GBA4 | GBAFOCUS Friday, June 11, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY

Jun Li’s first feature film, Tracey (2017), follows a middle-aged man transitioning into a woman. The film won multiple acting awards. Supporting actors Ben Yuen and Kara Wai won in their respective categories Cinema at the 37th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Hong Kong director Jun Li turns his camera on the city’s homeless in his second feature, Drifting. Elizabeth Kerr reports.

Jun Li’s directorial venture, Drifting (2021), features an ensemble cast of experienced theater Cinema veteran Francis Ng delivers a powerful performance as the dispossessed central professionals and emerging talents such as Cecilia Choi, Tse Kwan-ho and Will Or. character Fai in Drifting.

meet Hong Kong writer- but by 2017, “I realized the whole he says. “Something that hits you fi nd a home. He runs into a friend, vision, what I wanted to do, right superfi cial. People fi ght because they director Jun Li in a vaguely atmosphere had changed. Before, hard then doesn’t now. I’ll admit I Master (Tse Kwan-ho), scores some away. He read the script and never feel compelled to, and in the end, my industrial shared workspace everyone was sleeping in the open, wasn’t prepared for the drug scene. heroin, shoots up on the street and asked ‘Why?’ when it came to the producer respected that. The collec- in Kennedy Town. He looks and then because of the clear- When I went back I wasn’t a jour- passes out. This is Fai’s life until the street sleepers.” tive action is the fi lm. Why they are Irelaxed and put together. It’s hard ance and strained relations with nalist, and I found everyone much city decides the homeless commu- Drifting has no flashbacks or all there is not.” to tell if his goatee grew by default neighbors, they started putting up more honest this time.” nity is an eyesore and tags every- backstories. Li stitched together a Drifting is hitting Hong Kong during Hong Kong’s fourth COV- fences,” recalls Li. “The community Balancing authenticity and thing Fai, Master, and the rest of vivid cast of theater pros and emerg- screens at a time when fi lmmakers ID-19 wave or is simply a new look. became more isolated, and by the “watchability” was a factor Li the dispossessed as garbage to be ing talent that effortlessly convey are frequently turning their lenses His second film, Drifting, made same token a target for other street has to contend with, particu- disposed of. a family dynamic. Among the oth- on the most marginalized mem- its hometown debut at the Hong sleepers, and it got crowded. I saw larly in light of the drug use Drifting relies on the com- er vets are: The Mad Phoenix star bers of society, like the working Kong International Film Festival a story in the community.” depicted in the film. That munity bond among the street Tse Kwan-ho as the elderly, gentle poor “McRefugees” in Danny Wong in April. Now he’s in promo mode, Drifting pivots on a group of makes it a harder sell in much sleepers, and so casting actors Master; Chu Pak-hong (My Prince Hing-fan’s I’m Livin’ It, and Fruit talking about the film that was homeless neighbors demanding of Asia, but addiction, men- able to portray that connec- Edward) in the role of the short- Chan’s forthcoming Co„ n Homes, released in cinemas last week. compensation for their lost pos- tal health issues and poverty tion through tone and rhythm fused junkie Dai Shing; and Loletta due for a release in August. As the A Chinese University of Hong sessions after the Food and Envi- don’t make the claim at the was crucial. Li was fortunate Lee (Ordinary Heroes) as the moth- wealth gap seems to widen, made Kong journalism student not too ronmental Hygiene Department heart of the story less to get an early commitment erly Chan Mui. Cecilia Choi (Beyond worse by the pandemic, earning a long ago, Li made waves with swooped in and cleared the space legitimate. from lead actor Ng, an the Dream) plays the young social living wage is a challenge and the his fi rst short fi lm, Liu Yang He, of their possessions with no prior “I have to be hon- industry veteran and worker who does her best to help the fi ne line between having a place to in 2017, which led to him being notice. Li had written about the est to the commu- one of Hong Kong’s street sleepers make their case, and live and not is becoming fi ner. The tapped to direct his fi rst feature, incident at the time. The film nity and its real- most versatile actors the silent, sensitive Muk is played precarious nature of such existence 2018’s transgender drama Tracey. takes care to make sure the audi- ity,” argues Li. with a knack for forg- by up-and-comer Will Or (Weeds is making its way to mainstream Though he was a relatively tender ence identifies the plaintiffs in It’s a message ing empathy with on Fire). consciousness through cinema. 25-year-old at the time, Li steered the case as street sleepers rather too many are unpleasant charac- Li considers the trend, and Drift- co-stars Ben Yuen and Kara Wai than homeless. They have a home: willing to ters, be it icy hitmen Sign of the times ing’s part in it. Speaking purely for to Golden Horse, Asian Film and just not the kind respectable fl at overlook in (The Mission), down- Taken as a whole, Drifting dem- Hong Kong, he notes that past gen- Hong Kong Film awards. owners consider valid. Drifting favor of gen- on-their-luck salary- onstrates a major leap for Li as a erations “were taught to embrace As Li is “always writing,” the is an appropriately discomfiting trifi cation. men (Men on the filmmaker, who this time around earning money, buying a home and seeds of Drifting were sewn back in fi lm; a fairly unfl inching look at Dragon) or maniacal put less emphasis on traditional nar- having a family.” No young person he 2012 while he was covering Sham the people who get caught in the Matters now warlords (The Bride rative and exposition and more on knows could expect to ever be able Shui Po’s homeless as a journalism crossfi re of so-called progress and Drifting starts With White Hair). considered emotions. to own a home, he adds. It’s a reality intern. He took a break to earn a development. with freshly “He replied almost “In a very logical way, scriptwrit- that underpins the shifts we’re see- master’s degree in gender studies Li acknowledges the fi nal script released convict immediately. He ing is all about cause and effect,” ing in the world. from Cambridge, but the dynamic incorporated material from his Fai (Francis Ng) makes up his mind notes Li. “My producer (Man Pui- “The dream does not exist, and under the fl yover had stuck with news coverage, but some of the taking his meager and tells you if he likes hing) kept asking, ‘What happened we’ve all started looking for alterna- him. Back in Hong Kong and com- story’s content was ultimately fi l- belongings and Writer-director Jun Li did not feel it or not, no hesita- to Fai before the story?’ There tives. I think it’s just our reality now. mitted to fi lmmaking, Li wrote a tered through the passage of time. heading to his old a need to give the unsympathetic tion,” recalls Li of were lots of possible choices, but We need to think about different script about a Chinese medic who “When you’re in university, when stomping grounds central character in Drifting a pitching Ng the role. ultimately I refused to explain Fai’s ways of living,” Li says, adding, “It regularly visited Sham Shui Po. you’re 19, 20, 21, you experience in Sham Shui Po to backstory in order to rationalize the More importantly, circumstances. It felt like if I gave also suggests another form of family, That project never happened, things at a diž erent magnitude,” hunker down and path he takes. “He understood my the character a reason it would be one that’s chosen.”

