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22 / Lifestyle

A Cinema in Every

Neighbourhood

Watching movies is no longer confined

screening of the World Cup Qual- to cinemas. Public screenings have now
ification match between China penetrated the city and drawn community
Aand Hong Kong in 2015 in a pub-
lic space near her home when everyone members together.
was cheering for the Hong Kong team
opened the door to public screenings for By Wayne Chang
Angela Chu Pui-yee. She is enchanted
by the casual atmosphere with people
around her wearing slippers and sitting
on the floor.
“I have fallen in love with public
screenings since then. It connects the
neighbours and bring us together,” Chu
says. She is now a frequent participant of
different screening sessions in the com-
munity as this new form of theatre gets
more popular and diverse.

From then to now
In October 2019, Chu joined a public
screening in Sham Shui Po of a Korean
movie “A Taxi Driver (逆權司機)”, which
is about the social movement in Gwangju
in the 1980s. The screening was held by
HK Community Cinema, an independ-
ent organization that aims to promote
non-mainstream and socially impactful
movies by holding public screenings al- other audience, Chu also likes the cas-
most every week. Guests of different expertise, including scholars, movie direc-
tors, journalists are often invited to hold a sharing and discussion session after ual nature of non-commercial public
each screening. screenings. “We don’t have to watch
advertisements before a movie that
Chu particularly enjoys the sharing and discussion ses-
sions and she thinks they make public screenings different people are forced to do in cinemas,”
she says.
from conventional screenings in cinemas, where everyone
must leave as soon as the movie ends.
“I can gain a spark of inspiration every time I listen to A social driving force
them (the guests). It really expands my knowledge and hori- Cheung King-fai, one of the main
zons,” adds Chu. Apart from interactions with guests and organisers of HK Community Cinema,
Angela Chu Pui-yee hopes that public screenings can serve