Rather be Ashes Than Dust (2024)

Because I Choose Freedom

Matthew Leung Ming-hong had been working as a breaking-news reporter for six years in Hong Kong but recently emigrated to the United Kingdom because of concerns about growing restrictions on journalists working in the city. Three Hong Kong media outlets popular with the opposition have folded in just six months, following the introduction of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, raising fears about the future of press freedom in the city. The 29-year-old is starting a new life in Britain’s northern city of Manchester and plans to eventually resume his journalism career in Europe.

Hong Kong Mixtape

Political engagement spawned the wildest of wonderlands for Hong Kong’s creativity – but as a new law annihilates freedom of expression overnight, underground artists and creatives find themselves targets, and their works disappeared. Together we race to preserve the creative uprising amid China’s crackdown.

Inside the Red Brick Wall

In 2019, Hong Kong was swept by demonstrations against the controversial extradition bill. At the Polytechnic University, a group of students also takes a stand for freedom and democracy. Negotiations with the police are chaotic and aggressive, conducted via megaphones and politically charged music played over loudspeakers. The colorful umbrellas which the young people use to protect themselves against the brutal police actions emphasize the group’s bravado, which borders on recklessness. What begins as an energetic battle against the establishment turns into a lopsided game of cat and mouse when the police decide to surround the building. Within its red brick walls, the university building becomes a prison. Over the nearly two weeks that follow, as fear and exhaustion grow among the hundreds of students, so does the uncertainty. Should they hang on inside, or leave the building to face the armed police?

Hong Kong: Retrocession Generation

In 2017, twenty years after the British handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997, young people, more politicized than any previous generation and proud of their land, do not feel Chinese and actively fight against the oligarchs who want to subdue them to China's authoritarian power.

Taking Back the Legislature

After a night of planning and mourning, a storm is brewing at early hours of 1 July, 2019. In face of the absurdity of the government's indoor flag ceremony, protesters question the usefulness of peaceful protest and hope to storm the Legislative Council Complex as a last-ditch effort to ignite change in the movement. As they confront pro-democracy councillors outside the complex, their pent-up anger and despair explode.

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower

When the Chinese Communist Party backtracks on its promise of autonomy to Hong Kong, teenager Joshua Wong decides to save his city. Rallying thousands of kids to skip school and occupy the streets, Joshua becomes an unlikely leader in Hong Kong and one of China’s most notorious dissidents.

Revolution of Our Times

Throughout Hong Kong’s history, Hongkongers have fought for freedom and democracy but have yet to succeed. In 2019, a controversial extradition bill was introduced that would allow Hongkongers to be tried in mainland China. This decision spurred massive protests, riots, and resistance against heavy-handed Chinese rule over the City-State. Award-winning director Kiwi Chow documents the events to tell the story of the movement, with both a macro view of its historical context and footage and interviews from protestors on the front lines.

Do Not Split

The story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, told through a series of demonstrations by local protestors that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear on the scene.

Another Home

Cheung Chau, once a fishing village in Hong Kong, has transformed into a tourist spot. Ri-Tai, a food stall run by A-Cheung, reflects local life, absurdities, and societal realities. A-Cheung spends his days playing games with customers like Plumpy, forming bonds that transcend generations. However, the onset of COVID-19 disrupts this sense of community, leaving the island deserted and questioning whether Ri-Tai's simple way of life will vanish.

Blue Island

Although the Chinese government promised that Hong Kong would retain separate status until 2047, in recent years the Chinese state has consolidated its power over the metropolis. Large-scale protests by the populace have been brutally suppressed. This mix of documentary, fiction, and visions of the future reveals the current state of desolate depression among the people of Hong Kong. “A desperate attempt to capture the final moments of a sinking island”, as maker Chan Tze-woon himself puts it.

Hong Kong Moments

As pro-democracy activists and armed police battle in the streets of Hong Kong, ordinary citizens are choosing sides. Historically an outlier of both western and Chinese power, Hong Kong wields its own economic force, affording the city and its people a spirit of independence that has now erupted into clouds of tear gas. Filmmaker Bing Zhou uses a nimble camera to follow a group of protagonists—two opposing political candidates, a tea shop owner, a cab driver, a police officer, a paramedic—on two separate days of conflict. On September 21, 2019, protestors from three districts join forces, resulting in unprecedented violence. Just 10 days later on October 1, the National Day of the People’s Republic of China, previously undecided onlookers show their stripes. Thoughts transform into action in this demonstration of how mercurial and personal Hong Kong’s politics have become.

