Heung-yan Wong sits down with director Tammy Cheung to discuss her new documentary Election.

With the next Legislative Council Election coming up in September, the political situation in Hong Kong is once again in sharp focus. Accordingly, Visible Records Ltd. presents Election, a film which focuses on the LegCo election in 2004. After viewing several clips from this fascinating documentary, Heung-yan Wong sat down to talk with director Tammy Cheung, who discussed the political intentions behind the film.
Can you give us a brief summary of your documentary?
It’s about the Legislative Council Elections of 2004. We cover three areas, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon East and the New Territories East and focus mainly on five candidates.
Does your documentary have a specific message that you wish to impart to the audience?
No, I don’t make message films. We show what we see. Although we tried our best to do so, we were unable to show the whole picture as the event takes place on such a huge scale.
Is there a specific reason why you chose this time to release the movie, and not right after the 2004 elections?
Obviously, the next election is coming up. We didn’t have enough resources to finish it earlier as we were short staffed. The post- production work takes a lot of energy and time and we are doing the best we can.
Does your documentary focus on more controversial issues such as universal suffrage for Hong Kong?
Not really, I think the main issues we cover include Article 23, the date for universal suffrage, the Tiananmen Square massacre and some local issues such as anti-trust and minimum wage.
The preview clips feature one of the candidates, Leung Kwok-Hung. What do you think of more controversial politicians like him?
He’s not controversial; he’s actually quite gentle. His actions are far from radical but he gets a lot of media attention because he is outspoken. The protesting he does is very common and ordinary, something you would see in any democratic area, I haven’t seen him do anything outrageous yet.
Do you personally think Hong Kong is ready for a full Western style of democracy?
We were originally, but we’ve backtracked recently. According to an informal interview I carried out at CUHK, the public generally didn’t think we need universal suffrage. A few years ago everyone thought we needed a one man one vote system. The Beijing and Hong Kong government must be successful in making us believe otherwise. (Laughs)
How do you view the Chinese socialist style of government?
Chinese socialism is not socialism. It is a dictatorship.
So you believe it’s moved more towards a dictatorship.
I know it’s a dictatorship. It’s not socialism. If you look at history and what happened before and after 1949, you will see that it is not a matter of belief. We can see it from what they have done to the many people in China.

Election is in Cantonese, with English subtitles, and will screen at Broadway Cinematheque (Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, 2388 0002) on 23 and 31 August at 2pm, 26 August and 6 September at 7:30pm, 24 August at 4pm and 6 September at 9:45pm.