By Luca CHAN | Reading time: 8 mins
Presented in tandem with Broadway Cinematheque and Plan HK, the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (HKAFF) 2024 returns with a painstakingly curated lineup of films that recognises the spirit of original filmmaking whilst introducing outstanding debut features from new and upcoming filmmakers to the Hong Kong audience.
In light of Girls Takeover 2024, which is intended to celebrate the Annual International Day of the Girl Child, candidate Ellie Yuen curated a screening of the HKAFF around the overarching theme of Girls in Conflict and hosted a post-screening panel discussion alongside actress and festival ambassador Rachel Leung as well as travel writer Angel Ng.
As part of the lineup for HKAFF 2024, the documentary No Other Land, which is brought to life by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, first premiered at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival and has subsequently been heralded the Berlinale Documentary Award. It explores the destruction of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and how the Palestinian people make of the demolition as they come to terms with the burgeoning alliance between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.
You may also like: Monet, Van Gogh, and Zhao Wuji Anchor Christie’s Hong Kong Debut at The Henderson
Asking tough questions through documentary
The documentary’s unflinching portrayal of escalating violence and displacement prompted deep dialogue among festival attendees. No Other Land does not shy away from asking hard-hitting questions about socially constructed ideas of power and injustice in the face of immediate threat.
Rachel Leung, an actress and HKAFF ambassador, who wowed audiences with her performance in the 2017 drama/psychological thriller Somewhere Beyond the Mist, said that documentaries serve as both a creative medium and an artistic endeavour to ask the audience difficult questions the same way dramas do.
“Hong Kong has a relatively high population of people who come from the Middle East and oftentimes we might see them in a way that reeks of exclusion or xenophobia,” said Leung. “But it starts with us to proactively choose not to see anyone as lesser-than and replace condescension with respect and dignity, the same goes for people of different genders and age.”
Apart from checking our inherent biases and privileges, documentaries in a way also let people see from a vantage point that is not easily attainable in the quotidian.
Ellie Yuen, a candidate of Girls Takeover 2024 organised by Plan HK and Interim Director of Broadway Cinematheque, recollected her most memorable scene from the documentary.
“It hits me hard when both the Palestinian and Israeli directors cosied up and discussed where their future would go,” said Yuen. “Since they are about the same age, on top of having the same vision for their homelands, especially when identity is what brings them together – it is also what draws them apart owing to the tensions and complexities. I find that thought-provoking.”
While the tensions and complexities of a Palestinian-Israeli bond piqued the interests of some people, others have voiced out about the many conflicts in the world that often go unnoticed and are left unattended.
Andrew Kung, a penultimate year university student majoring in humanities and digital technologies, who also attended the screening and went to Armenia himself drew comparisons between Palestine and Armenia in terms of the media coverage they received from the international community respectively.
“I’m glad people are talking about Palestine,” said Kung. “But I can’t help but wonder what happens to those countries that we lost to history and memory because no one seems to be talking about them. The humanitarian crisis in the Armenia-Azerbaijan border is similar to what’s happening in Gaza right now but people seemed to have put it on the back burner.”
Balancing narratives in storytelling
The camaraderie between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham is not one that comes free of dubiousness and distrust, as evident in the way Abraham, despite his best efforts to advocate for Palestinian rights and denounce Israeli-led demolitions, is reminded by the diasporic and displaced Palestinians that “it could be your brother or friend who destroyed our home.”
Kung said that he had prior knowledge of the conflict and had been aware of it for a long time, but was more intrigued to know “how the same story would take a turn if it had featured more of Israeli’s voices, as the documentary follows largely the first-hand displacement of Palestinians.”
Kung went on to compare the danger of single-sided narratives to what he called ‘war tourism,’ specifically in the form of the tour guide intentionally manipulating travel routes to present and assert their own agendas onto the tourists.
Geographical proximity and how it influences people’s interest in international affairs
No Other Land understands how geographical distance shapes people’s interest in global conflicts. Though Hong Kong is geographically distant from the immediate vicinity of the brutal realities depicted in the documentary, the unmistakable images of a grieving mother not reconciling with her son’s passing and the collective powerlessness of seeing everyday institutions getting demolished in the matter of seconds render individual plight and pain of the Palestinian people universal. Emotional resonance of the documentary has indeed bridged the gap across continents and drew the audience out of their zone of interest into a world far from home but not yet exactly quite.
Scarlett Yuen, a fresh graduate who previously studied in the UK, said that she did not do much research beforehand since she wanted an authentic experience.
“Back when I was studying in the UK, I too felt like I was involved in the Free Palestine campaign,” said Yuen. “People brandishing the Palestinian flag on campuses and during graduation ceremonies drew me closer to something I would’ve otherwise thought of as being distant from me.”
Angel Ng, a travel writer, echoed the sentiment that physical closeness does play a role in people’s perception of wars, adding that broadening and approaching the sources of news with skepticism remedy onslaughts of powerlessness or ignorance; as that is one way to change people’s behaviour and how they posit their opinions in the society.
“I understand that a lot of people only started paying attention to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict last year,” said Ng. “But as someone who visited Palestine back in 2017, I know that the conflict dates way back in time in history. So my point is, it is always time to educate ourselves and read up more on what’s happening around the world.”
The role of women in times of war
The documentary also sheds light on and gives voice to the often-overlooked roles of women in immediate conflict zones. Mothers and daughters are resilient figures in No Other Land, with many of them essentially acting as the backbone of their communities and keeping their families afloat amidst the unspeakable chaos.
Yuen hoped that by bringing No Other Land to the Hong Kong audience, they would experience vicariously the dilemmas people face in times of conflict.
“By fostering empathy across different races, we as viewers, despite being small in power, with greater understanding of and support for those people in and off frame, can bring about meaningful changes.” said Yuen.
This also goes on to explain why dialogue and international attention are more called-for than ever. As much as No Other Land is upfront about the wounds of humanity’s collective trauma, it continues to spark conversations and awareness among festival attendees. HKAFF 2024 also has an Add Yours Campaign coming on the way as an outlet for festival attendees to vent their spleens, which recognises the kaleidoscope of opinions that the audience might have following the screening.
READ NOW
Hong Kongers’ Ultimate Guide to Halloween’s Most Haunting Films
Chinese Milk Tea Chagee Launches Pop-Up Activities in K11 Musea
Hong Kong’s Fitness Revolution: 24/7 Fitness Shines Amid Industry Turmoil