‘Love in the Time of Revolution:' HK Documentary Galvanizes Audiences Worldwide

Love, empathy, compassion: 'Precisely what the regime wants to eradicate.'

Poster for "Love in the Time of Revolution." (Courtesy of Ngan Chi-sing)

The imposition of Hong Kong’s National Security Law in June 2020 impacted the city’s art and film industry dramatically.

After the law was enacted, movies, documentaries, and art supporting protests against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to disappear.

One of the first to feel the new law’s effects was M+ Gallery. In 2021, the prominent new art gallery—compared by ArtNews to London’s Tate Gallery—agreed not to show photographs by Ai Weiwei, an artist openly critically of the Chinese regime.

The gallery, which had been hailed as a holdout for free expression, continued to show works commemorating Tiananmen Square, such as Chinese artist Wang Xingwei’s painting “New Beijing.”  However, those works were quietly removed while the museum was closed due to Omicron in early 2022.

On Dec. 23, 2021, the Pillar of Shame—a 26-foot-tall statue by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot—was removed from the University of Hong Kong campus in the middle of the night. The sculpture, symbolizing lives taken during the Tiananmen Square massacre, was installed in 1997 ahead of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. It was painted orange by pro-democracy activists in 2008.

The next day, two other universities removed replicas of a figure known as the “Goddess of Democracy,” a statue first erected by students during the 1989 protests.

A New Filmmaker Speaks Out

Once known as “the Hollywood of the East,” Hong Kong prided itself on freedom of speech. Recent incidents of censoring films, music, and art are concrete evidence of a new reality. Now, Hong Kong’s censorship is no different from China’s.

Director Kiwi Chow’s award-winning 2021 documentary “Revolution of Our Times,” covering the 2019 pro-Democracy protests, inspired many who fled Hong Kong to continue their fight overseas. The film, which won countless awards at international film festivals, is now banned in Hong Kong.

Like “Revolution of Our Times,” director Ngan Chi-sing’s documentary “Love in the Time of Revolution,” is banned in Hong Kong. The new film, documenting Hong Kong’s fight for freedom, has been drawing worldwide attention since it debuted in June.

The ‘612 Incident’

“Love in the Time of Revolution” was released on the third anniversary of the “612 incident,” during which thousands of peaceful protesters in Hong Kong were met with a brutal response from police.

During the rally on June 12, 2019, police fired tear gas, bean bag rounds, and rubber bullets at peaceful demonstrators in an area of Hong Kong’s business district known as Admiralty.

Since March 2019, protestors had been demanding that Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam withdraw a controversial extradition bill that would allow Hongkongers to be extradited to mainland China. There was widespread fear that the law would break the concept of “one country, two systems” and undermine the city’s autonomy and civil rights.

By June, it was estimated that millions were joining the protests. Protestors’ demands had grown to include Lam’s resignation, justice for protestors, and democratic elections for Hong Kong’s legislative council and chief executive.

On the afternoon of June 12, despite having approved the demonstration, police cornered protestors near Citic Tower, across the road from the Legislative Council building.

Chaos broke out when police began firing tear gas into the middle of the trapped crowd. The police action almost caused a stampede and sparked worldwide condemnation.

“Love in the Time of Revolution” follows the unfolding of the anti-extradition movement from June to November 2019, centering on four ordinary Hongkongers and their emotions.  The film’s subjects came from different backgrounds. Although they didn’t know each other, their fight was the same.

More Than a Movie

Thousands of Hongkongers have settled in the UK over the past year, under the new British National Overseas (BNO) visa program. The UK government expects up to 300,000 Hongkongers to take advantage of the BNO visa program, launched in January 2021. Organizations have sprung up across the country to help the new emigrés adjust to life in the UK.

For many of those who have fled to the UK, “Love in the Time of Revolution” is more than a documentary. It is their personal story.

On Oct. 29, Reading Hongkongers held a screening of the documentary at the ODEON Bracknell Cinema. Tickets sold out for the screening, which was attended by about 300 people. A lively audience took photos with the film’s director.

The Sound of Familiar Slogans

After the credits rolled, the audience shouted “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” a slogan banned by the Hong Kong government as “capable of inciting others to secession.”

Ngan told the audience after the movie screening, “I started as a screenwriter. I am not a journalist, nor did I study for it. I also did not know anything about making documentaries. Initially, I wanted to record the happenings during the protests on the internet. I never thought about making a movie.”

Knowing almost nothing about movie making, Ngan filled the gaps in his knowledge with his passion for the cause.

An Act of Solidarity Inspires a Movie

“Love in the Time of Revolution” was inspired one day in July 2019, when Ngan was hit with a heavy dose of tear gas as he was filming.

