James Leong

The Great North Korean Picture Show

Lynn Lee, James Leong

Welcome to Hollywood, Kim Jong-il style. For the first time, foreign cameras are allowed into the world’s most secretive state’s only film school. In a country where film is a vital propaganda tool, not entertainment, what room is there for artistic expression? Very little. Filmmakers James Leong and Lynn Lee follow two young actors and a director, handpicked by the regime to become stars, as they hone their craft. Every scene of implored love for the state, each painstaking rehearsal, even a surprise lesson in how to frame a portrait of Kim Jong-un raises the question of whether a gun, either literal or metaphorical, is pointed at the actors from the ever-watchful sidelines. We are never certain whether its rank and file toe the party line with anything like the willingness evinced by the privileged protagonists. Searing critique, objective observation or just fantastic fun, this is an irresistible glimpse behind barbed wire.

Camera

James Leong

Sean Li

Ming is a surveillance expert with an obsession: he wants to film everything that happens to him. It's a compulsion linked to an accident which left him blind in one eye. When a new technology becomes available that can restore his eyesight, Ming jumps at the chance. But when a new client hires him to follow the beautiful daughter of a shady businessman, everything begins to unravel around him.

Passabe

Lynn Lee, James Leong

The film documents the lives of several Passabe residents five years after the violence, including the life of one admitted former militia member, and chronicles the ways in which the community has come to terms with what happened, after it was the site of a massacre of East Timor by pro-Indonesia militias in the follow-up to the 1999 referendum for East Timor's independence.

傘上：遍地開花

James Leong

The film charts the origins of the Umbrella Movement through the eyes of the activists and ordinary people who made it happen. From the June 4th Candlelit Vigil until September 28th, this documentary puts us at the heart of the action, allowing us to experiencing the highs and lows of that remarkable summer, when Hong Kong witnessed a "blossoming of democracy."

血在燒

Lynn Lee, James Leong

Eddie Chu Hoi-dick

Hundreds of thousands − perhaps even millions − of protestors have taken to the streets of Hong Kong since early June. Sparked initially by the government's plans for a controversial extradition bill, the movement has now transformed into a broader push for greater freedoms and democracy, with anger over police brutality fuelling a cycle of violence. The protests are Hong Kong's biggest challenge to Beijing since its return to China in 1997. If We Burn looks at the movement through the eyes of Hong Kongers whose fates, like their city's future, now hang in the balance.

Wukan: Minzu zhi guang

Lynn Lee, James Leong

Late in 2011, Wukan, a village in southern China, captured international attention when demonstrators flooded the streets, rebelling against decades of corrupt rule. Despite the hurdles, the unthinkable happened in Wukan - the village committee fell and democratic elections were announced. But, what happens after a successful uprising? WUKAN: THE FLAME OF DEMOCRACY follows the challenges faced by a rural Chinese community after adopting a new political system.