Phone Made Good Film No.6

The city is no longer the same after the year of social unrest. How do those that remain make peace with the past and move on with their lives? After Nam’s good friend Man left the city, Nam is left behind to take care of Man's mother and motor bike, while struggling to live life as normal. A strange visitation one night by her grandfather brings Nam back to her ancestral village in mainland China, where she learns about her father’s painful past. Under the silent and long poetic gaze of the camera, the survivors of two generations, representing the past and the present, the country and the city, commiserate together in a shared moment of grief and solidarity.

Falling petals, flying snowflakes, fragments of memory…all are transient just like our dreams. Without thoughts, there need not be a concrete plot or captivating story to tell. Just as philosopher Zhuang Zi wrote--the fools think they are awake. Each scene and image exudes illusion and fantasy. The absence of plot and dialogues allows freedom in interpretation and clarity. The symphony of images becomes a poem for the audience to treasure. Cinema is dreamy in nature, allowing the true poetic spirit to thrive—when we rid ourselves with thoughts.

Kevin, a young theatre director from Hong Kong, is searching for ideas for his next play with his team, hoping to get funding for an overseas production. Frank, a middle-aged hairdresser in Berlin, is performing his daily routine. Coincidences bring them together, though their friendship is dictated by the parameters of the smartphone. Kevin decides to adapt the stories of the Berlin Wall to the stage, as old memories of living in East Berlin come flooding back to Frank. Shadows, in their literal and metaphorical sense, become the third wheel which silently alters their lives and turns into a story that transcends the boundaries of reason. Through this experimental work, director Terence LI sheds light on the inner space-time of the queer and the displaced.