The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom follows the life of Jimmy Lai — from a 12-year-old child fleeing from the oppression of Maoist revolutionaries, to a simple textile labourer in Hong Kong to then the owner of fashion brand, Giordano, and later, the guardian of freedom of speech and the press in Hong Kong as founder of Apple Daily. The movie chronicles Jimmy’s story of heroic sacrifice as he marched alongside millions of his fellow Hong Kongers in defence of freedom and democracy which led to his own arrest and imprisonment. Through his own testimony as well as exclusive interviews with diplomats, citizen activists, scholars, and friends from across the globe, audience shall see before them a Jimmy Lai who is truly a symbol of the freedom movement.
Official Selection:
Hong Kong Indie Film Festival 2022
Pula Film Festival 2022
Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival 2022
St. Louis International Film Festival 2022
Anthem Libertarian Film Festival 2022
Prague Human Rights Festival 2022
Producer’s Statement: Rev. Robert A. Sirico
Hong Kong has long epitomised the essence of the human spirit: creative, alive, energetic, and free. This spirit unleashed prosperity, urbanity, and peace for Hong Kongers—and is embodied by its most prominent entrepreneur and newspaperman, Jimmy Lai. Jimmy’s life is the song of freedom— and now the authorities have put him in a cage.
I will be upfront: Jimmy is a personal friend. I produced this film not only because Jimmy is a friend, but because this is the cause of humanity: every person by nature longs to be free, to create, and to live in harmony with others. Jimmy arrived in Hong Kong as a stowaway child from mainland China, fleeing the oppression of Maoist revolutionaries. By sheer inspiration and grit, he built businesses and launched the most successful newspaper in Hong Kong. Yet fabulous business success is not what drives this man. Rather, it is his capacity for love and sacrifice. His love for Hong Kong is matched by his lifelong yearning for his culturally rich homeland to fully embrace freedom—that same freedom which enabled Jimmy and millions of Hong Kongers to flourish.
For a time, the Chinese Mainland undertook an experiment toward economic liberalisation:
permitting local family businesses, opening to global trade, and promoting advanced education for its citizens—which lifted hundreds of millions of its own citizens out of poverty. This showed that what had happened in Hong Kong could also happen in the Motherland. Yet now the ruling Communist party has taken a dramatic turn, and by suppressing the democratic aspirations of Hong Kongers, it is undermining the very foundations upon which its own prosperity depends. It is coming at an enormous human cost.
Jimmy could have fled the vice which is slowly gripping Hong Kong. But he decided not to because, as he explains, he owes freedom his life. Jimmy’s story is one of sacrifice. He has given up all he has: his businesses, his wealth, the comfort of hearth and home, to speak out on behalf of all Hong Kongers and for that matter, all Chinese people. Jimmy’s story is one that cannot die in a prison cell—it is one that must reignite a persistent movement to defend the cause of freedom for Hong Kongers, for China as a whole, and humanity everywhere.
Date & Time
Mon, Mar 20, 2023 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Venue Details
Human Rights Action Centre
25 New Inn Yard London, London EC2A 3EA
Hong Kong Film Festival UK
The Hong Kong Film Festival UK, HKFF (UK), aims to shine an international spotlight on Hong Kong’s creativity and humanity through film. The festival also strives to promote cultural interactions and exchanges between Hong Kong communities and UK citizens. Hong Kong’s world-renowned cinema was born out of its unique history and rich social context. Building on this vivid and eclectic history, the Festival aims to introduce a new wave of Hong Kong cinema that has blossomed in an era of drastic transformation. It is time to tell Hong Kong’s story again, to preserve and promote Hong Kong's cultural heritage, and to reflect on the city's enchanting, complex, and challenging reality from a fresh perspective.
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