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.
