HONG KONGISH
How one filmmaker found hidden talent and secret sorrows in Hong Kong’s walkways and parks. 一位電影導演在香港的街頭和公園發掘隱世高手及其背後辛酸。
PAUL KAY talks to the director of The Helper about telling the stories of the city’s domestic workers
IT’S A SIGHT that will be familiar to anyone who has ever crossed Central or Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park on a Sunday afternoon: thousands of Southeast Asian women gathered in groups to sit, eat, talk and dance.
For first-time visitors it can be a perplexing spectacle – and so it was for Joanna Bowers, a British filmmaker who worked in LA for several years before relocating to Hong Kong.
‘I knew that these women weren’t homeless, even though they were sitting on cardboard boxes, and it wasn’t a protest. But I just couldn’t figure out why there were so many people that couldn’t integrate and spend their Sunday like the rest of Hong Kong,’ she recalls.
These women had left their homes and families to work as domestic helpers, in many cases to carve out a better life for their children back in Indonesia or the Philippines. And so, the idea for
The Helper – a documentary chronicling the stories and sacrifices of domestic workers in Hong Kong – was born.
After raising US$86,000 (HK$675,000) to finance the film on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, Bowers started to research the issues faced by Hong Kong’s 340,000-strong domestic helper community, and a handful of stories began to stand out.
A video of a performance by domestic helpers choir Unsung Heroes convinced Bowers that they had to be part of the film; while Liza Avelino, a domestic helper who had saved up two years’ salary to fund a three-week trek in the Himalayas, and Nurul, a new mother wrongly accused of theft and facing deportation with her young daughter, rounded out her cast.
The film finale? The Unsung Heroes’ performance to an audience of several thousand at Clockenflap, Hong Kong’s biggest music festival, in 2015. The choir were also invited to perform at this year’s Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
Two years on from its conception,
The Helper premiered at The Asia Society Hong Kong in May 2017. From an initial run of five showings, interest in the film snowballed, resulting in more than 30 sold-out screenings in Hong Kong.
As word spread, requests for private showings began to roll in, leading to the launch of a corporate screening programme and another for schools in Hong Kong, as well as interest from distributors around the world. This in turn led to life-changing events for the film’s stars. Private kindergarten group Woodland Pre-Schools offered Nurul’s daughter a scholarship, ultimately adding eight further scholarships for the children of asylum seekers. Avelino has become an in-demand public speaker, including hosting a local TED Talk. And the film’s soundtrack was released on Sony Music’s The Orchard label on 18 December – International Migrants Day – bringing the songs of Unsung Heroes to music streaming platforms around the world.
Bowers adds: ‘Every day, I get messages from people saying how much of an impact the film has had on them, how they just didn’t know what these people’s lives were like, and how it’s changed the way they look at the women next to them on the bus or on the MTR in really lovely ways.’ 若你曾於周日下午行經中環銅或 鑼灣的維多利亞公園，此番景象想必歷歷在目︰成千上萬名東南亞女人席地而坐，三五成群地吃喝聊天，甚至隨歌起舞。
首次來港的人或會對此大感詫異，英國導演Joanna Bowers亦不例外，她曾於洛杉磯工作多年，其後移居本港。
她憶述︰「這些女人坐在紙皮箱上，但我知道她們不是露宿者，亦非靜坐抗議。我很困惑，為何有這麼多人無法融入本地社區，跟尋常人一樣度周日。」
她們大多來自印尼或菲律賓，離鄉別井到香港當家庭傭，望工 希 家鄉的日子能過上好日子。這位導演遂萌生拍攝錄紀 片《The = Helper》的念頭，娓娓道出本港外籍家傭的經歷和犧牲。
在眾籌平台Kickstar ter籌得86,000美元（ 67. 5萬港元）作攝拍 資金之後， Bowers開探始 究香港逾34萬名外籍家傭所面對的問題，當中包括幾個格外感人的故事。
一段錄紀傭外合團唱 Unsung Heroes表演的短片，促使Bowers決心拍攝她們的故事，此外，她還加入了Liza Avelino和Nurul兩位外傭做主角，前者攢存兩年薪水作為經費，並以三周時間完成征服喜馬拉雅山的心願；後者則被錯誤指控盜竊，幾乎與年幼女兒被驅逐出境。
電影以2015年度香港最大型音樂節Clockenflap作結， Unsung Heroes合團唱在台上向數千名觀眾獻唱。她們更獲邀在今年的國泰航空/滙豐香港國際七人欖球賽賽前活動中演出。
從思完構 到 成拍攝歷時兩年，《The Helper》於2017年5月在亞洲協會香港中心首映錄。紀 片原先只公映五場，後因反應熱烈而登上香港戲院的大銀，幕 締造出超過30場滿座的驕人成績。
口耳相傳之下， Bowers開始收到大量私人放映錄紀 片的邀請，遂發起企業及學校放映活動；與此同時，來自世界各
地的電影發行商亦表示對紀感。錄興片 趣片中一眾主人翁亦因此遇上改變人生的際遇︰私立幼稚園辦集學 團樂林國際學校提供獎學金給Nurul的女兒，其後再增加八個獎學金名額予其他尋求庇護人士的子女； Avelino成為炙手可熱的公開演講者，更於本地的TED論壇中演說錄。紀 片的原聲大碟於12月18日「國際移民日」在 Sony Music的數碼音樂庫The Orchard上架將， Unsung Heroes的歌聲傳至全球音樂串流平台。
Bowers補充道︰每「我 天都收到不少信息，向我映反 電影啟發了他們，他們表示以往未存了解外傭的生活但， 今後若在巴士或地鐵遇上她們，將會以更友善的目光來看待她們。」