A still from the independent Hong Kong film, Ten Years
The controversial dystopian film “Ten Years,” hailed as a timely insight into the mainland’s increasing intrusion into Hong Kong’s political autonomy, has largely disappeared from movie theaters, leaving private showings as the only opportunity left for people to see the Hong Kong budget film.
The film’s disappearance has caused some observers to worry that mainland authorities may be behind the decision by some local cinemas to cancel their showings, in another example of China’s growing intolerance of government-targeted criticism and freedom of expression in the neighboring SAR.
“Ten Years” portrays a dystopian vision of Hong Kong set in 2025, where Cantonese is not widely permitted in the city, nor are local agricultural products.
Despite the fact that work began on the budget movie prior to the Occupy Central movement, the alleged abduction of Causeway Bay bookstore owners and publishers, and the Chinese New Year riots that occurred last month, these recent events caused one of the directors, Chow Kwun-wai, to remark that, “It is true that things in Hong Kong are happening faster than in our film.”
“A lot of people tell us, ‘we do not need to wait ten years. All this is already happening,’” Ng Ka-leung, another of the directors, told the Guardian newspaper. “We need more wisdom and courage to face the future, to face the ridiculous situation in which Hong Kong finds itself right now.”
Meanwhile, China’s Global Times labeled the film “absurd,” “too pessimistic” and a “virus of the mind.”
The fact that “Ten Years” was still drawing full houses when movie theaters pulled the film has led some to believe that mainland China has had a hand in the decision, either through censorship or merely exerting pressure.
While Hong Kong cinemas either did not respond to the Guardian’s enquiries or simply stated that “they had too many other films to show,” some in the industry have found the abrupt decision strange.
Shu Kei, a film critic and professor at Hong Kong’s Academy for Performing Arts, told the Guardian that he believes China has had some influence. “I think it is stupid, of course, for China to cancel the broadcasts. But this is always their reaction when they do not want people to know more about something.” MDT
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