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Carrie Chan

This year, the organisers of the Social Movement Film Festival are more cash-strapped than ever. One of the festival's two organisers, the Social Movement Resource Centre, has lost its financial backing, after a spat with former parent body, the Hong Kong Federation of Students. The other co-organiser, Video Power, has had its government subsidy halved.

In scrapping its funding, the federation accused the Social Movement Resource Centre of deviating from democratic development. And Video Power was described as 'not  artistic enough' when the Hong Kong Arts Development Council cut  its grants.

Undaunted by this blow, the two organisations have taken their newfound privation as a cue to use the festival to explore  what it means to be autonomous.

'We're interested in exploring the state of being trampled and having to rise again on our own,' says Lee Wai-yi of Video Power. 'We want to see how we can strive for hope.'

They're pinning their hopes on donations to cover an expected budget of HK$30,000 - most of which  has been spent on promotional materials.

The two bodies have never had enough money to buy the rights to  show  films, but thanks to their rapport with  documentary filmmakers, they have obtained screening rights  on the condition that they supply  Chinese subtitles.

The Social Movement Film Festival  was born  of the  resource centre's  regular,  open-air film screenings  on Sai Yeung Choi Street six years ago, with the festival itself first  taking place  in 2003.

Last year's  World Trade Organisation  ministerial meeting  provided  the event with further momentum as it sought to  address the theme of people's struggle against  the interests of multinational  companies.

This year, the festival offers a mixture of 20 foreign and local independent films dealing with issues of autonomy, identity, freedom, values and the position of minority groups.

From the US comes Boom - The Sound of Eviction,  which  looks at the hardships of families  evicted as a result of  the  internet boom in San Francisco.

Home Where the Yellow Banners Fly,  by Old District Renewal TV Station,  examines  the struggles of communities in Hong Kong's oldest areas  against  Urban Renewal Authority plans.

There's also Portrait of a Radical - the Jesus Movement,  a film that  casts Jesus as a dissident of his time. Lee sees the film as a useful reference for  activists.

'We thought it was good to discuss Christianity, which is becoming bigger in Hong Kong,' she says.

The festival, now in its fourth year, has engaged organisations including trade federations, religious  and women's groups  and universities, and  its venues are decidedly grassroots. Forget  well-appointed cinemas - the films  are shown at such sites as  the rooftop of an old building in Mong Kok, classrooms at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and  the garden next to  Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei.

Not surprisingly, many of the films in the festival reflect the concerns of the interest groups involved.  For example, the Hong Kong Women Workers' Association  will screen Vagina Monologues (Behind Stories), a documentary about sexual violence, and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions will  show The Path, a documentary  looking at the struggle of migrant workers.

The festival's grand finale on December 3  will be an open- air screening of short films in the garden off Temple Street. After all, as Lee says, the festival is about nothing if not the need to listen to the concerns of society's grassroots.

4th Social Movement Film  Festival, various venues, free. For programme details, go to  www.smrc8a.org/smff.  Ends Dec 3

FILM STUDIES



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