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REALISM

By Cheuk-Shing LI

FRESH WAVE FILM FESTIVAL LIMITED - as FEST

Drama - Completed 2017

A female director made a documentary about a young call girl, in which the protagonist condemns the hypocrisy of a patriarchal society. She even fabricated documentary content in order to participate in foreign film festivals. The short discusses the ethics of documentary filmmaking and creator.

- Year of production
- 2017
- Genres
- Drama, Social issues
- Countries
- HONG KONG (CHINA)
- Languages
- CANTONESE
- Duration
- 25 mn
- Director(s)
- Cheuk-Shing LI
- Writer(s)
- Cheuk-Shing LI
- Cast
- Alice YU, Kit-Ling POON, Yong-Pan ZHANG, Chun-Tin WONG, Cheuk-Shing LI
- Producer(s)
- Cheuk-Shing LI
- Synopsis
- The power of documentary lies in its realism--the authenticity in telling the truth and encouraging reflections. What happens, however, when a documentary is in fact scripted by the director? Credibility is at stake as the female director films a young call girl with too many tales to tell. As a sex worker, the protagonist decries the hypocrisy of patriarchal society. Almost too perfect is her eloquent discourse on sexual politics-- the mainstream society’s oppression towards females and sex workers, and marriage being a ploy to enforce patriarchy. The arguments may be strong, but are they worthy of discussion when the experiences are fabricated? Making up facts in a documentary just to be in a foreign film festival is perhaps the ultimate embodiment of realism.