Exhibition Writing a code of universal empathy

By CHITRALEKHA BASU shops, students composed poems to connect with friends, navigate the and collaborators from diverse fi elds a sense of linear progression in the of decentralization,” “Care instead of [email protected] about their living spaces, used a city, and play video games.” and not necessarily with a textile display, on the lines of a comic strip. control” and “Information instead handy tag to translate them into “Technology needs to support background. For instance, the archi- According to the artist, the images of data.” A child runs his fi ngers across the HTML, which, in turn, was inter- people with various abilities and tect Andreas Angelidakis created a are variations on the idea of the Was he banking on the childlike ridges and knots appliqued on to a preted in the form of graphics using access needs. It’s important to avoid series of foam and printed vinyl seat- future — represented by two semi- simplicity and disarming appeal of piece of garment. His face lights up ASCII coding. The patterns that furthering discrimination against ing modules of varied shapes and circles joined at the base but facing these featureless figures to make like a thousand-watt bulb and the emerged from this exercise have the marginalized people by creating sizes, inspired by the humble bobbin. away from each other. The symbol technology more accessible, and less smile has the power to melt the most been adapted to make quilted lap- inaccessible technology,” he adds. The colors are loud and cheerful. The of future goes through several muta- intimidating? hardhearted viewer in the room. The top sleeves. It’s a coming full circle patterns echo the binary code. tions in successive images, with fun “I can’t draw realistic portraits,” student of Hong Kong’s Ebenezer of sorts. The poems the Ebenezer The light touch For a show that seems to want captions providing a hint on what says Choi, who also put together very School and Home for the Visually students composed now exist in tac- Choi trained in computer pro- to showcase the synergies between they might suggest. basic, handmade computer models Impaired has just fi gured out how tile and tangible form. graming and digital media. His complicated, and in some ways The light touch is also evident for the show — by way of staging a data travels on the internet by touch- Choi, who has worked with hear- interest in the magic of warp and antithetical, ideas of textiles and in Choi’s charming minimalist line creative resistance “to the Capitalist ing specially designed garments. ing-impaired and physically chal- weft was stirred after meeting e-tex- computers, the tone has been kept drawings of human fi gures of which logic of planned obsolescence” of the The scene is from a video in an lenged groups before, says he was tile practitioners. Tasked with curat- delightfully light. Sound artist Chris- there are several in the exhibition, electronic gadgets of everyday use. “I ongoing exhibition at the Centre for “inspired by the curiosity of the stu- ing the Interweaving Poetic Code tine Sun Kim, for instance, has cre- often presented together with slo- prefer untrained aesthetics because Heritage, Arts and Textiles (CHAT), dents and how they use technology show, Choi had approached friends ated 20 charcoal sketches, creating gans such as “Distribution instead it ož ers more room for play. At some titled Interweaving Poetic Code. It point, you find the lines, shapes, captures moments from a series of By underscoring colors that speak to you. And you workshops given to the students of the common discover your voice.” Ebenezer School by the artist and features of educator Taeyoon Choi, with sup- poetry, computer IF YOU GO port from CHAT’s Learning and coding and textile weaving, Interweaving Poetic Code Community team. Artistic director: Taeyoon Choi After COVID-19 struck, Choi, who Taeyoon Date: Through July 7 Choi aims is based in New York, continued Venue: CHAT, The Mills, 45 Pak to demystify Tin Par Street, Tsuen Wan From left: Garments to help the visually impaired get a sense of how the internet works; foam and printed meeting his Ebenezer School stu- technology. www.mill6chat.org/event/ dents online. In one of his work- vinyl seats inspired by the bobbin; artwork by Taeyoon Choi, showing his trademark minimalist figures. interweaving-poetic-code/