Hong Kong (4/15): The Hong Kong Film Awards

The day had finally come!  It was time for the Hong Kong Film Awards.  I got ready in the morning and then headed in to do a bit of last-minute work at ... work.  After-all, we had just launched so there was quite a bit of things to do for the site.  I bumped in to Terence at the office and we confirmed that we were meeting at the venue at 2 p.m. for rehearsal.

As I'm writing this I realize that, while most of the Alive fans or people here in Hong Kong know what this whole thing was for, some people who read this blog (i.e., my parents) aren't going to have a clue what is going on.  So, here is a quick little descrīption of why this was neat.  (You can skip ahead if you already know):

Back in 2005 Dan, Terence, Conroy and Andrew made a "boy band" called "Alive".  To the public it seemed that they were actually forming a band, but in truth it was an elaborate deception, which they had to keep from friends, family and the industry.  The true project was a film, a mock-u-mentary of sorts, which they shot during their "rise to fame" as a boy band, but who's ultimate aim was to highlight the problems which face the Hong Kong entertainment industry and bring them out to be seen.

This film was released last year (almost exactly one year ago) at which time they finally announced to everyone that this was the true purpose of the Boy Band.  The film was called "The Heavenly Kings" and for this year's Hong Kong Film Awards it received two nominations. One was for Best New Director to Dan Wu, and the other was for "Best Song", for the song "Adam's Choice", which the pretend boy-band released last year.

During these awards shows they have performances of the nominated songs intersperced between the various award presentations (much like they do at the Oscars) but the Alive guys didn't want to do a standard performance.  Much like the film itself, they wanted to use it as a venue for expressing their feelings and thoughts about the Hong Kong Entertainment industry.

So, they brought in several Indie Hong Kong bands ( AudioTraffic, Hardpack, 24 Herbs and QiuHOng) along with legendary guitarist Paul Wong (all of these people are featured artists on this site too, btw.) to perform the song with them.  While the song was being performed they showed cards which carried messages highlighting various problems/issues/thoughts about the industry.  You can get a rundown on all these cards here.

They could have very easily taken the easy way out and just done a standard performance, but they instead decided to do something to shake up the establishment a bit.  And so ... that takes us back to the morning of the performance.  Now you know what the big deal is .. on with the rest of the blog ...

As I took the Star Ferry over to Kowloon I got a call from Pat who said that Dan had just called him and that it was actually supposed to be 1 p.m.  Whoops!  Well, not much that we could do about it at that point.  We all made our way to the dressing rooms and suited up in our black uniforms (with "flair") and waited to be called downstairs for our dress rehearsal.

Pat gets psyched up for the show

Andrew looking pimp

A familiar looking photo from alive not dead!

We saw the Alive boys get all decked out in their tuxes, which looked very swank.  I realized that this was a pretty big deal.  In the back of my head I knew that, but up until then I had been focusing primarily on the performance and less on what we were performing for.  It was the Oscars of Hong Kong.

Terence looking very Bond

Lisa makes me feel short ....

Conroy, Andrew, Terence and Dan in their formal gear

You can see Paul Wong next to the Audio Traffic guys

Conroy talks to Phat. You can see Jason Tobin and Dan in the background

This is like a "Where's Waldo?", except it's "Where's JezzJunk?"

We all made our way downstairs and then around the corner to a nice double-decker bus.  It pulled around the Star Ferry turn-around and then went down the street, pulled another u-turn and then we came to the front of the venue.  The crowds were screaming and photographers were taking pictures.  But the strangest of all was us.

Walking to the bus

Dan gives a thumbs up as everyone attempts to get on the bus

We were doing dog-pound "woofs" from the bus every couple seconds, the adrenaline was pumping through our veins and we were on a mission.  A mission to completely befuddle the establishment.  At that point, given our state of mind, if someone had said "You guys are being too disruptive" it would have almost been a compliment.

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Crazy Bus Riders

The view inside the bus. Is it me or is Ghost Style looking uber happy?

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Approaching the Red Carpet!

We piled out of the bus and on to the Red Carpet, walked up the stairs and stood behind the Alive Boys with cheers of support and yells of enthusiasm.  We were like their own private entourage of crazed rockers in black.  It was quite the experience.

We made our way around the meet-and-greet area but eventually we were brought into the front of the auditorium and then back to our dressing rooms.  To be honest, it probably only lasted about 15 minutes, but it seemed that time had stood still for a bit and we had all gone just a little crazy -- but in a good way.

Etchy, Jason and Stephen with the gang in tow

Crazy press

Alive Boys making their way to the interviews

That reporter looks like he's trying to eat someone's head

The interview with the posse in tow

We waited anxiously in the dressing rooms until it was our turn to go.  We got to see a little of the show on the TV monitor downstairs, but for the most part I didn't see much of anything.

Oh, sure, a few celebrities here and there, but to be honest I didn't even know their names.  I at least recognized them though, so that's a point in my favor.

As we were going downstairs we heard that Dan had won the award for Best New Director.  We became even more psyched and energies rose again.  He came down the hallway sporting the award and we all gave a quiet cheer (didn't want to disrupt the TV broadcast).

And then it was time.  The performance went well, with the exception of the tombstone not rising when it was supposed to.  But of all the glitches that could have happened, I suppose that one was relatively minor.  It was just neat being on stage and dancing around like an idiot.  If you haven't seen it, here is the clip of our performance (in which it is almost impossible to see me, unless you know where to look, but lots of shots of JayCee):

And here is a version with the full BBQ Introduction by the Emcee, but a little bad sound quality.

Afterwards we went off-stage and everyone felt pretty happy.  We made our way back upstairs, undressed, and then decided to head out.  The alive not dead gang caught the Star Ferry and made our way over to Pat's place to cool off a bit before the after-party.

Pat showing off his gear

Stephen directing traffic

Super Etchy ready to fight crime

Kim the Masked Bandit

He really likes mugging me

The universal hand sign for alive not dead

Peeps having a good time after the performance

Hardpack and a blurry Paul Wong

While we were at Pat's we saw a few glimpses of the delayed broadcast on TV.  But we weren't able to catch much.  It wasn't until we had gone to Conroy's for the after-after party that we would be able to check out the full thing on TV.  We all kept watching it over and over, psyched at what we had accomplished.

In a single swoop we had done something never-before seen in Hong Kong.  We challenged the way things are and tried to suggest a way things could be.  And that is something that is continuing even now right here on this website. 

An attempt to fulfill a vision of collaboration and creativity.  To me, the Hong Kong Film Awards was a starting point and it gave me a renewed sense of purpose in what we're trying to do here. 

It's not going to be an easy path at all, but nothing worthwhile ever is.  That's okay though, even with all the work, we will still enjoy the process of trying to build something unique, diverse and unified, which will bring a positive impact on the world around us.

(to be continued ... )