Must-Watch Documentary: 2019 Hong Kong Riots Raw Footage Transformed into a Powerful Film

The 2019 Hong Kong riots were a major political event with significant social and economic consequences. These events were characterized by extensive protests and violent confrontations between police and demonstrators. They also marked a period that curtailed freedom of expression and press freedom in what was once regarded as the most democratic administrative region of China.

I had a chance to have a one-on-one with journalist Alan Lau, who fled Hong Kong with over a thousand hours of raw footage of the riots. While abroad, Lau transformed these videos into a film, which was featured as an entry in this year’s Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand.

In this Q and A, Lau narrated his journey as a journalist in Hong Kong, and how his film, Rather Be Ashes Than Dust, is one of the must-watch documentaries of today.

Rather Be Ashes Than Dust trailer.

Alan, when did you leave Hong Kong?

In 2021, I moved to the UK because of the 2019 Hong Kong movement – the situation in Hong Kong was getting worse. Since I have raw footage of the 2019 [riots], my former professor told me, “Alan, you need to leave Hong Kong with your footage because Hong Kong is no longer safe for journalists.” The Apple Daily and other pro-democracy newspaper outlets were just closed down and raided by the police. So, I brought all my footage and then came to the UK.

Can you tell us more about your film?

In 2019, apart from being a journalist, I was also a filmmaker. I was then a video journalist for a German news outlet. At that time, I spent about two years filming the entire protest process. Therefore, I used over 1,000 hours of footage and then edited a documentary about the movement. I used my point of view, what I saw, and what I felt, and wrote it like a diary. I used my perspective to portray the documentary.

As a fellow journalist, your statement in the film resonated with me, particularly when you spoke about our role during a crisis. I've felt that same way at times in my career. Is our role in the media limited to just filming? Are we truly making a difference, or are we merely bystanders?

Yeah. Because I grew up in Hong Kong. I’m now over 40 years old. Hong Kong is my only home. My friends, my family, my grandparents, and my career are all established in Hong Kong – it’s my only home. But after 1997, when the United Kingdom handed over the sovereignty of Hong Kong to China, we could already foresee that there would be a dramatic change – we could already feel it. We had two big movements: one in 2014, the Umbrella Movement, and another in 2019.

During the Umbrella Movement, I was still young. At that time, the atmosphere was quiet and peaceful. Not much confrontation, not many police, no police brutality. But 2019 was totally different, and by that time, I had already come of age – witnessing these youngsters risk their lives. They took a lot of risks to be arrested, to be imprisoned, to be beaten up and tear-gassed. They were really brave – our generation is different. I think our generation shouldered a lot of burden about why we don’t fight for freedom, why we don’t fight for the future of Hong Kong like the younger generation. So, there I was standing and filming, but I did nothing [to physically help the victims and I felt] helpless. We left our burden to the younger generation. That’s why I’m really sad about that and I felt guilty.

But your camera created hope for the victims. One scene in your film shows a young woman being abused, her face on the ground, looking at your camera, shouting her ID number. At that point, she looked at your camera as if it was a beacon of hope that someone was documenting such harassment. It’s a piece of evidence, and now this footage is being shown around the world with a powerful message. Isn’t this considered helping?

Yeah. At that time, all the Hong Kong people didn’t expect the movement to last that long. But it did, for two years. We thought after the Umbrella Movement, the Beijing government [the CCP], would step back a bit because Hong Kong is a gateway to the West for Beijing, right? Hong Kong is very unique; it has a unique position in China.

So, during the handover in 1997, every time the Hong Kong people fought back, Beijing stepped back a little bit. But we didn’t think that the 2019 situation would become worse and worse, and that Beijing would just implement the National Security Law – Article 23. So, it’s more serious than before, and we didn’t imagine that. Therefore, at that time, I think my video became a tool to tell the truth by recording what happened in Hong Kong, and these raw video materials can spread the facts to the Western world and let the audience know what has happened to Hong Kong.

I left Hong Kong after the implementation of the National Security Law. At that time, I thought it was no longer safe for me to stay in Hong Kong harboring all these footages.

2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Growing up in Hong Kong, can you share with us a comparison of what it was like under the United Kingdom and under Beijing?

