Theatre in the Mountain 2024-25 (First term)

Organised by Student Experience and Development Section, Office of Student Affairs, the Theatre in the Mountain will arrange screening of two films in this semester. In the screening of Winter Chants in October, documentary about Tai Ping Ching Chiu Festival in Ho Chung village in Sai Kung, Director Tsang Tsui Shan is invited to deliver a sharing. Details are set out below:

Winter Chants*

Screening
7 October 2024｜7:00 pm｜Sir Run Run Shaw Hall｜102 min｜Category IIA｜Multiple, with subtitles in Chinese and English｜
Director: Tsang Tsui Shan

Post-screening Discussion
7 October 2024｜8:45 pm｜Sir Run Run Shaw Hall｜
Speaker: Tsang Tsui Shan, Tsang Hing Weng
Language: Cantonese

Perfect Days*

Screening
27 November 2024｜7:00 pm｜Sir Run Run Shaw Hall｜124 min｜Category IIA｜In Japanese, with subtitles in Chinese and English｜
Director: Wim Wenders

Post-screening Discussion
27 November 2024｜9:05 pm｜Sir Run Run Shaw Hall｜
Speaker: Shin Chi Man
Language: Cantonese

*Synopsis

Winter Chants
Winter Chants is set in Ho Chung village in Sai Kung, Hong Kong during the once-in-a-decade Tai Ping Ching Chiu Festival, when villagers and far-flung family members come together to pray for peace and harmony. As the sequel to Tsang Tsui-shan’s earlier work Flowing Stories (2014), set during the previous Tai Ping Ching Chiu Festival and tracks Ho Chung Village’s myriad changes over the years, Winter Chants documents the preparation for the upcoming festivities. However, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of those living overseas were unable to return to Hong Kong, while foreign domestic workers were stuck in the city. With the local population aging rapidly, the fate of the festival hangs in the balance. Over a period of four seasons, the film explores the themes of family and separation through the eyes of two festival committee members from different generations, interspersed with stories about village life and overseas villagers who participate in the festival via video.

Perfect Days
Nearly four decades after the Yasujiro Ozu tribute documentary Tokyo-Ga, German auteur Wim Wenders returns to Japan and makes a glorious comeback to form this transcendent drama about the beauty of simplicity. In a sublime performance that earned him the Best Actor prize in Cannes, Koji Yakusho plays Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner who leads a quiet life that involves only work and enjoying his eclectic collection of music and books. Over a series of encounters, we slowly learn of Hirayama’s previous life and why he chose his current lifestyle.