Film On PolyU Clashes Pulled From Screening

An award-winning documentary about Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests was pulled hours before its first commercial screening on Monday after days of criticism from a pro-Beijing newspaper.

"Inside the Red Brick Wall", which documents a violent standoff between police and protesters at Polytechnic University in November 2019, was due to debut in a newly opened commercial cinema, Golden Scene, on Monday evening.

But the Hong Kong Film Critics Society said it was cancelling the screening.

The sudden announcement illustrates the fear caused by a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last year, stifling street protests but also filtering down into the city's once-vibrant arts scene.

Wen Wei Po, a prominent Beijing mouthpiece newspaper in Hong Kong, ran multiple articles condemning the screening and accusing organisers of breaching the security law.

"The movie incited resistance against the police and the Hong Kong government and spread hatred against our country," the paper said in one editorial.

The Hong Kong Film Critics Society blamed "excessive attention the screenings recently got", adding it would also pull a second showing which had been added because of public demand for tickets.

Enoch Tam, a film critic who had been invited to give a post-screening talk, took to Facebook to say that Hong Kong's commercial cinemas have increasingly avoided political films in recent years.

"The situation worsened under the national security law," he wrote.

The 88-minute documentary, produced in 2020 by a group of anonymous Hong Kong filmmakers, won the best editing award from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Europe's largest documentary film festival.

It was named after the signature red brick walls of Polytechnic University where the clashes took place. More than 1,300 protesters were arrested.

The movie also won the annual grand prize from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society and was therefore included in the commercial screenings of all winning projects.

"My first reaction [to the cancellation] was to look for other venues so we can organise a few more screenings for those who want to watch," veteran documentary filmmaker Vincent Chui, who is in charge of distribution of the movie, told AFP after the cancellation.

"I understand the pressure a commercial cinema must face but I think the real question is: What is wrong with the movie in the government's eyes?" he added.

Last September, Hong Kong's film censor issued a public screening licence to the documentary after rating it as a Level III movie, which can't be shown to viewers aged under 18, and pressing the producers to add warning of criminal scenes.

"We will carry on producing movies because every piece counts even when no cinema wants to show it," Chui said. (AFP)