Fear(less) and Dear

Hongkongers have been experiencing extremely difficult times due to the political movement caused by anti-Extradition Bill since the summer of 2019 followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This film explores Hongkongers’ fear in various dimensions, be it a concept or actual physical experience, personal or political, private or public, or the mixing of these pairs.

If We Burn

Hundreds of thousands − perhaps even millions − of protestors have taken to the streets of Hong Kong since early June. Sparked initially by the government's plans for a controversial extradition bill, the movement has now transformed into a broader push for greater freedoms and democracy, with anger over police brutality fuelling a cycle of violence. The protests are Hong Kong's biggest challenge to Beijing since its return to China in 1997. If We Burn looks at the movement through the eyes of Hong Kongers whose fates, like their city's future, now hang in the balance.

Comrades

Young people are protesting on the streets of Hong Kong in order to bring about change. Air soaked with tear gas, the dark uniforms and loud commands of the police officers in the colourful umbrella sea of the protesters. In the midst of the action, the film documents a brand new protest movement.

Stream of Love

Love and desire fill the minds of villagers in a Hungarian speaking village in Transylvania, Romania, even in their old age. Time has stood still here, and although most of the village’s inhabitants are elderly, they are refreshingly young at heart.

Red Elvis: The Cold War Cowboy

The extraordinary tale of Dean Reed, the American popstar who packed out stadiums in the 70s and inspired a generation, until he was found drowned in a lake in East Berlin.

Sandy & Junior: Era uma Vez – Ao Vivo

VHS was the first in Brazil to reach a mark of 100,000 copies sold. In 2000, it was released on DVD and added 6 bonus clips, which were not part of VHS.

Climate: The Movie (The Cold Truth)

"Climate: The Movie" highlights a different perspective on the climate change debate and is supported by scientists who have signed the Clintel's World Climate Declaration. This group of researchers seeks to present an alternative narrative in the face of the dominant discourse.

Dima Gavrilov: STAND-UPOCALYPSE

Dima Gavrilov's new solo concert immerses us in the life of a lonely adult guy who continually stumbles upon the imperfections of this world. At the end, a couple of jokes about sex.

Snowfall

As a winter storm approaches the shallow water crystallizes, ice builds up along the edges of a stream, and the first snowflakes of the storm layer over the newly formed ice. The following morning a soft light approaches through the snow covered forest.

Sunday Beauty Queen

Beneath Hong Kong's glittering facade, Filipina domestic helpers work in relative anonymity and for near-slave wages. In a beauty pageant like no other, five helpers give themselves makeovers for a day and gleefully reclaim their dignity.

Casting JonBenet

Twenty years after the modern world's most notorious child murder, the legacy of the crime and its impact are explored.

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press

The courtroom and publicity battles between the superstar wrestler and the notorious website explode in a sensational trial all about the limits of the First Amendment and the new no holds barred nature of celebrity life in an internet dominated society.

Water & Power: A California Heist

Uncovering the profiteering of the state's water barons and how they affect farmers, average citizens, and unincorporated towns throughout California.

The Making of Kick-Heart

A short documentary film about the making of Masaaki Yuasa's "Kick-Heart."

Kasama Kang Tumanda

A filmmaker follows her grandparents’ daily life after her chain-smoker and alcoholic grandmother is forced to stop drinking beer for a month.

Walmsley the Film

WALMSLEY is a feature-length documentary that follows Jim Walmsley’s journey from the depths of a US Air Force Missile Silo to becoming the first American man to win UTMB by running 100 miles faster than anyone else in the world.

L'ozone n'a qu'une bosse

The last film Denis Villeneuve made during his participation in the third season of La Course Destination Monde, a show broadcast on Radio-Canada in which contestants travelled to different regions of the world to make short films about their journeys. This was presented in the Gala episode to mark the end of the program, before Villeneuve recieved his award for being the winning participant.

Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time

In a behind-the-scenes look at the biggest political upset in recent history, Mark Halperin, John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon offer unprecedented access and never-before-seen footage of candidate Trump, from the primaries through the debates to the dawning realization that the controversial businessman will become the 45th President of the United States.

Eastern Avenue

From the material he shot during a three month journey, Peter Mettler edited a lyrical film which is no ordinary travelogue or diary. Without occupying himself in advance with anticipated images, he attempted as often as spontaneously as possible to respond and react to his surroundings, improvising with the camera as one would on a musical instrument. These visual notes allow insights into perceptions, feelings and emotional states in various situations.