This Darling Life - Production Notes

This Darling Life

Running Time: 80 Minutes

Production Notes

CONCEPT:

This is a film about dog’s best friends, evolving around the people and dogs living in Hong Kong. It is about love and compassion. This Darling Life explores the diversity in Hong Kong’s society, and in turns reveals the residents’ feelings on issues of love and life, expanding to a universal quest for respect and equality in all living beings.

CONTENT:

The documentary opens up with the director’s feelings towards the slow tortuous sickness and eventual death of her dog Baby, her companion dog of sixteen years. It slowly meanders into her feelings about life, death and love, questions that have intrigued mankind for centuries. The stories in this documentary unfold into imageries of what concern us the most in our short and darling life.

DIRECTOR’S WORDS

I first contemplated doing this project when I was producing pro bono a video for a non-profit animal welfare organization, Animals Asia.  I came into contact with many fascinating people and cases. The people are all normal residents who have a big heart. These people revealed to me how they tackle the odds and manage their lives into meaningful and constructive ones. They became my teachers. Hopefully this documentary would transcend into a story about humanity, and that it would teach us how to respect and love life a bit more, not just towards others, but also towards oneself.

The film weaves visual richness and cutaways that feature the City, offering a poetic form of documentary filmmaking using a strong personal and self-reflective angle to draw the audience into an emotional journey. It becomes a visual poem.

COLLABORATION:

The documentary involves interviewees/residents of Hong Kong from multi-cultures. It is produced and directed by Angie Chen, who received her MFA from UCLA, returned home to direct three features in the eighties, and subsequently went into directing television commercials and teaching. Her short film “The Visit”, shot in Germany and finished in the U.S., has won international accolade and is in permanent collection in the Hong Kong Film Archives.

The crew is comprised of professional peers from the industry, graduates and students from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, The Hong Kong Art School, and Baptist University. They are mostly from Hong Kong and China.

Original music is collaborated by local Hong Kong artists, Ellen Joyce Loo of People Mountain People Sea and veteran musician/composer Wilson Tsang.

Post-Visual Effects are engineered by Yu+co, a US based Motion Graphics House run by two Hong-Kong-born brothers, executed by a Spaniard artist.

The one thing in common amongst them is the PASSION shared. The collaboration of such a team, with young talents and accomplished veterans, has brought about creative interchange among different nationals and generations, accentuating cross-cultural and cross-generational understanding.

《愛與狗同行》

高清記錄片，80min

故事大綱

概念：

這部電影講述的是狗和它們最好的朋友——人之間的故事，尤其是生活在香港的人與狗。可愛的狗仔在片中將會引領我們去探索香港社會的多樣性，展現人們對愛與生命的看法。透過故事，我們看到愛與憐憫，以及對尊重、平等等價值觀的普世追求。

內容簡介

一切始於一條小狗。陪伴了導演16年的小狗Baby被疾病折磨，慢慢走向死亡……這個與摯愛分離的痛苦過程，將導演帶入記憶的長河，重新思索自己和家人的感情。亦以狗為嚮導，打開心扉，去傾聽其他狗主的精彩故事。在這些人與狗的故事背後，我們探索的是人類永恆的命題：生命、死亡和愛。透過絢麗的影像，看看在我們短暫而又可愛的一生中，最重要到底是什麼。

導演的話

決定創作《愛與狗同行》是源於一次奇妙的經歷。在慈善機構Animals Asia舉辦的“狗醫生動物醫療計劃”中，我有幸結識了許多有趣的人，他們只是普通市民，都要爲生計而忙碌，卻無私地把時間與精力投入愛護動物的事業；看著這些可愛的人如何看待生命，如何令自己活得熠熠生彩，讓我心中充滿了感動。於是我決定用我的攝像機去講述一個關於人性的故事，故事裏有對生命的尊重與熱愛。這尊重與熱愛，是對其他人的，亦是對自己的。

藝術風格:

這部清新怡人的紀錄片一不小心，很容易就會拍成一部動物紀錄片，但導演卻賦予這部影片罕見的思考力度和且深且痛的詩意表達。透過一個個有趣的故事，帶領觀眾一起體驗奇妙的情感旅程。雖為紀錄片，卻有著劇情片所特有的情節脈絡和女性導演獨有的極微妙的情緒跳動，賦予了紀錄片別樣的光彩。

多元文化合作

本片由資深導演、製片人陳安琪導演。陳曾於八零年代執導三部劇情長片，之後跨入電視廣告界，並積極投身教育事業。其於德意志拍攝、於美利堅完成的短片“探訪”獲得國際讚譽，並獲香港電影資料館永久珍藏。她攝製的電影與廣告亦同樣獲得難以計數的獎項與提名。

在本片中，你會看到聚居香港的各個種族人士，他們有些富有、有些貧窮，有些甚至無家可歸; 有些對動物置之不理，有些卻視寵物如命。出場的狗仔亦多種多樣: 有純種、有混血; 有居食無憂的、有慘遭遺棄的，更有受嚴格訓練，威風八面的。

拍攝的班底主要來自中國和香港，既有在行業中浸淫多年的專業人士，亦有年輕而充滿創意的香港演藝學院、香港藝術學院及香港浸會大學的精英畢業生。香港80後實力派女生組合at17成員盧凱彤與擁有多年作曲經驗的Wilson Tsang攜手打造本片的原創電影音樂。後期特效由Yu+co的香港分部負責，該公司總部設立在好萊塢，曾參與過不少好萊塢大片的後期製作，如《藝妓回憶錄》、《斷臂山》以及07年熱爆全球的《色戒》等。

縱觀整部電影的製作，呈現出不同國家、不同文化、不同年齡層的碰撞與共鳴，富創造性地把香港展現給世界。