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The Body and the City

Venue: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre  
Date: 2021.09.07 - 2021.09.15
Time: 8pm 
Price: Standard ticket: $80. Tickets are now available at POPTICKET.hk 

A woman travels from her small German town to Hong Kong to find her son in the metropolis. A group of actors gets involved in the democracy movement in Minsk, goes together to the mass demonstrations to fight for free elections: Experiences that a person makes individually or collectively, when he moves in a city shape him, they leave traces. These experiences inscribe themselves in the body's memory, as in an archive of personal and collective memory. The series THE BODY AND THE CITY presents films that deal with the physical and social experience of powerlessness or empowerment, of exclusion or community, that people make in the urban space.

 
Screening schedule
7/9 (Tue) 8pm         Wood and Water*
8/9 (Wed) 8pm        What If We Say "Yes!" to Our Body + bodyRealities: cityCodes*
9/9 (Thu) 8pm         Many Undulating Things*
10/9 (Fri) 8pm         Courage*
15/9 (Wed) 8pm      DEFA Documentary Series: Leipzig in the Fall + The Wall
*with after-screening talk (conducted in English)

 

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Wood and Water
Director: Jonas Bak
Germany, France | 2021 | 80’ | In Cantonese, English, German with English subtitles | DCP | Colour 
 
7/9 (Tue) 8pm 
 
Newly retired from her church job in the Black Forest, Anke dreamt of spending the summer holidays together with her grown-up children on the Baltic coast. However, her son Max, who lives in Hong Kong, cancels at short notice due to the ongoing pro-democracy protests. Feeling empty, Anke decides to fly to Hong Kong to see her son and to explore the city. Conversations with strangers gradually help Anke to break down the inner walls she constructed years ago and make way for a new chapter in her life.

 

 

What If We Say “Yes!” to Our Body + bodyRealities: cityCodes

Both Mimi LO Performing Arts Development Foundation and DIN A 13 tanzcompany are committed to encourage people of different abilities to explore and express themselves through dance. They believe inclusive dance can bring people closer and build a more inclusive society.

8/9 (Wed) 8pm 
 
What If We Say “Yes!” to Our Body
Director: Mimi Lo
Hong Kong | 2021 | 33’ | In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles | DCP | Colour 
 

WHAT IF WE SAY “YES!” TO OUR BODY shares Mimi Lo’s more than 20 years of dance experience - from body to mind - to illustrate the special relationship between her dance studies and the unique city of Hong Kong. Facing the many "no’s” in the city - "No trespassing”, “No lying on the benches”, “No climbing” - bodies are forced to internalise those limitations. Whether it is possible to dance, is it a mere physical condition, or is it decided by the voice that says “no” in our mind? 


bodyRealities: cityCodes
Director: Miriam Jakobs, Gerhard Schick
Germany, Ghana | 2017 | 53’ | HD | Colour 
 
bodyRealities - cityCodes deals with the complex structures of the ghanaian capital Accra and its inhabitants. In the urban areas of the sprawling city, slum settlements extend along the modernised city; the values and products of globalization seem unattainable for a majority of the population behind the shiny glass façades. The mixed-abled dance performance manifests the interweaving forces of space, memories and politics on one’s body.

  

 

Many Undulating Things
Director: Lu Pan, Bo Wang
USA, South Korea, Hong Kong | 2019 | 125’ | In English, Cantonese, Mandarin with English subtitles | DCP | Colour 
 
MANY UNDULATING THINGS is a visual exploration on the nature and spatial politics in Hong Kong through attempts to discover possibilities of comparing patterns, motivations, and narratives of global cultural and commercial exchanges between now and then. It renders perceptions on issues of spatial justice, population flow, class conflicts, environmental issues, and ultimately explores cities in relation to global capitalist economy and social segregation. 

 

Courage
Director: Aliaksei Paluyan
Germany | 2021 | 90’ | In Belarusian, Russian with English subtitles | DCP | Colour 
 
Belarus, Summer 2020: people walked onto the streets of Minsk, protesting for freedom of speech and the long-waited change of power. Yet the people’s voice is brutally crushed by the regime, and the country is on the brink of civil war. COURAGE accompanies three actors from an underground theatre during the protests, providing a close and gripping sight to the courageous and peaceful fight for freedom and democracy.

 

DEFA Documentary Series: Leipzig in the Fall + The Wall
Leipzig in the Fall (Leipzig im Herbst)
Director: Gerd Kroske, Andreas Voigt
East Germany | 1989 | 50’ | In German with English subtitles | HD | B&W 
 
On October 16, 1989, more than 100,000 people gathered in Leipzig, seeking for democratic development in East Germany. Two directors, Kroske and Voigt, finally got the permission of the state-owned film studio to document the historical events; they were the only professional team filming in Leipzig. The film includes interviews with demonstrators, advocates, officials and bystanders, and offers the most comprehensive documentation of events surrounding the 1989 Monday demonstrations in Leipzig.

 

The Wall (Die Mauer)
Director: Jürgen Böttcher
East Germany | 1989/90 | 98’ | In German with English subtitles | DCP | Colour 
 

On the final days of the fall of Berlin Wall, memorable motion-picture footages were projected onto the crumbling walls: from Emperor Wilhelm’s ride through the Brandenburg Gate, the torch-lit procession of the Nazis, to footage of an East German soldier jumping over the Wall. A poetic documentary by painter and filmmaker Jürgen Böttcher who captures the enigmatic imagery against the acoustic backdrop of curious masses of people and a relentless media, contemplating the Berlin Wall’s historic and symbolic significance.

  

Tickets are now available at POPTICKET.hk

 

Ticketing Information

Ticket Price: $80 / $64*

*20% discount for tickets for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, and people with disabilities and the minder and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients. Concessionary ticket holders must produce evidence of their identity or age upon admission.
*20% discount to HKAC members. Ticket holders must present a valid membership card upon admission.
*20% discount to Goethe-Institut Hongkong’s students. Ticket holders must present a valid discount letter upon admission.

*20% discount for each purchase of 4 or more standard tickets. 

 

All of the above discounts cannot be used in conjunction with any other discounts or offers.

 

The following measures will be implemented for all screenings, to combat the prevailing threat of Novel Coronavirus:

  • All audience must wear face masks
  • Cinema staff have the right to deny the admission of any person with temperature higher than 37.5°C

 

For admission, audience must present the QR code (either in electric or printed version) shown on the popticket.hk e-ticket at the venue.
Ticketing enquiry: ask@popticket.hk (Office hour: Mon-Fri 10am-7pm)
Programme enquiries: 2802 0088 / 2582 0248

 

Co-presenters: Hong Kong Arts Centre & Goethe-Institut Hongkong


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