In June this year, the government suddenly published a gazettal amendment to the “Film Censorship Ordinance” Inspector Guidelines. On the same day, a short film “The House” that originally participated in the “Fresh Wave Film Festival” with the background of the anti-transmission movement was not issued by the Electricity Censorship Office. The screening is cancelled due to the admission card. The film’s director, Mo Kunling, told Position News today (25th) that she received a reply from the Telegraphic Prosecutor’s Office on the 17th of that month and made a number of requests, including the deletion of 14 “householding” plots. It violated the original intent of the creation, so the application has been returned, and there is currently no plan to modify the short film and submit it for inspection. “There is no hope of showing it in Hong Kong anymore.”
Request to delete all the house-holding plots
“The House” is set on the background of the anti-transmission movement in 2019. After the arrest of the young man, his girlfriend went to his house to “hold the house” for him. During the campaign, some notices for arrests circulated on the Internet, reminding the arrested to “hold the house,” that is, to clean up the items in the house to prevent these items from becoming unfavorable evidence. Director Mo Kunling said that different roles in the film cover different political spectrums. “For example, mothers are more “blue”, sons and their girlfriends are more “yellow”, and fathers are “light yellow.” It’s not very in line with the current political climate.”
The film was originally scheduled to participate in the “Fresh Wave Film Festival” in June, but the screening was canceled because it was not issued a screening permit by the Telegraphic Inspection Office. During the interview, Mo Kunling pointed out that on the 17th of the month, he received a reply from the Telegraphic Procuratorate, requesting 14 cuts of the short film. The title cannot be used as “The House”, and a warning must be added to indicate that the content may constitute a criminal offence, otherwise the application will be returned.
Mo Kunling mentioned that the 14 places that were required to be deleted were all “scenarios of holding the house and tidying up at home.” “We infer that he (the authorities) cares about holding the house. If you want to delete it, you are not allowed to describe the scene of cleaning up, because you are very mindful of the word “holding the house.” She mentioned one of the scenes in which the son’s girlfriend said “I will help you hold the house” outside the house. After entering the house All scenes were required to be deleted.
She frankly said that she had tried to modify the short film with the team to meet the requirements of the electrical inspection department and can be screened. “But the cut (modification) really can’t be done. And there are many 14 locations, and the length of the film may be less than 10 minutes. The modification is very important. Exaggeration.” She also mentioned the original intention of the creation, because she noticed that many people had been “holding the house” during the sports. “Actually, I really mind that I can’t use “The House” as the title, so I can’t talk about it again ( The house), plus a lot of cuts, all went against the original intent of the creation, and finally decided not to change it and returned the application.”
The red line of worry creation is further expanded
“The creators all hope that the work can be released. After a hard round, the production team and I felt it was a pity that the work could not be released.” . She also mentioned that she had heard that other creators tried to delete and modify the film at the request of the Telegraphic Procuratorate.
The Hong Kong government yesterday (August 24) announced the details of the revised draft of the tele-censorship, giving the government and the judiciary multiple powers to censor movies on the grounds of “unfavorable to national security.” In fact, (Hong Kong) already has white terror and self-censorship. (Amendment) For creators, what needs to be considered is the wider red line.”
“Position” is now inquiring with the Electricity Procuratorate.
