《問》: 張虹

25/11 ( 星期二 ) 《問》 55 分鐘
問你也問我，香港從何處來，該往那裏去？本片單刀直入，訪問六十位來自不同階層人士對香港的看法。
映後座談會內容： 導演張虹將講述紀錄片的歷史以及其角色

After work today, well, i OTed like a little over an hour, I picked up some sushi and went to HK Film Archive, which is a 20 minutes walk from my work, to watch a documentary,《問》, by Tammy Cheung. I was first introduced to Cheung's film when I was an exchange student at CUHK in the Fall of 2003 when 搬屋 and 平安米 was shown at the main hall for either free or really really cheap. There were hardly any people there, it was basically empty and Cheung was suppose to be there but wasn't. Both films were very interesting, humorous and captivating. Since then, I became a fan of Cheung.

A week ago, AM730, the free newspaper that I usually pick up had a section on Cheung and her new film, "Election" and how her films were being shown at the Hong Kong Film Archive in November. It was hosted by Roundtable Community, a non-partisan group, and it offered free tickets. So I e-mailed the address and got my free ticket. I was planning to watch the Wednesday screening of "Election" but something came up so I went tonight instead which was fantastic because it turned out that tonight was when Tammy Cheung herself would be there for discussion after the screening.

《問》is a good film and I totally enjoyed it. It was filmed in 2005 I think and asked some questions to a collection of Hong Kong people. It was really interesting with the same humor of Cheung's. The best part, however, was the discussion afterward. I asked her 2 questions the first time, "How did you pick those intervewees? And in your opinion, why do you think there are so little documentary films being made in Hong Kong despite for the large amount of potential materials here as you mentioned?" She answered the first one quite easily and told a while answering the second one as she talked herself into an answer, and actually came back to it after answering another question from someone in the audience but her answer really answered the core problems of Hong Kong people.

I wish I recorded her answer (I did record later on), which was quite detailed but she got to it. I can't remember it all but I will write down what I can remember:

Our education don't train our people to think critically. We only care about money. People don't give time to think. People don't think as well now. They don't know information, they don't know about the topic, how can they define and make documentary. Documentary requires critical thinking. Also people are not good with their language, which is their basic skills to communicate. If they can't do so, how can they make film. HK people don't value history and their culture, and that's sad. I see moms everywhere on the street teaching their babies and kids how to speak English. We apply foreign solutions to our local problems, that's not going to work. Documentary film just isn't glamorous. People want to see good-looking young people. There isn't a market for it. We are responsible. Hong Kong people are responsible. We suck. It's our bad. People don't take time to learn. The government doesn't encourage us to learn about issues but nothing is stopping us.

It also has to do with Chinese culture in which we have a notion that making documentary film is confrontational. It isn't, that documentary film is social movement.

She gave a really good answer that was really reflective of Hong Kong culture but I just can't remember it all. I wish I recorded it.



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