Cunliffe, Tom; (2023) Documenting Anti-colonial Social Movements in Early 1970s Hong Kong with 16mm. JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies , 62 (2) pp. 172-176. 10.1353/cj.2023.0013.

Preview

Text Documenting Anti-Colonial_Cunliffe.pdf - Published Version Download (567kB) | Preview

Abstract

In early 1970s Hong Kong, independently made documentaries were rare. Conventional film distribution channels, which opened doors to public screenings, were closed off to independent filmmakers, and financing was difficult for any filmmaker not backed by a big studio.1 Furthermore, the colonial film censors would ban or censor material they deemed critical of the state; anti-colonial sentiments were especially unwelcome. Into this treacherous terrain stepped the social activists Ng Chun-Yin and Mok Chiu-yu, co-editors of the radical internationalist left-wing The 70’s Biweekly (70年代雙週刊), a bilingual periodical published in Hong Kong that focused on political issues, social movements, and art.2 The 70’s Biweekly’s writers connected various socio-political struggles and problems in their magazine, including global issues of civil rights, feminism, poverty, and the severe, local injustices of the colonial regime.3 In 1971, Ng and Mok decided to extend their publishing project to include filmmaking. [End Page 172] They raised money to make a 16mm documentary titled Xianggang baowei diaoyutai shiwei shijian (Protect Diaoyutai movement, Hong Kong Defend Diaoyutai Provisional Action Committee, 1971), which focused on the protests taking place in support of decolonizing the Diaoyu Islands, sometimes known as the Defend Diaoyutai Movement.4

Download activity - last month

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as JSONCSVXML

Archive Staff Only

View Item