From 2010 to 2016, the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society commissioned local and international filmmakers to create short films under the banners Quattro Hong Kong and the Beautiful series. These shorts gave festivalgoers a glimpse of these renowned artists’ practices outside their feature film projects. In this programme, M+ Cinema will spotlight some of these rarely seen gems, with a focus on Hong Kong as a location and inspiration.

M Hotel

Apichatpong Weerasethakul | 2011 | Digital | 12 min. | inaudible dialogue

When Apichatpong booked M Hotel for a Hong Kong trip, he was reminded of his then-upcoming film Mekong Hotel. He began to imagine all kinds of parallels between the two. Though in reality the newish hotel in Yau Ma Tei cannot be more different from the one on the Thailand-Laos border, the Thai filmmaker finds solace in the enclosed space, whether it’s under water or inside a glass box.

Walker

Tsai Ming-Liang | 2012 | Digital | 27 min. | no dialogue

Hong Kong has always had a special place in Tsai Ming-Liang’s heart. Here, he pays tribute to its visually unique cityscape, by capturing Lee Kang-Sheng as a monk walking slowly through the busy streets. The clash of rhythm perfectly epitomises the dynamic between Tsai’s style and Hong Kong’s pulse.

Red Earth

Clara Law Cheuk-yiu | 2010 | Digital | 22 min. | English with Chinese and English subtitles

A management consultant (Daniel Wu) arrives in Hong Kong to meet a woman who never shows up, and to find a sun that never sets. Clara Law’s mix of stills and moving images shows why she remains one of Hong Kong’s most stylistically daring filmmakers.

We Might as Well Be Strangers

Heiward Mak | 2010 | Digital | 20 min. | Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles

Two lonely hearts wander the sleepless streets of Hong Kong, hoping to find the connection that their hearts sorely miss before the night is over. At the age of twenty-six, Heiward Mak finds her voice with a different kind of Hong Kong cinema.