Category: 2020

44th Hong Kong International Film Festival New Dates

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) have announced the new dates for the 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF44) which will now be held from the 18-31 August 2020.

No information has been released as to whether the new dates will also include Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF18).

In announcing the new dates Executive Director Albert Lee said HKIFFS had decided to re-launch HKIFF44 after the Hong Kong government began easing the COVID-19 restrictive measures, including allowing local cinemas to re-open.

“We are cautiously optimistic that Hong Kong is gradually returning to normal from the health crisis,” said Mr Lee.  “I am pleased that we have not stopped our preparation since the postponement.  The prospects of being able to bring back HKIFF44 to our audience are exciting.  Nothing beats the big-screen experience of watching a diverse selection of films from around the world.”

The full programme of films will be announced on the 28 July with tickets going on sale from the 5 August through URBTIX.

44th Hong Kong International Film Festival
Date: 18-31 August, 2020
Venue: various
Tickets: tbc

For latest updates of HKIFF44 and Cine Fan programmes, www.hkiff.org.hk and www.cinefan.com.hk.  For information about HAF18, www.haf.org.hk.

Tiananmen Square Vigil @ Victoria Park – 4 June, 2020

Quite surprisingly the 31st Anniversary vigil of the CCP’s massacre of its own citizens in Tiananmen Square for daring to question the party passed peacefully.

After a year of violence and aggression, the CCP militia formerly known as the HK Police showed a bit of common sense and avoided what could have been a second bloody 4 June.

Wearing blue uniforms, instead of riot green while keeping riot shields and weapons hidden, they turned a blind eye to the tens of thousands of HongKongers who congregated at Victoria Park to stand together and remember those murdered in 1989.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Tiananmen-Square-Vigil-4-June-2020-Victoria-Park/i-pPhJ4Dt

The mood was as sombre as it’s been in several years, with many of those gathering wondering if they were going to be victims of the next CCP massacre…

As the time of the vigil passed and the police hadn’t attacked, the strains of Glory to Hong Kong began to reverberate across the park and a sea of raised hands reminded Beijing – 5 Demands, Not 1 Less.

With the CCP again perverting the Basic Law and ignoring the signed international treaties that define One Country 2 Systems with the forced implementation of a ‘National Security’ law. While their glove puppets in Legco reinterpret the rules to pass the ‘Respect the National Anthem’ law – HongKongers stood united in remembrance and spirit.

HongKongers understand, they like China. They just don’t trust, like or respect the CCP. The March of the Volunteers is not China’s anthem it’s the CCPs. The National Security law is about keeping the CCP and its corrupt sycophants in power not about protecting China.

Standing united across Hong Kong and the world last night, millions of people remembered and reminded those who might have forgotten the truth about the CCP.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Tiananmen-Square-Vigil-4-June-2020-Victoria-Park/i-9Rmzgd5

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Tiananmen-Square-Vigil-4-June-2020-Victoria-Park/i-BSp47bm

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Tiananmen-Square-Vigil-4-June-2020-Victoria-Park/i-cMvnwv8

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Tiananmen-Square-Vigil-4-June-2020-Victoria-Park/i-9c4PX7C

Big Buddha Renovations

The Big Buddha, or to give it it’s official name the Tian Tan Giant Buddha, at the Po Lin Monastery will be closed for maintenance and repair work from the 2 June 2020.

The repairs involve the cleaning of the bronze statue, which opened in 1989, to remove the oxidation layer and pollutants. During the maintenance, the area around the statue will be closed to the public but the monastery and religious ceremonies will continue as usual and visitors are welcome.

Image: Po Lin Monastery

Instagram’s ’90-second rule’ on Livestreams

To deter music copyright infringement Instagram is implementing a ’90-second rule’ on Livestreams.

Users will now only be allowed to play 90 seconds of a copyrighted material before being kicked off the stream and there’s also a pop-up to warn people when they are approaching the limit.

You can read the new guideline here.

For those who like to livestream, Instagram’s owner Facebook is now offering pay-to-watch streams.

Joint Statement from the UK, Australia, Canada, and United States on Hong Kong

Joint statement by UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne, and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo responding to China’s proposed new security law for Hong Kong.

Signatories to this statement reiterate our deep concern regarding Beijing’s decision to impose a national security law in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has flourished as a bastion of freedom. The international community has a significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability. Direct imposition of national security legislation on Hong Kong by the Beijing authorities, rather than through Hong Kong’s own institutions as provided for under Article 23 of the Basic Law, would curtail the Hong Kong people’s liberties, and in doing so, dramatically erode Hong Kong’s autonomy and the system that made it so prosperous.

