Three Generations of Hong Kong's Diaspora: Film Screenings and Conversation with the Directors
Saturday, 08 November 2025 | 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. | The Nick Mirkopoulos Screening Room, Room 004 ACE (Accolade East Building) | Keele Campus | York University
This screening traces the evolving journeys of Hong Kong migration across three generations and geographies. From the search for education abroad, to the displacements shaped by political turmoil, to the more recent departures driven by a sense of urgency and loss, each story speaks to the layered realities of leaving home. Viewed together, these films reveal how memory, identity, and belonging are carried and redefined across borders. They also demonstrate how cinema itself becomes a vessel for remembering, retelling, and reimagining diasporic lives. Through intimate portrayals of memory and longing, the program opens space to reflect on the shared yet changing contours of Hong Kong’s diaspora.
About the films and the directors
1. A Brighter Moon (1987) | Directed by Keith Lock | 25:41
Directed by Keith Lock, this poignant coming-of-age film, the first created with an entirely Chinese cast and crew, vividly portrays the lives of Hong Kong visa students against the shifting backdrop of Toronto’s Chinatown, weaving themes of longing and chasing love while balancing financial hardships and academic demands.
Keith Lock | https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-lock-a8108a49/
Born in Toronto, Keith Lock, MFA York University, is Canada’s first Chinese Canadian filmmaker. His work spans experimental, dramatic, and documentary film. A founding figure in Toronto’s independent film scene, Lock’s acclaimed projects include Everything Everywhere Again Alive and Relics of Love and War. He received Reel Asian’s Firehorse Award in 2022.
2. Chinese Restaurants – South Brazil (2005) | Directed by Cheuk Kwan | 26:46
In this episode from Cheuk Kwan’s 15-part series on Chinese restaurants worldwide, Brazil South tells the story of a couple who swam from China to Macau and then Hong Kong in search of freedom. Forced to flee again after the 1967 Riots, resettling in São Paulo, they built a restaurant and family. Their journey reflects the wider diaspora experience shared by many Hong Kong immigrants in Toronto.
Cheuk Kwan | https://www.asiancanadianwiki.org/w/Cheuk_Kwan
Born in Hong Kong and raised across Asia, Cheuk Kwan is a filmmaker and author whose acclaimed series Chinese Restaurantsexplores the global Chinese diaspora through family-run eateries. His book Have You Eaten Yet? deepens this narrative, blending memoir and travelogue to highlight resilience, belonging, and cultural pride.
3. My Journey of Exile (2025) | Directed by Alan Lau | 13:08
This film extract from Rather Be Ashes Than Dust (2023) features Alan Lau, the director and a recent immigrant who spent years documenting protest movements in Hong Kong. He never imagined leaving the city he called home, but in his 40s he sought a new beginning in Toronto. Through intimate footage and narration, he shares the emotional weight of that decision.
Alan Lau |https://alanlaukinlun.wixsite.com/alanlau
Born in Hong Kong, Alan Lau is a director, cinematographer, and editor with over 20 years in film and television. His award-winning work spans documentaries, series, and social media. Skilled across all production stages, he brings compelling stories to life. He is currently pursuing an MA in Cinema & Media Studies at York University.
Discussant: Mitchell Ma, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, University of Toronto
Mitchell Ma's research centers on niche construction, examining how humans alter natural and cultural environments and how these modifications influence development. He studies social and cultural aspects of Chinese immigration to Canada, edits Navigating Identity: From Hong Kong to Canada (2024), and co-leads the Hong Kong Canada Connections Working Group at the University of Toronto.
Host: Wendy Wong, School of the Arts, Media, Performance, & Design, York University
Professor Wendy Wong is a respected scholar of Chinese graphic design and comics. She authored Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua (2002) and The Disappearance of Hong Kong (2018), and co-edited Transnationalism in East and Southeast Asian Comics Art (2022), contributing to global design and comics studies.
All are welcome! Please register using this link.
This event is organized by the Hong Kong Studies Group at the York Centre for Asian Research, and co-presented with the Richard Charles Lee Canada–Hong Kong Library at the University of Toronto and the Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, York University.