“I was filming with my camera on a street when a tear gas bomb suddenly struck me. Immediately I was sunken into smogs of tear gas,” Ngan recalled.

Worried that he would be arrested, protestors pulled him into an umbrella barricade, sheltering him and washing out his eyes.

In that moment of kindness and solidarity, Ngan felt he had become one of the protesters. Wanting to do justice to the protests, he decided to make a movie with the footage he had recorded.

A Movie With Millions of Actors

At the recent UK screening, Ngan told the audience he was moved by the many messages of support he received during the film’s tour. Many viewers saw themselves in the documentary. “Love in the Time of Revolution” is a film by ordinary people, he said—the work of every Hongkonger who participated in the democracy movement.

Director Ngan Chi-sing (left), Chung Kim-wah, deputy executive director of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Research Institute (middle), and political scholar Wong Wai-kwok (right), at a screening of "Love in the Time Of Revolution," in Berkshire, UK, on Oct. 29, 2022. (Shan Lam/The Epoch Times)

Chung Kim-wah is a public opinion researcher and deputy executive director of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Research Institute. Chung fled to the UK in April after threats caused him to fear for his life. Interviewed after the screening, he said that it was his second time watching the film.

The first time, Chung said, he was overwhelmed the entire night after he saw the documentary. After watching it for the second time, Chung said he still needed time to process his emotions. He feels that “Love in the Time of Revolution” is the most astounding—and most emotional—of the protest-related films he has seen.

Chung said he had a strong feeling of déjà vu as he watched. The dream of the young people who filled the streets of Hong Kong in 2019 was the same dream that he and other university students in Hong Kong had in the 1980s.

Chung added, “Among many movies about the anti-extradition movement, ‘Love In the Time of Revolution’ is the most shocking. It resonated with me because the dreams expressed by the young people are the same as those of myself and other Hong Kong college students in the early 1980s.”

At that time, many young people thought the government would realize the promised dream of democracy, despite the city’s handover to China.

He quoted an interview from the movie: “The worst outcome is when the most powerful and evil dictates what is right in a society.”

Chung said this is an accurate description of Hong Kong today.

Although Chung still carries the dream, he said he has seen enough young people hurt, arrested, and jailed during the anti-extradition protests. He said he has seen their dreams crushed: “Before the protests, the film director and protesters were just ordinary Hongkongers. The rare images and the way director Ngan has captured them show importance. It shows that it does not matter if the people are nameless; they are critical to Hong Kong. We should not underestimate the power of any individual.”

Chung said he believes the fight for democracy will go on as long as people carry it in their hearts.

A ‘Remarkable’ Film

Alex Pao Wai-Chung, a television screenwriter with 30 years of experience, said after the screening, “I could not find any flaws or criticism. I am surprised that the film was made by an amateur and produced by many other hobbyists. The director has exceeded a lot of the so-called industry standards. ‘Love in the Time of Revolution’ is the most remarkable I have seen out of many protest-related movies or documentaries.”

The Essence of a Hongkonger

Government and international studies expert Wong Wai-kwok shared post-screening that it was his second time watching the documentary. Wong said that the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests set the definition of a Hongkonger in stone. “For example, the interviewed protester, who is South Asian, had always been alienated by society until she participated in the protest. Everyone saw her as a Hongkonger.”

Wong said he hoped Hongkongers who migrated to the UK would continue to fight for justice and for Hong Kong, as they did during a recent attack on a Hongkonger outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester.

To continue the spirit of the protests is important “so the world and those remaining in the city can see that overseas Hongkongers will carry on their fight even though we are far away,” Wong said.

Wong also worried that some Hongkongers might have already forgotten the events of 2019. He urged Hongkongers never to forget.

‘Love, Empathy and Compassion:’ What the Regime Wants to Eradicate

From another perspective, Hans Yeung, a columnist for The Epoch Times, shared his thoughts on the movie in an email interview.

Yeung said that “Love in the Time of Revolution” narrates events that took place in 2019 and explores what led to the anti-extradition protests from the perspective of ordinary Hongkongers at that time. However, the film has a universal theme: it is impossible to change society without love.

As an example, Yeung cited the 11-day siege of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in November 2019. All of Hong Kong rushed to rescue about 1,000 student protesters trapped on campus, he said.

During the rescue mission to save the students, almost 100,000 people battled riot police, hoping to save the student protesters trapped on campus.

Desperate Hongkongers were not just trying to save their loved ones, Yeung said. Many were putting their safety on the line to save a stranger.

The definition of a Hongkonger is about more than blood or race, Yeung concluded. Anyone willing to sacrifice for their beloved home is considered a Hongkonger, he said.

“The love, empathy, and compassion displayed throughout the protests are precisely what the regime wants to eradicate,” Yeung said.