Past Events
Throughout the year, Hong Kong Documentary Initiative organises a variety of documentary screenings, discussions and critiques to promote visual literacy and foster the creation of a community of documentary lovers. The events target film enthusiasts, filmmakers, cultural critics, students and the mass media in Hong Kong and beyond.
Screening + Q&A
JANE
Time: 5:30 – 8:00pm
Venue: Yuet Ming Auditorium, Chong Yuet Ming Cultural Centre, HKU
Language: English
Drawing from over 100 hours of never-before-seen footage that has been tucked away in the National Geographic archives for over 50 years, award-winning director Brett Morgen tells the story of JANE, a woman whose chimpanzee research challenged the male-dominated scientific consensus of her time and revolutionized our understanding of the natural world.
Set to a rich orchestral score from legendary composer Philip Glass, the film offers an unprecedented, intimate portrait of Jane Goodall — a trailblazer who defied the odds to become one of the world’s most admired conservationists.
Dr. Jane Goodall will visit Hong Kong and join the post-screening dialogue at HKU.
Screening + Q&A
HAVANNA, MI AMOR
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: CPD-LG.18, Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre, LG/F Centennial Campus, HKU (Near Exit C1 of HKU Station)
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Uli Gaulke | Germany | 2000 | 82mins
Every evening the inhabitants of Havana gather in front of their TV’s to submerge themselves in the world of Televisions. These days it seems as though the ancient Soviet television sets can no longer fulfil their wish to escape reality. HAVANA, MI AMOR tells of their struggle in those images, and the relationship between their everyday lives and the endless soap opera episodes. An homage to love, old television sets, and to one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Screening + Q&A
PENÍNSULA MITRE, A FORGOTTEN LAND
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Venue: CPD-LG.34, Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre, LG/F Centennial Campus, HKU (Exit C1 of HKU Station)
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
The Gauchos del Mar brothers – two Argentinean brothers who were born in a family with tradition and passion for surfing, perform an unprecedented 400 KM expedition by foot with 35kgs+ on their backs during 53 days on the easternmost tip of Tierra del Fuego Province, a pristine area where no one lives. The brothers have the goal of surfing a world-class wave never ridden before at the Cape San Diego Lighthouse, the most easterly point. To get there they overcome heavy terrains, scarcity of food and harsh climate. With no communication whatsoever they document the region and decide to share their message of environmentalism, avoiding consumerism and living simply in order to protect Península Mitre forever.
Screening + Q&A
SED, INVASIÓN GOTA A GOTA
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Venue: CPD-LG.18, Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre, LG/F Centennial Campus, HKU (Exit C1 of HKU Station)
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
One in five of the inhabitants of our planet have no drinking water. 97.5% of the available water is salty. 2.5 % is constituted by fresh water, and it is on the way to running out. But in South America, there lies the silent Guarani Aquifer (El Acuífero Guaraní), an underground freshwater reserve that covers Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, which is able to supply drinking water for the whole planet for the next 200 years. The intervention of supranational organisations such as the World Bank and multinational corporations that commercialise water in the design of future national strategies to preserve and use these natural resources has caused much controversy and aroused suspicion in the nations involved.
Screening + Q&A
COMRADES IN DREAMS
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: Studio Room 303, Chong Yuet Ming Cultural Centre, HKU (Near Exit A2 of HKU Station)
Language: Maharati, French, English, Korean with English subtitles
Uli Gaulke | Germany | 2007 | 100mins
Four lives that could not be more different and a single passion that unities them: the unconditional love for their cinemas, somewhere at the end of the world. COMRADES IN DREAMS brings together six cinema makers from North Korea, America, India and Africa and follows their efforts to make their audiences dream every night. In doing so, the film dives into a set of fascinating lives where stories from the everyday and from the silver screen frequently merge into something magical.
Lecture
Dialogue with Werner Herzog
Screening
Screening of Still Tomorrow and Q&A
Lecture
Dialogue with Filmmakers 2017
Lecture
Dialogue with Filmmakers 2016
