The Hong Kong film Echoes Of The Rainbow won the "new generation" Crystal Bear Award for best film at this year's Berlin Film Festival. It was the first time that a Hong Kong film has earned the award. This film expressed the collective memory of people here through the depiction of a Hong Kong family of four during the 1960s. It is worth mentioning that the shooting for the film was done on Wing Lee Street in the Central district. That area around the street is slated for redevelopment by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA).

The film's director, Alex Law, said that the story was drawn from his own childhood experiences. From this point of view, it may be said that it was the director's autobiographical works. It also can be considered as a portrayal of post-60s era. Law said, "The impulse to make this film in recent years became more and more intense. Perhaps it is because of the post-80s youth problem in recent years. The community gathered a lot of negative energy and I wonder why this is the case. Weren't the difficulties I met when I was a kid much bigger than these? We grew up in the 60s when people really did not have complaints and they only thought if there were issues, how to deal with them." This passage reflects his high sense of community.

Law, after receiving awards in Berlin, came back to Hong Kong and said at a press conference that he would like the Hong Kong government to preserve all the buildings on the Wing Lee Street; and not let the URA "destroy" Wing Lee Street's heritage.

In fact, the URA has decided to keep several old buildings on Wing Lee Street, with the rest to be demolished and rebuilt. The URA should consider keeping the old buildings in which Echoes Of The Rainbow was shot, making it a tourist attraction. Taiwan's film City of Sadness brought tourists to Chiufen. In the past, Chiufen was a gold mining town; it had a reputation as an Asian gold town, but with the depletion of gold resources, the town became "soulless". But the Chiufen's old streets bustled again when the movie City of Sadness was shot in the town. A lot of tourists flew to Chiufen and turned it into another tourist gold-rush.

The production cost of Echoes Of The Rainbow was not high, only HK$12 million, to which the government contributed HK$3.6 million. This indicates that a low-cost production can be successful.

Time can be a thief, but time cannot steal good memories and the Hong Kong spirit. This is what the producer wants to tell us.

The author is chairman of the Hong Kong Public Governance Association and council member of the Central and Western District

(HK Edition 03/05/2010 page1)