I had the honour to be one of the jury members at this year Odyssey: A Chinese Cinema Season and watching the varied selection of films submitted to the festival. This year’s theme was Global Sustainability and the Jury’s Special Prize was awarded to Chih-Chieh YU’s thriller Contained from Taiwan. Hong Ning’s The New World: The Variation of Stay-Home Activities, Ran Li’s Till Love Do Us Part and Helai Lu’s Everything were the Special Mentions this year. All the films were incredibly different stylistically and thematically which meant we had a very interesting discussion with the jury members in regards to the favourites. 

I also hosted the Q&A at the Opening of Odyssey after the premiere of “Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice” with Josie Ho and director Kim Chan at the Cinema in the Battersea Power Station. It was very exciting for me to welcome international filmmakers at the cinema which happens to be my local and be part of this cross cultural event celebrating film.

“Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice” is a documentary about a group of creatives from Hong Kong who travel to Iceland in pursuit of happiness. I was very inspired watching it and particularly enjoyed the original piece of music which was created at the end thanks to the cultural exchange and collaboration between Icelandic and Hong Kong musicians.

In the post show Q&A we spoke about the making of the film and what happiness means.
I felt the film was incredibly relatable and spoke to the struggles of many creatives living in big cities doing their best to live well whilst also surviving the storm of the everyday. It was refreshing reminder of the importance of play, surrendering to the present moment and connecting with others.

Thanks to UK-China Film Collab for organising and the photos