Mong Kok at Night

Perhaps one of the most recognisable iconographies of Hong Kong is that of cage homes and, by extension, the Kowloon Walled City. Type ‘Hong Kong’ online and you’ll find an abundance of content dedicated to romanticising this once lawless neighbourhood.

It wasn’t until I had lived abroad that I began to realise how many people’s impressions of the city lean toward this dystopian, cyberpunk vision.

Having spent the summer of 2023 back in Hong Kong, I made an effort to see the city from an outsider’s perspective, asking myself what someone who had never visited might think of it. It proved to be a surprisingly eye-opening experience. I not only found myself enjoying the city more than I had in years, but also realised just how much I had previously taken for granted.

One evening after work, I grabbed my camera and headed out for a night shoot in Mong Kok, one of Hong Kong’s busiest districts and one synonymous with the neon glow the city is known for. Without a set plan, I wandered for hours, filming places I remembered fondly from my childhood. What I didn’t expect was how strongly it would stir my memories.

In post-production, various colour grades were experimented to capture Mong Kok’s cyberpunk atmosphere without leaning too much into a stereotypical, tourist-focused perspective. This same approach informed my decision to use an instrumental cover of a well-known nostalgic Cantopop song over an electronic synth track, giving the film a sense of being set in the early 2000s.