Location, Imagination, Transformation

Grassroots Urbanism & Hong Kong Urban Cinema

By highlighting Hong Kong urban cinema as a remarkable archive of descriptions of how the city is being lived and practiced, “Location, Imagination and Transformation” is a cinematic urban topographical survey of everyday practices by the grassroots in contemporary Hong Kong. The project explores the cinematic representations of these informal spatial practices, their sites and interrelations, as well as their external relations with the ever-changing built environment. Through a series of architectural drawings, (cinematic) urban mappings, participatory photography, and analyses of varied layers of narratives in both real and reel cities, this project illustrates the complex nature of placemaking as an outcome of collective actions of building, dwelling, appropriating, resisting, reclaiming, negotiating, and caring. The project is therefore attempting to reveal and expand a shared understanding of urban discourse in Hong Kong that transforms the material environment into a “lived” space, constructed by and accommodating all inhabitants in the city.

The project is a continuation of Zhuozhang Li’s PhD thesis (2021), titled “The Fluid City: A cinematic urban tectonic study on the (re)production of publicness in contemporary Hong Kong”. The thesis investigated the (trans)formation of everyday urban space in Hong Kong in the past four decades through the lens of 28 city films.

Team:

Zhuozhang Li is a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. As an interdisciplinary urban scholar his research focuses on two themes: inclusive urban design, and co-production of urban knowledge through creative methods. These two interwoven strands form the core of his work at the Cambridge Room, where he works with local communities to co-create a ‘one-stop-shop’ for community consultation. Alongside research and teaching, his recent curatorial and/or artistic practice includes ‘Planting and Placemaking (Liverpool, 2024)’, ‘Traces Under the Surface (Beijing, 2023)’, and ‘Knowledge is Power (Tate Liverpool, 2020)’.

Lifeiyang REN (they/them) is a self-identified cat flowing through life in various rivers, refusing to be anchored. For them, the visual is a comfortable way to communicate with humans, as words often feel lost. Rooted in a sociological background, they questions the center with the camera and documents poems for the corners. Ren sees memories as films and wants to make a documentary on Chinese migration in South America someday.

We also want to thank the participants who submitted their photos during the open call, also thank Ardian Stroud, an architecture graduate from the University for the Creative Arts, for his drawings.

    • The Secret (瘋劫), 1979

    • Cops and Robbers (點指兵兵), 1979

    • Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (第一類型危險), 1980

    • Lost Souls (打蛇), 1980

    • Man on the Brink (邊緣人), 1981

    • Father and Son (父子情), 1981

    • Ah Ying (半邊人), 1983

    • Long Arm of the Law (省港旗兵), 1984

    • The Lunatics (癲佬正傳), 1986

    • City on Fire (龍虎風雲), 1987

    • Chicken and Duck Talk (雞同鴨講), 1988

    • As Tears Go By (旺角卡門), 1988

    • Queen of Temple Street (廟街皇后), 1990

    • Days of Being Wild (阿飛正傳), 1990

    • C’est la vie, mon chéri (新不了情), 1993

    • Chungking Express (重慶森林), 1994

    • He's a Woman, She's a Man (金枝玉葉), 1994

    • How Deep Is Your Love (霓虹光管高高掛之女子公寓), 1994

    • Fallen Angels (墮落天使), 1995

    • Mack the Knife (流氓醫生), 1995

    • Mean Street Story (廟街故事), 1995

    • The God of Cookery (食神), 1996

    • Comrades: Almost a Love Story (甜蜜蜜), 1996

    • Made in Hong Kong (香港製造), 1997

    • The Longest Summer (去年煙花特別多), 1998

    • Bishonen (美少年之戀), 1998

    • Beast Cop (野獸刑警), 1998

    • Hold You Tight (愈快樂愈墮落), 1998

    • Running out of Time (暗戰), 1999

    • The Kid (流星語), 1999

    • Little Cheung (細路祥), 1999

    • Durian Durian (榴蓮飄飄), 2000

    • Hollywood Hong Kong (香港有個荷里活), 2001

    • The Map of Sex and Love (情色地圖), 2001

    • Infernal Affairs (無間道), 2002

    • Infernal Affairs 2 (無間道2), 2003

    • Diva... Ah Hey (下一站…天后), 2003

    • PTU (PTU), 2003

    • 6 Floor Rear Flat: Truth or Dare (6樓后座), 2003

    • One Nite in Mongkok (旺角黑夜), 2004

    • Breaking News (大事件), 2004

    • Protégé (門徒), 2007

    • Eye in the Sky (跟蹤), 2007

    • Triangle (鐵三角), 2007

    • The Way We Are (天水圍的日與夜), 2008

    • Sparrow (文雀), 2008

    • Echoes Of The Rainbow (歲月神偷), 2010

    • Break Up Club (分手說愛你), 2010

    • Crossing Hennessy (月滿軒尼詩), 2010

    • All about Love (得閒炒飯), 2010

    • Love in a Puff (志明與春嬌), 2010

    • 72 Tenants of Prosperity (72家租客) 2010

    • I Love Hong Kong (我愛HK 開心萬歲), 2010

    • Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (單身男女), 2011

    • Life Without Principle (奪命金), 2011

    • A Simple Life (桃姐), 2011

    • On The Edge of A Floating City, We Sing (在浮城的角落唱首歌), 2012

    • Blind Detective (盲探), 2013

    • The Way We Dance (狂舞派), 2013

    • Dot 2 Do (點對點), 2014

    • Wild City (迷城), 2015

    • Port Call (踏雪尋梅), 2015

    • Trivisa (樹大招風), 2016

    • Mad World (一念無明), 2017

    • Still Human (淪落人), 2018

    • Hand Rolled Cigarette (手捲煙), 2020

    • Drifting (濁水漂流) 2021


  • 張偉雄, 「我哋上天台囉」, 號外, 2013 (08), vol 443

    Leung, P.-K. (2012) ‘Urban Cinema and the Cultural Identity of Hong Kong’, in Fu, P. and Desser, D. (eds) The Cinema of Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press, pp. 227–251.

    Li, Z. (2022) ‘“Made in Hong Kong”: The (Re)production of Publicness in Cinematic Urban Topography of Contemporary Hong Kong’, in Penz, F. and Schupp, J. (eds) The Everyday in Visual Culture: Slices of Lives, Routledge, 158-171.

    Li, Z. (2021) The Fluid City: A Cinematic Urban Tectonic Study on the (Re)Production of Publicness in Contemporary Hong Kong. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Liverpool.

    Li, N. (2006) ‘Film as Witness to History’, in Location (動・感・現場). Hong Kong Film Archive, pp. 2–9.

    Pan, G. (2006) ‘The Emotional Map of Hong Kong Cinema’, in Location (動・感・現場). Hong Kong Film Archive, pp. 74–113.