Mainland Chinese media outlets yesterday ignored a film festival award for Ten Years (十年), a collection of five shorts that depict a gloomy future for Beijing-ruled Hong Kong, where freedom of speech has all but disappeared.
Ten Years won out over the favorite, crime thriller Port of Call (踏血尋梅), in the best film category at Sunday’s Hong Kong Film Awards. Port of Call, which won seven awards, had been nominated in 13 categories and Ten Years just one.
Mainland Chinese media failed to mention the win by Ten Years, with at least one entertainment site omitting it from its list of winners.
Photo: AP
Online site Tencent, which often broadcasts film ceremonies, put up videos of other winners accepting awards.
Ten Years became a box office hit in Hong Kong, but antagonized Beijing over its portrayal of the semi-autonomous territory in 2025. It had a short cinema release that was widely believed to have been curtailed for political reasons.
The film is made up of a series of five vignettes that tap residents’ worst fears for the future of the territory as Beijing’s grip tightens.
The film had only a short general release, while some cinemas refused to screen it altogether, and it raised heckles on the mainland, with China’s state-run Global Times newspaper describing it as “totally absurd” and a “virus of the mind.”
“The meaning of this prize is that it shows Hong Kong still has hope. It reminds us that we could have courage to be creative. I would like to thank everyone who has watched it,” the film’s producer, Andrew Choi (蔡廉明), said after the awards ceremony.
Major China-based TV channels pulled out from broadcasting the awards on the mainland, with the nomination of Ten Years widely believed to be the reason.
However, one of the film’s directors, Ng Ka-leung (伍嘉良), told reporters that he was not concerned by Beijing’s opinion, only what his fellow Hong Kongers thought of the film.
“If you ask me what Beijing might feel towards us, I would say it doesn’t really matter. The movie was made for Hong Kong people. We are open-minded to anyone who likes it or not. We just hope that Hong Kong people can share our feelings. We would like people to think about the future of Hong Kong,” he said.
Hong Kong Film Awards chairman Derek Yee (爾冬陞) acknowledged the controversy that has arisen from the film’s nomination.
“[Former US] president [Franklin D.] Roosevelt said one thing: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” Yee said before announcing the winner of the “Best Film” category.
Since its release at the end of December last year, the movie, made for just HK$500,000 (US$64,000), has earned an unexpected HK$6 million, but its run stopped when it was still playing to packed theaters.
On Friday, thousands flocked to watch the film at various community screenings across the city, as the buzz around the movie continued long after its cinema release ended.
The five-part film, each with a different director, examines different elements of a future Hong Kong, where there is growing anxiety that Beijing is eroding the freedoms enshrined in the 1997 handover deal between Britain and China.
In one, young children in military uniforms prowl the street looking for subversive behavior, while another shows the erosion of the local language, Cantonese. In the final short, a protester self-immolates outside the British consulate — a scene that moved many viewers to tears.
Hong Kong cop thriller Port of Call also won big at the film awards, scooping seven prizes, including best actor for singer Aaron Kwok (郭富城) and best actress for newcomer Jessie Li (李俊傑).
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