Taking full advantage of his stay in Hong Kong during the French Cinepanorama in 2015, in which his film Taj Mahal was selected, Nicolas Saada, filmed his wanderings through the streets of this Asian metropolis. He has now presented these images as a contemplative short film at the same festival that had welcomed him as a guest one year earlier.
"For almost a year, I took my camera with me everywhere, to film, record… catch things.
It was during the presentation of Taj Mahal at the French Film Festival in Hong Kong that I shot these images of the city in December 2015. I was on the streets capturing things on the move.
I had not been to Hong Kong since 1991, and at the time the city had impressed me: everything went faster, stronger, more intensely than in the western capitals.
But since then, our world has changed, and the surprise of seeing a passerby talking on a cell phone on a Kowloon street in 1991 has now become a banal image all around the planet.
So, this time, during this trip, Hong Kong seemed less frantic to me, more melancholy… and even more beautiful.
Hong Kong Solitude pays homage to the city, as well as its filmmakers, whom I have always admired.
Without the enthusiasm of Xavier Mahé, this film would never have seen the light of day.
Without the stubbornness and support of Romain Rivière and Julien Crozet, either. May they all be thanked."
Nicolas Saada
