The 2019 Hong Kong film protests at the Oscars, China | Art and Culture News

Growing up in Hong Kong, he imagined that Joey Siu could become a secondary school teacher, but two years ago, as pro-democracy protesters filled the streets of a Chinese-dominated city, he saw himself taking a different path.

Siu joined the rallies as a student activist, but quickly took on a more prominent role in the movement, claiming international support and speaking regularly to the media.

Then, in June last year, China established it National Security Act – said that broad-based legislation was necessary to combat secession, terrorism, subversion and “links with foreign powers”.

Tonight, social media accounts were closed and pro-democracy groups closed. The protests, already calmed by the coronavirus pandemic, evaporated.

Some he chose exile. Siu was agonizing for weeks over what to do.

“I never thought about leaving Hong Kong this soon,” the now 21-year-old told Al Jazeera of Washington DC, and he finally settled in October last year. “I always thought that my career would be in Hong Kong, and that it would be the future and the city where I would live forever.

“[But] I realized that if I chose to leave Hong Kong, I could do more for Hong Kong. ”

The tumultuous political development in China, the growth of Siu as an activist and the emotional toll of protesters are fighting for a city that loves the emotional toll of Do Not Split, a 35-minute film by Norwegian director Anders Hammer. is competing for best documentary short film Oscars on Sunday.

‘No way to defend ourselves’

Described by Variety as “gut-wrenching, close and personal,” Hammer took to the streets to film along with the protesters and captured not only the surprise of the protests, but also their raw emotion.

Since starting with a group of black-clad protesters who entered a Chinese-owned bank, a group of police pushed a protester to the ground, leveling his cheek on the tarmac, ripping off his shirt and exposing his belly. the film does not stem from the growing violence of clashes between police and protesters.

Inside are tear gas, water cannon sprays and putt clouds of rubber bullets.

Siu recalls how the protesters fought to cope with the growing police response.

“When the movement first broke out most of the protesters, including me, were new,” he said. “We didn’t know how to deal with tear gas, rubber bullets and everyone.”

Initially, the police gave people time to disperse and return home, but then their tactics changed, he recalls.

Protesters were often found in boxes under tear gas, water cannons and rubber piles. There were some protesters shoot with heavy ammunition.

The government also made it clear that the detainees could be charged with committing riots, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

“There was really no way to defend ourselves, even by extending a certain level of strength,” Siuk said.

Emotional toll

Hammer arrived in Hong Kong in June 2019, and – in addition to making a quick return trip to Norway to gather more equipment – spent weeks on the ground.

While some of the violence was worrisome – Hammer pointed out he was besieged by police at the University of China in Hong Kong in November – the spirit and decision of the protesters were the most influential.

“Seeing how stress, despair and how the protesters were trying was still trying to keep them hopeful, it was getting harder and harder for them to protest and they could see very clear signs seeing the very clear signs that Hong Kong was struggling to reverse.” He told Al Jazeera.

Anders Hammer in Hong Kong filming, Do Not Split. He decided to go out on the streets, build trust with the protesters and shoot with them [Courtesy of Oliver Haynes]

“They wanted to protect and maintain the city as they knew it, and they were fighting that closer relationship with Beijing. And they were protesting because they felt that basic democratic rights were disappearing.”

Hammer provides a place for protesters to talk about their motivations and feelings of betrayal.

“The British handed us over to China like a bag of potatoes,” says one who ruled the UK as a Hong Kong colony until 1997.

Siu appears to struggle with the psychological impact of the development of events.

“When our city is ruined, [and] falling, ”he told Hammer. “What’s the point of thinking about our future?”

The 2019 protests began against a plan by the Hong Kong government allow suspects to be sent to trial in mainland China, where the court controls the Communist Party of China.

One million people he marched through the streets on June 9 in the city, and nearly doubled next week – the largest protest in the territory’s history – but it wasn’t until September that CEO Carrie Lam was finally he withdrew the bill.

‘Dark Times’

The rallies didn’t come out of nowhere, though. The people of Hong Kong had long been squeezing Beijing.

During the intervention, the leaders of the Communist Party of the country promised to respect the rights and freedoms of the territory for at least 50 years, on an unknown continent.

Prior to the 2019 protests, the largest demonstration in the territory was 16 years earlier against plans to implement a national security law, when the government suspended them.

The demands for universal suffrage – a key demand for the 2019 protests – and the right to elect the head of the city periodically exploded in mass demonstrations, especially when in 2014 tens of thousands of people entered the heart of the city in a 79-day peaceful sit-in, after Beijing declared that the territory had no autonomy.

“I thought it was one of the most important international political events of the time,” Hammer said of why he decided to move to Hong Kong in 2019. “I still think so.”

Protests had already cooled even before the National Security Act was enacted, but critics have said the law has effectively criminalized legitimate forms of political dissent.

Do not disperse protesters with a petrol bomb. While Anders Hammer’s film shows the violence of the protests, he said it was most affected by the emotional and psychological stress the protesters felt. [Anders Hammer/Courtesy of Sundance Institute]

In January, Some 50 politicians, activists and academics were arrested as a result of the primary election in police raids The democratic camp, which was organized in July 2020, was then postponed to help select the strongest candidates for the Council of Parliament elections.

Since then, Beijing has rewritten its rules on territorial elections to ensure only “patriots” can hold office.

“I am sorry for Hong Kong,” Hammer said, noting that two of the arrested films appeared in his film. “It’s a dark time. The developments we are describing in the documentary have just continued in the sense that the room for democracy is shrinking. “

Continuous repression, which even arrested veteran lawyer and politician Martin Lee, who helped draft Hong Kong’s post-colonial constitution., has further deepened the divide between China and Western democracies, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

China angry at the Oscars

Not surprisingly, the Oscar nomination for Do Not Split has angered Beijing.

An article published in the Global Times, a tabloid controlled by the Communist Party, dismissed the film as “false” in its “lack of art” and made up of “biased political attitudes”. He said naming a film like this would “hurt the feelings” of Chinese audiences.

The Oscars will not be shown on the mainland, and TVB Hong Kong television blamed “commercial” reasons for not giving the ceremony for the first time in more than half a century.

“Our main goal in making this documentary was to draw attention to the dire situation in Hong Kong,” Hammer said. “Ironically, the censorship of the Oscars and the attention paid to our documentary has led to more stories about the dire situation in Hong Kong, so Beijing is helping us.”

Joey Siu testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee in December on Border Security and Immigration. The hearing was held to examine the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong through US refugee policy [Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images via AFP]

Siu is working for the Hong Kong Watch international defense team, and has addressed the situation in Hong Kong to U.S. and distant politicians, confident that China wants to become “another ordinary city on the Chinese mainland”.

He is concerned about where they were forced to flee, but finds peace in the new ways in which the people of Hong Kong are confronted, and democratic governments are increasingly appearing to defend and defend their values ​​and way of life.

“I am quite motivated and encouraged, here in the States or other countries, like Europe, that people are starting to realize that this strategy we have been doing for years is wrong and that we need to take much more with a tougher and more comprehensive approach to China,” he said.

The life of a teacher is far from quiet.