Oscar Best Actress Award winner Nicole Kidman was exempted from quarantine during the pandemic to shoot the American TV series “Expats” in Hong Kong. The film was recently released on the streaming platform Amazon Prime on Jan. 26. However, viewers in Hong Kong encountered a message: “This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location.”
“Expats” is adapted from the novel “The Expatriates,” directed by Chinese-born American Lulu Wang, and set in 2014. According to the official trailer released earlier, Hong Kong street scenes can be seen in many parts of the series, including a scene of tens of thousands of people holding umbrellas.
The scene from the 2014 Umbrella Movement will appear in the second last episode, which will be broadcast on Feb. 16, 2024.
According to reports, the young social activist played by Bonde Sham Lok-yi said to a foreigner in the series: “You are a tourist! [The protests] don’t affect your future. You can leave—another blessing I’m sure you can’t see.”
According to AFP, it contacted Amazon but had not received a reply. The Hong Kong Commerce and Economic Development Bureau responded that Hong Kong’s Film Censorship Ordinance only regulates movies and does not apply to streaming or Internet platforms. It also stated that it would not comment on the operational arrangements of individual commercial organizations.
Nonetheless, according to Article 43 of the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) and Schedule 4 of the Implementing Rules, the police may exercise the power to remove messages endangering national security, and require a platform service provider, a hosting service provider, and a network service provider to assist.
Previously, Hong Kong’s “Disney+” streaming platform was found to have episodes of the American cartoon “The Simpsons,” alluding to the suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, as well as ones about forced labor. All those episodes disappeared from the platform soon after.
Ms. Kidman went to Hong Kong to shoot this movie in August 2021. At that time, the media discovered that two days after arriving in Hong Kong on a private jet from Sydney, Australia, she went shopping and was filming scenes for the show, and did not stay in the designated quarantine hotel. In response to the media, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said that she was exempted from quarantine requirements and allowed to conduct activities related to her professional work.
