North American Premiere
Director Tsang Tsui Shan documents her hometown and one of its defining traditions in this moving film. Ho Chung Village lies in the hilly rural area of Hong Kong; once a decade, its citizens hold the Peace and Light Festival as a tribute to their village, its departed souls, and the gods that preside over them all. Tsung returns to Ho Chung in 2020 to document the preparations for the festival; soon the town is caught up in confusion and confinement due to COVID-19… Throughout the film, Tsung shows herself to be finely attuned to humanity: among the citizens featured are a Filipino nanny, set to depart Hong Kong as soon as she’s allowed; twin brothers who are trying to get a village newspaper project off the ground; and an elderly woman chafing against pandemic confinements. As a record of a place and its people, Winter Chants is fascinating, and as a portrait of civic communion, it’s quite poignant.
Supported by
Series Media Partner
Hong Kong
2023
Insights
In Cantonese and English with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Teresa Kwong, Ken Hui
Cinematography
Mak Chi Kwan Mike
Editor
Mary Stephen, eason Keung, Tsang Tsui Shan
Original Music
Masamichi Shigeno
Director
Tsang Tsui Shan
Tsang Tsui Shan was named the Best New Director at the 31st Hong Kong Film Award in 2012. In 2008, her first feature film Lovers On the Road (2008) won the Best Drama Film Award at the 8th South Taiwan Film Festival. Her second feature Big Blue Lake (2011) won the Jury Special Award of the 2013 Golden Koala Chinese Film Festival in Australia and the Asian New Talent Jury Prize of the 2012 Shanghai International Film Festival. In addition to film production, Tsang has also participated in advertisements and online TV productions. Her latest feature film The Lady Improper was released in April 2019.
Filmography: Lovers on the Road (2008); Big Blue Lake (2011); Flowing Stories (2014); Scent (2014); The Lady Improper (2019)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Whatcha Want
Whatcha Want, a hip-hop-infused drama from award-winning Vancouverite Mina Shum (Meditation Park), sees a restless trophy wife from Hong Kong rise above her wealthy husband’s infidelity by rekindling her passion for dance.
James McNeill Whistler
One of America’s greatest artists, James McNeill Whistler fashioned his life as a work of art in its own right. James McNeill Whistler looks beyond his famous portraits and self-styled “nocturnes” to dive into the true depths of Whistler’s legacy.
Let Them Be Seen
Let Them Be Seen is an absurdist portrait of the town of Tapoleng in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, moving through churches, spaza shops, and a Jam Alley re-enactment to document a village reshaping faith and community in post-apartheid life.
Yugo Goes to America
In Yugo Goes to America, millennials from Belgrade drive a Yugo — Yugoslavia’s notoriously unreliable vehicle — from New York to Los Angeles. Their freewheeling road trip traces the car’s volatile history alongside the breakup of Yugoslavia itself.
Elephants in the Fog
In a remote Nepalese village, Pirati takes charge in the search for a missing girl belonging to her family of third-gender Kinnar women. A densely atmospheric thriller and a moving portrait of an embattled but resilient community.