The Way We Are & Shorts
The Way We Are & Shorts
Hong Kong's suburban neighbourhoods, public housing estates, and hangouts are vital aspects of the city's local identity. In ‘A Different View’, a subchapter of ‘Hong Kong: The Establishing Shot’, these spaces come to life through lesser-told stories about the relationship of Hongkongers with their quotidian environments—offering moments of connection and beauty told in intimate settings.
The Way We Are
Ann Hui | 2008 | Digital | Chinese & English subtitles | 90 min.
Set in Tin Shui Wai, a marginalised satellite town, The Way We Are counters the area's reputation as a 'city of sadness' by focusing on the day-to-day moments of the lives of its inhabitants across its public housing estates. Kwai, a middle-aged widow who works hard in a neighbourhood supermarket to support herself and her son On, who is having a case of post-exam ennui, strikes up a friendship with an older woman, Foon. Kwai helps Foon to ease into her new job in every way she can. Filmed with an early digital camera, Hui captures the everyday of a local community that is muted yet beyond ordinary.
Directed by Ann Hui. The Way We Are, 2008. Photo: Courtesy of Television Broadcasts Ltd
Directed by Ann Hui. The Way We Are, 2008. Photo: Courtesy of Television Broadcasts Ltd
Accompanying Shorts
Mrs. Fong’s Food Forum—Fried Capelin with Western Sauce, 1991. Photo: Courtesy of Asia Television Limited
Hong Kong Broadband 18 Districts (Tin Shui Wai), 2009. Photo: Courtesy of The Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong