ARTE to Air New Investigative Doc on Hong Kong Protests

The investigative documentary When a City Rises, which depicts the Hong Kong protest movement, has been picked up by ARTE to air in France on July 13.

Directed by a collective of seven filmmakers, When a City Rises spotlights the resistance movement from within and offers a glimpse into the lives of regular people who find themselves intertwined with a historic struggle for democracy. The doc won the F:ACT Award at CPH: DOX 2021 and is soon to feature at the Sydney Film Festival.

“At the beginning, the world’s attention was on Hong Kong,” said Cathy Chu, one of the directors. “Journalists and broadcast media jetted in to capture the exhilarating standoff between protesters and police. But as international attention waned, it became clear the movement was not getting enough reporting. That motivated us to go into the homes and campuses of protesters to find the story behind the gas mask.”