Hong Kong Protest Documentary ‘Blue Island’ Picked up for North America Ahead of HotDocs Debut

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNew York-headquartered documentary distributor Icarus Films has picked up all North American rights to Hong Kong protest film “Blue Island.” The film plays this week at the HotDocs Documentary Festival in Toronto, Canada.Directed by Chan Tze Woon (“Yellowing”), the film confronts the large-scale protests in Hong Kong, describing events through a mix of documentary footage and filmed reenactments.

The distributor has not yet elaborated release plans, but says that it is taking booking requests from museums, arts organizations, film festivals and theaters across North America.“A new wave of young people took back the streets, as one generation after another has done throughout Hong Kong’s history.

Bullets fly. Fires ignite. White tear gas and blue water cannons encroach on public spaces. The past, the present, and the future converge,” said Icarus.

The film is informed by the life-defining experiences of three men: Chen Hak-Chi, a mainland China-born intellectual who swam to Hong Kong, fleeing the 1970s Cultural Revolution; Kenneth Lam, a student leader who survived the Tiananmen Square Massacre; and Raymond Yeung, a patriotic Hong Kong businessman jailed for inciting the anti-British colonial protests of 1966-67.