Harpur Cinema Presents: Boat People

Ann Hui, Hong Kong, 1982, 105 min

Friday, April 12, 2024, and Sunday, April 14, 2024: Lecture Hall 6, 7:30 pm. Doors open at 7:00 pm. $4 Single Admission.

One of the major works of the Hong Kong New Wave, Ann Hui’s Boat People is a work of indelible humanity and searing political resonance. Invited to document the progress of postwar Vietnamese society, a Japanese photojournalist (George Lam) initially finds a picture-perfect image of communist contentment. But when he begins looking beneath the idealized surface the government wants him to see, he discovers a world of poverty and brutality that shocks him into helping a desperate family escape. Winner of five Hong Kong Film Awards—including best picture and director—Hui’s masterpiece gives harrowing expression to the experiences of those living under authoritarian oppression.