Back then, it was simple. Whenever people challenged government officials, we never feared that we would be put in prison or be arrested. But now, just by posting on Facebook or even making this documentary, I am afraid that the police will come and arrest me. Even talking to you right now, during this interview, I even suggest we use other video call platforms such as Google Meet and not Zoom because Zoom is controlled by the Chinese government. But back to your question – before 1997, yes, we had no fear about speech. We didn’t fear religion because it was very stable. It was ruled by the rule of law; now it’s only ruled by people.

Did you notice an immediate difference as soon as the CCP took over Hong Kong?

No. But gradually, it became worse and worse. Before the National Security Law, they didn’t have a law to eliminate or suppress the dissidents. But after the law, they used it to arrest and discriminate. It’s not even about the crime; it’s about you – you are anti-government, you are anti-CCP, then you will be in trouble. That was the immediate effect of the security law.

In your film, before the 2019 riot, it seems like the root cause of the chaos was Hong Kong’s former Chief Executive, Carrie Lam? It seems like she failed in so many ways.

Yes. We are really sure about that. She did. So, we can say she [failed] Hong Kong. She was trained by the British government. Then she studied in the UK. She was an official during the British rule, she is a Hong Konger, but she betrayed Hong Kong. She was the cause of everything. She ruined everything.

Carrie Lam, former Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. Photo. Wikimedia

How was the atmosphere for journalists there?

To be honest, it’s hard. Really hard. My film was shown at the Busan International Film Festival last year, but no newspaper in Hong Kong dared to cover the news. Those who dared and interviewed me were from a Canadian newspaper, and she is based in Hong Kong. She then told me one thing when we talked about the film. She said that some Hong Kong newspaper friends asked her why she interviewed me, especially since my film was about the 2019 protests. She said, why not? It’s news.

I’m still paying attention to what is happening in Hong Kong every day. Whenever I read the newspapers there, nowadays it’s all one-sided. It’s like propaganda. Like the China Central Television (CCTV) or other newspapers in China – all one-sided, pro-government, and pro-Beijing. Whenever there’s some bad news about Hong Kong or about China, they are just silent. It’s not the Hong Kong that I knew. It is totally strange.

Alan, can you still go back to Hong Kong?

I fear to go back, to be honest. I went back to Hong Kong several times before my film was shown at the Busan International Film Festival, which was last October. But never after that. I’m very alert whenever I go back to Hong Kong to visit my parents and friends. My friend even told me, “Alan, you cannot go back, it’s too risky.” So, that’s my situation.

Are you still hopeful that the Hong Kong situation will be better one day? Geopolitically, China has a lot of tension with various countries. Do you believe that the international community can help the people of Hong Kong and Xinjiang from the human rights violations inflicted on them?

Now, you can see the CCP failed in their One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. There’s a lot of corruption between the OBOR countries. And then there are territorial tensions with the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan. The “Made in China” products are also being delinked. For me, it’s a good situation, a good phenomenon that the whole Western world is encircling China, gradually not dependent on China, and isolating China. This is a good thing because Beijing, you know, just uses money and power to frighten the world.

So, you are hopeful with that kind of situation that one day, Hong Kong will return to a democratic autonomy?

Yes. There’s always hope. Maybe not in our generation, but maybe the next generation.

What would you say to the people who would like to watch your film? What can they anticipate?

I just want to say that the film is an honor to my fellow journalists. The film was made for them and the people who are still in jail. This documentary does not represent myself. It represents all of the people of Hong Kong. They are still fighting for justice, fighting for freedom. So, this film is a testimony for them because they are still in Hong Kong. They cannot speak up. They cannot do anything about their rights. But I moved to the UK, so I still have the freedom to speak up. I still have the room to do whatever I want. So, I just want this film to let people in the free world know what happened to Hong Kong, the situation in Hong Kong, and how we are suppressed by the CCP and the Hong Kong government.

A still from the doco film, Rather Be Ashes Than Dust.

If you missed Rather Be Ashes Than Dust in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland, you could still watch the film online via the Doc Edge website, which will be available until the 31st of July. 

-Asia Media Centre