I hope to show courage to Hong Kong people and the world──Interview with documentary director Zhou Guanwei of "Revolution of Our Times"

Editor's note: "Revolution of Our Times" was released in Taiwan. There have been many special screenings and ticketed events before. Many people may have seen the documentary. According to news reports, 60 shows have been booked in Taiwan. At this moment of screening, you may be curious as to why director Zhou Guanwei decided to start recording the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong. What struggles did he have? And how he found these protesters, especially the young people of the Valiant Faction. We will see in this interview that his first child was born during the Umbrella Movement. When the anti-extradition movement began, his wife was pregnant with her second child... As a father, he had to go to school Jie goes to practice his shooting, but still has to take care of his family...

Q: What was the initial opportunity to film "Revolution of Our Times"?

A: When I went there in August 2019, I remember I was looking for a job.

At that time, I had to borrow money to survive financially. I had to quit my job to make a living while filming "Fantasy Love". For a long time, I relied on borrowing money to survive. By August, I really felt that it was no longer possible. In addition, my wife has a second child, so I have to find a job to make a living.

Suddenly I received a phone call from a businessman. He remembered me after watching "Ten Years". He had a lot of money and asked me if I was interested in making a documentary to record the events of Hong Kong people and let others know about it. He said that many foreigners had little idea of ​​what was happening in Hong Kong. He suddenly had an idea. If there was a simple documentary, he would understand it after watching it. This was his wish and the way he participated in this movement, so he called me and said that he wanted to invite me to do this and asked me if I thought it was worth doing. I agreed. If you are brave enough to come to me, I will be brave enough to do it.

When I received this call, I was actually very nervous. I have faith and thought, "Lord, you don't want me to go out, do you?" I really haven't tried to go out to the scene. At most, I've only been there during the Umbrella Movement. I am someone who has inhaled tear gas in the back row and left a few hours later. I have not experienced a head-on conflict, nor have I been to the front line.

If I take this job, because I have very high requirements for images, I won’t be filming this movement from the back row. I will devote myself to the whole process and force myself to the front line.

Q: After receiving the call, what was the discussion with your family?

A: After receiving this call, I frankly wanted to do it, so I asked my wife. I am a person with a strong stance. If I filmed it in a way that was as obvious and clear-cut as "Ten Years" As for the documentary, I think the level of sensitivity and my own level of danger will be greater compared to "Ten Years".

I'll ask my wife if she supports it. My wife has always known what I wanted to shoot. I wanted to make a documentary to record the protests in Hong Kong. In fact, I already wanted to go out during the Umbrella Movement, so she knew my desires, thoughts, and passion very well. I wanted to take on this responsibility. A responsibility and a mission, but my wife was pregnant during the Umbrella Movement and I couldn’t go out.

Before talking about "Revolution of the Times", "Ten Years" is actually the most critical. "Ten Years" was shot in April before the Umbrella Movement. After I received the call, I already wanted to shoot the story of "Self-Immolation". At that time, I seriously discussed it with my wife. I had never shot political subjects, but I was very interested I want to film this script. I wrote this script in 2009. I never had the funds or the opportunity to film it. But now the "Ten Years" team has invited me to film the future of Hong Kong and seek a way out for Hong Kong. At that time, I wanted to face politics directly, and I wanted to make this script.

I told my wife, you have to think clearly, because this script talks about Hong Kong independence and it will most likely affect my career. She actually really didn't want me to take the photo. After praying at the end, she asked me, "Do you really want to take the photo?" I said yes. She asked again if she thought it was meaningful and if she thought gods wanted me to take pictures. I thought yes, and then she supported me, respected my decision, and fully supported me. After passing this level, she followed me without hesitation.

So I think the most important thing is actually that decision. After that, I upgraded to "Revolution of the Times", but my wife has no hesitation. So the key is not "Revolution of the Times", the key is "Ten Years". It was also because of the preparations for "Ten Years" that led to the "Revolution of the Times" a few years later, and we have passed this level.

Q: How do you find and choose the subjects and interviewees to photograph?

A: I asked different people if they knew the protesters on the front lines and could they be photographed for me? So I got to know one of the frontline protesters, the "Abba" in the documentary. This "Abba" was actually known to the sponsor. The sponsor gave me his phone number, so I first went to find "Abba" ”.

Later, I discovered that "Abba" could contact different frontline figures. He knew many people, and through this person's trust in me, he introduced many different frontline brothers and sisters to me. Some of them were backup, frontline, male, Women, young and old, he found them all for me to interview.

At that time, we invited a group of them to come to our company, and more than ten of them came up to listen to their stories. After listening to those stories, I felt more at ease. Each of them had so many experiences, so I selected a few. I went to follow up with them, including: Abba, Snake, Uncle Chen, Grandma, and others including Nobody and I don't know.

My biggest feeling that day was that each of them had many stories and emotions. Each person’s experience was exciting, dramatic, and worthy of being photographed. Every one of them was worth it. The fact that they were masked made me feel that it was even more worth it. Shoot.

Maybe in the eyes of ordinary citizens, they only see masked people, but what I want to see is the inner humanity of masked people. I want to know what kind of person the masked person is? What has he experienced? Why should he come out? Why is he willing to sacrifice? His thinking, struggle, and pain are all things we need to understand.

If the protagonists of this movement are masked people, I hope to get into their hearts through the documentary. This is a key to understand this movement, rather than like news reports, there are many things happening, but without human souls, I hope to photograph their inner world, which is a difficulty for me, but It is also the most valuable and photogenic place.

Compared with the feeling of alienation and fear when I saw the masked siblings on August 31, when everyone was not masked and chatting with me that day, I felt very friendly. After getting to know each other, I felt very close to them. It is the people around us. I hope that through tracking and shooting of several people, the small people can see the big events, and the small people can see the big things.

This is one of our directions. We also believe that audiences and Hong Kong citizens need to rely on "people" to experience and understand, rather than through news clips.

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