Elegies
Hong Kong / 2023 / Colour / 101 mins / In Cantonese and Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles / Dir. Ann Hui 許鞍華
From Boat People to Our Time Will Come, from family struggles to anti Japanese history, Venice Career Golden Lion-winning auteur Ann Hui finally films a topic she holds most dear – poetry. Through her personal encounters with some of Hong Kong’s most notable poets, including Yam Gong, Wai Yuen, Chan Chi Tak, Deng Ah Lam, York Ma, Xi Xi and Leung Ping Kwan. Hui shows the topography of contemporary poetry on and of the city. Two poles of reality, the unrestrained Huang Can-ran and the cosmopolitan Liu Wai-tong, are juxtaposed to reveal two distinctively different personalities, ideals, and ways of life. Seeing the late Xi Xi recite her own poem about the old Kai Tak Airport is a deeply heart-warming moment.
The screening in London on 8 June will be followed by a poetry reading performance by two prolific Hong Kong-British poets who write in English. Tim Tim Cheng and Eric Yip often delve into themes at the intersections of languages and diasporic identity. They will recite their works and engage in a short Q&A session hosted by Zoe Li, shedding light on their experimentation with languages and discuss their creative trajectories as diaspora poets and artists.
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Tim Tim Cheng is a poet from Hong Kong, currently based between Glasgow and London. Her pamphlet Tapping At Glass (Verve, 2023) was one of Poetry Society Books of the Year. Her full collection, The Tattoo Collector, is forthcoming with Nine Arches Press in October, 2024. With Arts Council England’s support, she is developing a short poetry film that centres Hong Kong migrant experience in the UK.
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Eric Yip is a poet from Hong Kong. He won the 2021 National Poetry Competition and was shortlisted for the 2023 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. His poems have appeared in Best New Poets, The Guardian, Oxford Poetry, and The Poetry Review. His debut pamphlet is Exposure (ignitionpress, 2024).
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Zoe Li is the founder of Juniper by the Sea, an online bookshop in the UK dedicated to East and South East Asian (ESEA) writers, and a platform that celebrates diasporic voices by hosting literary events in person and virtually. She is passionate about widening ESEA representation and participation in literature and the creative arts.