With never-before-seen images of the protests, the film depicts the history of the democracy movement in Hong Kong and its brutal suppression. The inner dialogue of young activists in Hong Kong and in exile in Berlin complement the multi-layered collage of images and sounds, which gets to the heart of the current dispute over claims to global political power between China and the Western-oriented states. While the people in the former British colony of Hong Kong struggle to comply with the Sino-British agreement that was supposed to guarantee them a democratic system until 2047, although they are part of the People’s Republic of China, the tone of the actors on the big political stage, the politicians, analysts and economists in Berlin and Strasbourg, who are struggling with China and the USA for answers within a global political paradigm shift, is intensifying. China, however, has used economic pressure to create global dependencies that make Western dreams of change through trade a mere illusion.

Written + directed: Lia Erbal
Camera: Aktivist*innen aus Hongkong; Ines Thomson; Alexander Gheorghiu
Installation + Sounddesign: Julia Albrecht
Animations: Pepinka Lam
Music: Davide de Timoleone
Sound design + mix: Karla Pyritz
Dramaturgical advice: Anne Fabini
Editorial: Udo Bremer, 3sat
Production: Gunter Hanfgarn + Andrea Ufer
Co-Production: ZDF/3sat funded by DIE BEAUFTRAGTE DER BUNDESREGIERUNG FÜR KULTUR UND DIE MEDIEN und NORDMEDIA und Künstlerinnenprogramm des Berliner Senats

DokFest München 2023