Hong Kong cinema has entered the collective memory. There are the mighty blows of a Bruce Lee. There is this throbbing waltz that stays in mind, the magnificent music, of a magnificent film: In the mood for love. Director: Wong Kar-Wai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVlU03sTGVk
We could also cite John Woo, Jackie Chan, Stephen Show or Tsui Hark. We forget a lot. Gone are the days of the flourishing seventh art in Hong Kong, of world-class Cantonese cinema during the second half of the twentieth century. And this recent law is not going to help him to recover.
A law passed this week by the legislature, without opposition and acquired in Beijing, allows authorities to revoke the screening license of any film “deemed contrary to the interests of national security”. It’s vague enough to allow censorship that casts a wide net. Hong Kong Secretary of State for Commerce wants to believe “that it will help the film industry to avoid stepping beyond the red lines”. Red lines specified in another law, that on “national security” therefore, which notably prohibits anything considered to be secession or subversion. A direct response to the massive pro-democracy movement in 2019.
Censors even have the right to ban films from before. Films already released, which had been given a green light, will be rechecked to see if they comply. Inspectors can also search without warrant any premises suspected of showing unauthorized films. The maximum penalties for showing a film without a license have been increased to three years in prison and a fine of one million Hong Kong dollars, around 110,000 euros. With this law, it is the end of a cultural exception in Hong Kong, which approaches the censorship rules imposed in mainland China.
The law for the moment does not prohibit in Hong Kong, the platforms of streaming like Amazon or Netflix. If you have a Netflix subscription, you can now take a look at the documentary Joshua against a superpower.
The portrait of Joshua Wong, famous pro-democracy activist, imprisoned several times, he participated in the “Umbrella Revolution” in 2014. Hopefully this documentary will still be available on this platform in Hong Kong. If so, it would be a slap in the face for censorship.