

Death is a moment whose reverberation endures for the living. Three students from the Audio-Visual team are shooting a documentary on a schoolmate who has recently committed suicide. It is intended to convey a ‘positive message’ to the entire school about the importance of life. During interviews, the students notice some discrepancies in the testimonies, particularly those by a prefect and a teacher, while friends of the deceased seem to be withholding some inconvenient truth. Should the team pursue the truth, or act as the school’s propagandist? Filmed in a mocumentary style, The Handbook of Suicide Prevention challenges and exposes the hypocrisy and suppression that haunt adolescence.
Status
Released
Original Language
CN

Ashes are all that remain when someone dies, as the rest of us carry on with the remembrance of the past, in the form of things that continue to burden us. Granny Di makes a meagre living out of recycling cardboard and found objects on the street, carrying the ashes of her late husband wherever she goes. As the going gets tough, she is reduced to stealing and selling sacrificial offerings from the funeral home. Ellen Liu plays the desolate and desperate Granny Di, rendering a lively and moving performance with a human touch. The short brings us through the nooks and crannies of Hung Hom district, chronicling a sorrowful tale about forsaken old age.

Tam Sin Yau
Making of documentary surrounding the production of ‘Anora’