Author: Seth Henderson
Source: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01439685.2024.2435684
Abstract
In 1966, the British colonial government’s Hong Kong Film Unit inaugurated its monthly current affairs film series, Hong Kong Today (1966–1974). Initially established in 1959 under the Public Relations Office and later renamed Government Information Services (GIS), the Film Unit was a publicity arm of the Colonial Government and regularly screened films for urban audiences across twenty-five theaters as well as for rural audiences via mobile projection units.
Chronicling both significant and trivial events in Hong Kong from 1966 to 1974, the Today series in 1966 would coincide with the first of three years of deadly events that radically shook Hong Kong and the globe, changing the ways in which the Crown colony saw itself in relation to the British colonial government. The archival documents surrounding these film episodes, including those featuring the 1967 Maoist riots, were recently removed by the GIS from the archive of the Hong Kong Public Records Office.
To keep the historical record alive, this essay explores the archival material surrounding the missing documents by examining the dynamics behind the decisions of the colonial government leadership, GIS, and the filmmakers. It unravels the 1967 riots as a pivotal point in Hong Kong’s formation during Cold War, complex colonialism, and change in government and population relationship.