natural approach that works to a “T”. |
| Open | Best Cinematography | Food Fascist | Cheng Kai-ming(Cinematographer) | Legendary chef Mo Yik-Tin is notorious for turning animals into spectacular dishes – tastes always rule over lives under the butcher’s knife. Equally thoughtful and fascist, Mo is a fascinating mentor in the eyes of his apprentice. In subtle tension with the TV programme’s host, Mo is poised to present his greatest culinary dishes which set off an intense debate with the programme host. A reflection on the general public’s food-obsessed culture and celebrity worship, this feature also highlights human’s decadence and corrupt excess through the aesthetics of food. | Professional studio and location shooting, the result is a perfect blend with the film’s themes and content.Provocative and compelling with a nod to its “Swiftian” origins, a portrait of “modern times” |
| Division | Award | Title | Winner | About the Film | Comments from Adjudicators |
| Student | Best Film | Neighbours | Cai Jia-hao(Director)
(HKBU College of International Education) |
Mainland student Yi Yao comes to study in this busy city. Before her roommate arrives, she is all alone staying in a rented apartment of an old tenement building. Unfamiliar with everything, she tries hard to explore around only finding that the neighbours are noisy, weird and unhelpful; especially after the man living opposite to her getting killed. Being hungry and helpless, she locks up herself in the flat and acts strangely. Can anyone help her? Through a series of mysteries, social issues like Mainland students flocking to Hong Kong, overcrowding living area and indifferent neighbours are covered in the short film. | Interesting topic. The feature film has an engaging atmosphere with solid performance.Well directed and tonally impressive. |
| Student | Best Script | The Drifter | Wong Tin-shing (Screenwriter)(Hong Kong Design Institute) | Sze-man is facing a dilemma when she participates in an inter-school debate. On the negative side, she is working on the motto “Hong Kong Government should allow Mainlanders to settle down in Hong Kong”. During the course of preparation, however, she is constantly challenging her own position. Her “secret” as a cross-boundary student living in Shenzhen is carefully kept away from her classmates for fear that she will be discriminated against. With more and more drifters crossing the Hong Kong – China border, we are actually facing a changing time with a fast-developing and unique relationship with the Mainlanders, as well as ourselves. | The themes and characters are of our time. This film brings audience close to the angst deep in the heroine, the disadvantaged, and the reality that traps her. Well-formed dramatic structure.Exceptional characters and themes that are nuanced and of the moment! |
| Division | Award | Title | Winner | About the Film | Comments from Adjudicators |
| Student | Best Creativity | Ghostless Horror | Leung Yu, John (Director)(Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts) | We enjoy the adrenaline rush given by horror films. But what if we are personally involved in the horror? Director Chun has created a ghost story based on a real case with a dancer murdered, incorporating all marketable ideas like women, supernatural forces and violence. Successfully he persuades the boss to invest in his horror, but there is one “little” requirement – in order to pass the Mainland censorship, no ghost can be presented in the ghost story. So keen to make it work, Chun compromises. While he starts to change the script, an unexpected visitor shows up and leads him to a special journey. A film depicting the bittersweet life of filmmakers. | The ghost film carves out a new path for itself in the genre with its meta-presentation and brings out an intriguing debate.A reinvention of the genre (a “ghost story” bereft of ghosts). Fun and audacious. |
| Student | Best Cinematography | Chow Nim-wa (Cinematographer)(Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts) | The photography in both studio and location shooting evokes the appropriate atmosphere to facilitate story-telling. A truly remarkable work by a student in photography.Spot on style and craft that transforms the genre into a newly realised allegory. | ||
| — | Special Mention | The Glass City | Wong Hin-lik (Director)(The Open University of Hong Kong) | Yee-tou cannot recover from her sorrow at her fiancé’s death. Her admirer Heem with a quiet and introverted character is kind enough to take care of her. Deeply depressed, she resists taking her medication and suffers from frequent hallucinations. Eventually she kills herself in front of Heem, who is consequently infected by her depression, and keeps a tank of goldfishes at home. From a glass fish tank to our world, are we living in a true world or is life an illusion? “The Glass City” is a love story with sad sentiments mentioning the limitations in life as if goldfishes living in a glass tank. | A series of episodes in different characters’ lives are connected by a goldfish bowl and music. An innovative presentation with professional photography.Wonderful visual style and poetic sensibility. |