Signal 8
16mm // Sound // Color // 14 Minutes // 2019
They said a storm is calling this way but we’re still waiting. Lives carry on in Hong Kong as traces of civic upkeep morph into sites of remembrance. Decorative structures mimic nature then occasionally malfunction - transforming common spectacle to warning signs. The light urges to tell us something but can't quite get its point across, patience tested for another day.
“Simon Liu’s eerie, entrancing portrait of contemporary Hong Kong tracks a series of strange disruptions to the city’s urban infrastructure. Deceptively tranquil 16mm images of everyday life are accompanied by muffled music cues, ominous radio transmissions, and intimations of an impending hazardous event that may never arrive.” — Projections, New York Film Festival
“Disconnected from the flow of daily life, Simon Liu’s incursion into the alienation of Hong Kong is an enigmatic symphony of the city’s discordance and fury. Something belies the trance cast by this tapestry of 16mm images—is it unrest or is it complacency? Or is it already too late?” — MUBI
In the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (NY, USA)
Music / Sound Design by Julia Bloop - More Info HERE
Recent SCREENINGS
New York Film Festival: Projections 2019 (World Premiere)
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020 (International Premiere)
Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles - SCREEN Series
Urban Video Project / Everson Museum - What Happened Group Exhibition
Cinéma du Réel @ Centre Pompidou 2020
International Kurtzfilmtage Winterthur 2021
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2021
San Francisco International Film Festival 2021
Punto de Vista International Documentary Festival 2021
Camden International Film Festival 2021
AND Festival 2021
CROSSROADS w/ SF Cinematheque 2020
25 FPS Festival 2020
Onion City Film Festival 2020
Images Festival 2020
RIDM - Montréal International Documentary Festival 2020
Portland International Film Festival 2020
Dallas International Film Festival 2020
Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival 2020
Athens International Film & Video Festival 2020
MUBI - 2019 NYFF’s Projections MUBI Special
NYFF Projections: Los Angeles w/ Acropolis Cinema
IndieLisboa 2020
European Media Art Festival 2020
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2020
Open City Documentary Festival 2020
EXiS - Experimental Film & Video in Seoul 2020
New Orleans Film Festival 2020
Documenta Madrid 2020
Antimatter [media art] 2020
Cork Film Festival 2020 - *Grand Prix Documentary Short Award*
Fracto Film Encounter 2020
Spectral Film Festival 2020
Black Canvas Festival de Cine Contemporáneo 2020
1º Lima Alterna Festival Internacional de Cine 2020
* Punto de Vista International Documentary Festival - Jury Special Mention *
* Cork International Film Festival - Grand Prix Documentary Short Award *
* Documenta Madrid - Fugas Competition Special Mention *
