9 min read
This article is more than 2 years old
People have been jailed for saying the name of this film. Now it's been released in Australia
Revolution of Our Times has been released in Australia to sold-out cinemas. It's a different story in Hong Kong, where the documentary is based.
Published 7 April 2022 4:36pm
By Rayane Tamer
Source: SBS News
Image: Sky Ho, 24, at the Revolution of Our Times premiere in Sydney. (SBS News)
Hong Kong’s protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong rings loudly in a small cinema in Sydney’s inner west.
Spectators watch in horror as police respond to civilians protesting against the Hong Kong government with pepper spray, rubber bullets and plastic shields.
The pictures are vivid and raw; people fall out of buildings, tear gas engulfs some as young as 11, and older civilians are knocked to the ground by riot police.
Millions of people protested against the extradition bill on the streets of Hong Kong in 2019-20. Credit: Revolution of our Times
June 2019 marked the eruption of protests against a bill that, if passed, would have allowed fugitives to be extradited to mainland China.
It’s estimated millions of people attended demonstrations across Hong Kong during the 2019-2020 protests (the city has a population of seven million), with police arresting 10,200 people and two people losing their lives.
And while the so-called extradition bill was withdrawn, the protests continued and, ultimately, China enacted the controversial national security law on 30 June 2020.
One day later, it was declared the slogan “liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” (光復香港, 時代革命) - often chanted in the pro-democracy protests - was to be illegal under the new laws.
Revolution of Our Times is now showing in Australia. Source: SBS News
The slogan was originally coined by Hong Kong pro-democracy politician Edward Leung in 2016 during a by-election campaign, but the chant garnered traction years later as protests became more frequent. He was later handed a six-year prison sentence for rioting and assaulting police after a 2016 protest and was released earlier this year.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government says the slogan connotes Hong Kong’s separation away from China - rhetoric that will not be tolerated.
A protester reacts as she is tackled by riot police during a massive demonstration outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong in 2019. Source: AP / Kin Cheung / AP
The first person to be tried under it was 24-year-old waiter .
Since then, hundreds have been arrested under the threat of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces against Hong Kong and China.
Millions of people across Hong Kong took to the streets to express their frustration with its lack of independence from China. Source: AP / Vincent Yu / AP
In February last year, a 40-year-old unidentified man was detained after the flag was spotted on his drying rack outside his apartment. Later that year, activist Ma Chun-man was jailed for nearly six years for previously calling out the chant at a 2020 protest.
Now, 10,000 Australians are expected to watch the documentary about the protests with 22 session times scheduled across six states and territories throughout the week. The first round of screenings sold out in 20 minutes after an influx of people wanting tickets crashed the website.
As the credits roll at the premiere in Sydney, viewers yell pro-democracy chants in unison. One of them replays the protest anthem on his phone. But in the darkness, the packed cinema remains seated as they listen to each other’s sobs reverberating around the room.
Around 10,000 Australians across the country will watch the sold-out sessions of the documentary, which is banned in Hong Kong and China. Source: SBS News
“The images came back to my memories, so when all these [scenes] are now being put together, it's very heavy. I cry a lot and then have headaches after watching the film,” he says.
He’s since been able to apply for Australian permanent residency.
The images came back to my memories ... it's very heavy. I cry a lot ...Samuel, Former Hong Kong history teacher
Samuel was a history teacher in Hong Kong but says he was reported to authorities by a parent for teaching students about the Cold War in contemporary Chinese history.
Since the national security laws were passed in 2020, he says he was told to rewrite the history curriculum to ensure the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was well-perceived. That was when he quit.
Hong Kong protesters receive huge crowds during protests against what they believe is a crackdown on their democracy. Source: AFP / Alastair Pike / AFP / Getty Images
“I lost a lot in a sense, but I won't come back. I think all the people like me are doing the right thing.”
Sky Ho left Hong Kong just days after the protests erupted in June 2019 and came to Australia on a temporary working visa.
“What they experienced has left a deep wound in me and seeing this movie tears up my wound because I am reminded of how the Hong Kong government and the CCP regime stomped on us,” she says in Cantonese after watching the documentary.
Her eyes brim with tears as she apologises to Hongkongers for not standing alongside them during their struggles.
“I feel really guilty for not walking side by side with my fellow citizens in Hong Kong back then. I will never forget what happened.”
The documentary's director Kiwi Chow, who still lives in Hong Kong, says his film being sold out in Australia marks an "unprecedented" time in history.
After Chow sold the rights of the film to a UK production company, a coalition of international Hong Kong organisations got together to purchase the screening rights out of their own pockets.
On Friday, 23 countries watched the film on the same day, including Taiwan where it broke this year's box office records.
"I believe it is a miracle. I've never seen it before in my life," Chow says.
Representative of Australia-Hong Kong Link, Dennis Tsui, helped bring the documentary to Australia.
"For people overseas, our job is to tell the world what's happening in Hong Kong and this movie is a good way because it really puts all fragments together in two hours,” he says.
"Our contribution is definitely incomparable [to the protesters]. It's about paying respect to everyone who contributed to this movie, not only to producers, but also every Hongkonger."
University of Sydney Associate Professor of Chinese media studies Joyce Nip says any person who produced and organised the film is at risk under the national security law.
This includes Chow, along with a large team of anonymous producers who helped set up hidden cameras during the protests to capture the footage aired in the documentary.
Despite the dangers posed to him, Chow says “to leave Hong Kong is to lose my freedom induced with fear” and that his film carries greater significance than his own life.
“The most important thing is that the movie is safe to show the world. It's more important than the safety of myself ... I have a duty to tell the truth to the world.”
According to the organisers, more than 1.7 million people attended this rally, using umbrellas as shields against tear gas and pepper spray from police. Source: NurPhoto / Getty Images
“The [national security law] was passed to tackle what the CCP perceived as a loophole in the national security of Hong Kong - that foreign forces have been interfering in the affairs of the HKSAR,” she says.
“The consequence [of the law] has been eliminating the political opposition, dismantling civil society organisations, and censoring cultural expressions.
“These changes enable the CCP to run Hong Kong in the way it dictates while preserving the veneer of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ arrangement.”
During the thick of the protests in June 2019, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam categorised the demonstrations as “riots” - a term strongly rejected by protesters.
She condemned the “violence” on display that she described was leading Hong Kong to a “highly dangerous situation”.
Ms Lam issued an apology for the proposed bills but remained steadfast in her rhetoric that protesters' violence had to be stopped.
“Stopping the violence is the top priority, maintaining the law and rebuilding the rules of society. The government will sternly tackle violence and illegal action," she said in September 2019.
Protests often got violent as the future of Hong Kong's autonomy became less and less certain. Source: AFP / Isaac Lawrence / AFP / Getty Images
“Anyone who attempts to split any region from China will perish, with their bodies smashed and bones ground to powder,” Mr Xi said in a statement provided by the foreign ministry in October 2019.
The Chinese embassy in Australia did not respond to a request for comment about the documentary’s release.
While Samuel plans to leave his home city forever, he says the battle for Hong Kong’s democracy is far from over.
“We fight for Hong Kong. We're fighting for humanity. We're fighting for justice. We are fighting for the whole world, in a sense.”
*Name has been changed to protect identity.
Would you like to share your story with SBS News? Email
