Hong Kong 1979

Yukon, Canada | 6 min

"As I was going through my father’s recently digitized Super-8 film, all 18 hours of it, I was struck by the quality of his camera work, both his technical expertise with the camera, what he chose to capture and how he chose to capture it. He would cover each scene he approached as if he were making a documentary or news story. He would capture b-roll and establishing shots, so the view would have context for the day at hand. For the most part, his interest was in transportation: trains, trams, cable cars, trolleys and even more trains. But he also captured other moments that tell many stories and I wanted to create something with it. 

In the late 70s my family lived in Hong Kong, but I was too young to remember. What I see when I look at this footage is the background to many family stories, so I can put a place to a story, like a face to a name. After removing the “home movie” elements from the footage, re- editing and adding a soundtrack to direct tone, I change this footage into something new: a horror film, an expressionist art film, an anthropological commentary on the permissiveness of 70s culture, a public service announcement on what not to do in traffic...it all depends on what you see when you watch it." 

Hong Kong 1979 

Kowloon: Yes, you are being followed. 

Cable Car Conspiracy: These are the REAL cable cars, in case you were wondering. 

Water Tigers: Because my sister could never remember Sea Lions. 

Make Way for Trams: But no one does, really.