China’s decision to impose the new national security law on Hong Kong lies in direct conflict with its international obligations under the principles of the legally-binding, UN-registered Sino-British Joint Declaration. The proposed law would undermine the One Country, Two Systems framework. It also raises the prospect of prosecution in Hong Kong for political crimes, and undermines existing commitments to protect the rights of Hong Kong people – including those set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

We are also extremely concerned that this action will exacerbate the existing deep divisions in Hong Kong society; the law does nothing to build mutual understanding and foster reconciliation within Hong Kong.

Rebuilding trust across Hong Kong society by allowing the people of Hong Kong to enjoy the rights and freedoms they were promised can be the only way back from the tensions and unrest that the territory has seen over the last year.

The world’s focus on a global pandemic requires enhanced trust in governments and international cooperation. Beijing’s unprecedented move risks having the opposite effect.

As Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity are jeopardised by the new imposition, we call on the Government of China to work with the Hong Kong SAR Government and the people of Hong Kong to find a mutually acceptable accommodation that will honour China’s international obligations under the UN-filed Sino-British Joint Declaration.

This statement was published on the UK Government website on 28 May, 2020.

Hong Kong Protests – Wanchai – 24 May, 2020

After Beijing’s announcement of the unilateral imposition of a ‘National Security’ law on Hong Kong the first post Wuhan virus protest demonstration occurred, after the police rejected an application for a march, on 24 May, 2020.

Thousands of people walked peacefully from Causeway Bay towards Wanchai to register their protest against Beijing’s actions. The streets resonating to the strains of what has become Hong Kong’s unofficial national anthem Glory to Hong Kong – including a plaintive mouth-organ version.

And as with the marches and demonstrations in 2019, attendees were peaceful – until hundreds of police dressed in riot gear and armed to the teeth with all their new ‘toys’ arrived to create tensions where none existed before.

Looking to annoy and irritate for no reason:
Blocking shoppers from using the escalator to access the bridge from Pacific Place to the Admiralty MTR and forcing people to climb the stairs outside.

30 or so police charging up onto the pedestrian bridge at Wanchai MTR threatening people going to the station, blocking the entrance for five minutes – until the about twenty people trying to use the bridge had descended the stairs to walk to use another entrance/cross the road before they ran off…

Launching rounds of tear gas down Hennessy Road, when the road was empty…

Intimidating reporters through stop and search, spraying them with pepper spray.

Apparently a couple of ‘protester’s broke the windows of a store in Causeway Bay – but there are so many plainclothes police deployed now, who have (sadly) been seen caught and charged with initiating violence and criminal damage, that it’s impossible to describe them as anything other than persons dressed in black until further information, is known.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-DmRRvXw

What was caught on video (credit @WilliamYang120) was a policeman in riot uniform walking into a convenience store and stealing a bottle of water. Why hasn’t he been arrested and charged? If it was a member of the public, they would have been. After the video emerged on twitter, police (media liaison officers?) went to the shop to pay for the water.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-rdCT8RF

Under Beijing’s new law, likely you would not be able to read this article. The press would not be allowed to take photos and videos of the many acts of violence the police have perpetrated on HongKongers over the last year.

If the police have nothing to hide why do they actively try to stop the media from recording arrests and enforcement actions?

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-jSF7Kkh

More images here

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-krVQsm4/A

General Holidays for 2021 Announced

The following list of general holidays for 2021 have been gazetted:

Holiday Date Weekday
The first day of January 1 January Friday
Lunar New Year’s Day 12 February Friday
Second day of Lunar New Year 13 February Saturday
Fourth day of Lunar New Year 15 February Monday
Good Friday 2 April Friday
Easter Saturday 3 April Saturday
Day following Ching Ming Festival 5 April Monday
Day following Easter Monday 6 April Tuesday
Labour Day 1 May Saturday
Birthday of the Buddha 10 May Wednesday
Tuen Ng Festival 14 June Monday
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day 1 July Thursday
Day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival 22 September Wednesday
National Day 1 October Friday
Chung Yeung Festival 14 October Thursday
Christmas Day 25 December Saturday
The first weekday after Christmas Day 27 December Monday

Notes: A Government spokesman said, “As the third day of the Lunar New Year in 2021 falls on a Sunday, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year is designated as a general holiday in substitution. Furthermore, as the Ching Ming Festival in 2021 falls on a Sunday, the following day will be designated as a general holiday in substitution. However, as the day following the Ching Ming Festival and Easter Monday fall on the same day, the next day that is not itself a general holiday will be observed as an additional general holiday.