Film Screening: Lessons in Dissent

The Stanford University Center for East Asian Studies presents a documentary screening by Matthew Torne on "Lessons in Dissent," which tells the story of a generation of Hong Kongers dedicated to creating a new more democratic Hong Kong.

Filmmaker: Matthew Torne

Synopsis:

Filmed over 18 months, Lessons in Dissent is a kaleidoscopic, visceral portrait of a new generation of Hong Kong democracy activists.

School boy JOSHUA WONG dedicates himself to stopping the introduction of National Education. His campaign begins to snowball when an interview goes viral on YouTube, with the new school year fast approaching, a showdown with the government seems inevitable. Microphone in hand, and still in his school uniform, he leads 120,000 protesters into battle.

Meanwhile, former classmate Ma Jai fights against political oppression on the streets and in the courts. Having dropped out of school and dedicated himself to the social movement, he endures the persecution suffered by those not lucky enough to be protected by the media’s glare.

Lessons in Dissent catapults the viewer on to the streets of Hong Kong and into the heart of the action: confronting the viewer with Hong Kong’s oppressive heat, stifling humidity and air thick with dissent.

Filmmaker Bio:

Matthew Torne, born 1980, was educated at the University of Kent and Oxford University, UK, and studied film production at the Hong Kong Film Academy. In 2002 Matthew Torne went to Beijing to teach English at China University of Political Science and Law.

When SARS broke out in 2003, in a matter of days the university administration went from denying there was a problem to closing the university and strongly recommending he left China. Panic gripped Beijing when rumours began circulating that rather than close the airports the government would ban the sale of airline tickets. Using all the money he had, he bought a ticket out of Beijing to go to Hong Kong, starting a relationship with all things Hong Kong.

Fascinated by the July 1st 2003 protest he began to read voraciously on Article 23 and Hong Kong’s political system. Returning to the UK two years later to work in the media industry his love of all things Hong Kong never diminished; he took Cantonese evening classes and he continued to read up on Hong Kong’s history and political development, eventually culminating in a Masters degree in Modern Chinese studies at Oxford University, for which he wrote his dissertation on Hong Kong’s post-1997 political development and the possible options for democratic reform.

Wanting to reach a much wider audience than the readership of academic papers and realising that 2012 would be a unique year in Hong Kong, with both the Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections taking place, in 2011 he came to Hong Kong to begin researching a possible documentary. After meeting Ma Jai and Joshua, he knew he had two interesting characters and all he could do was hope that 2012 would be an eventful year.

He embarked on filming Lessons in Dissent without funding in place, after all historical events do not wait for funding partners, the film was funded bit by bit; often with only just enough to cover the up coming expenses as funders came on board. Money spent on accommodation and subsistence was money that could not be spent on the film, thus Matthew spent much of 2012 living in a sub-divided flat in Sham Shui Po and eating congee. Luckily he developed a healthy taste for ngau yuk cheuk (beef congee).

Watch the Trailer

RSVP here.