Work-in-progress film project “The Remnant” is both a spotlight on those who feel powerless and also a very Hong Kong example of elements of the city pulling themselves up. “The Remnant” is one of the projects in the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) unspooling March 13-15 alongside Hong Kong’s Filmart market.
It tells the story of a former gangster who, upon his release from prison, sets up a laundry in an anonymous district and lives a quiet life. After property developers try to grab a rundown building, young gangsters try to throw people out of the building, drug addicts cause trouble and the old-timer heeds his neighbors’ calls and fights back.
Director Kwan Man-hin (nickname: “Mandrew”) developed the fictional project from a previous documentary he made about a former Triad member who went straight and became a well-respected restaurateur in Hong Kong’s To Kwa Wan district. His business was forced to close in 2016 when the area succumbed to the developers’ bulldozer.
“People feel so helpless against the development of Hong Kong,” says producer Ding Yuin-shan, an alumnus of Johnnie To’s Milkyway Image and an independent for the last decade with credits including Soi Cheang’s “Motorway” and Tracy Choi’s “Sisterhood.” But opportunity emerged from the depths of the COVID pandemic, which was especially felt in Hong Kong and from which the city is only now emerging.
The Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers Ltd., a consortium of nine film industry guilds, announced its “Keep Rolling” initiative, which would substantially finance a handful of indie projects. “The Remnant” was one of two selected in the 2021 first round and was able to shoot last year.
“Many new filmmakers in Hong Kong are focused on a cinema verite side of things,” says Ding. “This project does that, but it delivers a genre spin as well. One of the reasons I like this so much is that it has a really nice mix. Another reason it is so appealing is that it is a film that stands up for the old-timers and people who tell things like they are.”
Kwan and Ding’s attendance at HAF will be focused less on completing the $100,000 budget and more on making the right attachments. “I want people to get to know [Kwan] and get festivals interested in him,” says Ding. A local Hong Kong distributor and an overseas sales agent are also on the shopping list. In the interim, the Federation is fielding rights enquiries.
Kwan’s film is very much a product of its time — not only its focus on the struggle between the little guy and the powerful property sector but also the way it portrays the resilience and adaptability of the people of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong film industry had been on a decade-long decline as funding and filmmakers headed north across the border into China, and Asian film and TV found a new powerhouse in Korea. The city, too, experienced forces pulling in sharply different directions in the last few years — violent social turmoil, unprecedented forms of government intervention and the introduction of new levels of content censorship.
But, lately, a box office boom has been driven by the success of half a dozen local movies that have hit screens since COVID restrictions in cinemas were partially dialed back. The revival has been driven by local companies and personalities including Bill Kong and actor-investor Louis Koo.
“Because of COVID, investors have rediscovered Hong Kong,” says Ding. “They found that Hong Kong filmmakers are very good at making genre movies that manage also to be socially relevant. All the hits of the last year are about family and Hong Kong. Not about anything else or appealing to anyone else.”