"Dances in Hong Kong: Boundries Not Included"
Our friend Mani had the premier of her film "Dances in Hong Kong:
Boundries not Included" this week and I have to tell you it's
extremely good. "Just like a real one" as we say in Fiji:
It's probably rude to say I'm amazed it's so good, but it seemed such
a casual thing at the start. Three years ago, we were working on a
script "Mooncakes" with Red Carpet Club when Mani said had an idea for
a film of her own, and asked our friend German-Michael if she could
borrow him and his camera for a few days. And that's the genesis.
Truly.
Yup, Mani made this film with a borrowed camera. Sounds like it should
be the start of the biography of a famous film-maker, doesn't it!
Initially Michael helped out as cameraperson, but it didn't take long
before Mani got confident and started to do it without him, and the
film just grew from there.
And then, this week, it had its world premier and everyone was blown
away. "Just like a real one." As you'd guess, it's about dancing in
Hong Kong, but it's really about Hong Kong's cultural fusion, and you
have gorgeous sequences of Chinese girls dancing Bollywood and British
girls teaching African dance and lots of other unexpected
combinations, and Mani, with a great deal of success, puts forward the
thesis that Tango grew up in Buernos Aires because it was a place of
cultural fusion, and it was highly likely that the similar cultural
fusion in Hong Kong would generate it's own genre of dancing.
She included me in the credits along with German-Michael, which was
very touching, but I didn't deserve it. My only real role was to say
to her constantly "Mani, this is within your scope. You can do it!"
And she could and did, but that was all her own doing!
Anyway, the film is beautiful and Mani intends now to send it off to
various festivals around the world so keep an eye out for it.
-Denise, Hongkong
Comments
Post a Comment