Asian Cinema - Online First

This interview with writer–producer Shu Kei provides an oral history of Hong Kong drama Tracey (2018), the directorial debut of rising talent Jun Li. An integral player in every aspect of Tracey’s production, Shu Kei recounts the film’s inception, preparatory phase, shooting, editing, release and reception. He chronicles the vicissitudes of working with a new generation of actors and a first-time director. His account of Tracey’s production sheds light on Hong Kong filmmaking practice in general, revealing how methods of script construction and shot design operate in contemporary Hong Kong cinema.

Indonesian documentary filmmaking has been riding the global wave of unprecedented interest in the creation, distribution and viewing of environmental documentaries. One of the frontrunners is investigative journalist and filmmaker Dandhy Laksono (b. 1976). With his production house, Watchdoc, and other collaborators since the late 2000s, he has created an extraordinary quantity of thought-provoking environmental and sociopolitical documentaries, many of which have received millions of views. In addition to public screenings in hundreds of Indonesian villages, the popularity of these documentaries has been driven by their streaming on online platforms, particularly YouTube. I argue that Laksono’s work is not merely about nature but about the politics of the environment. The film director not only criticizes political and social structures and practices with a destructive impact on the natural environment but also presents alternative, more sustainable visions for our planet based on Gunter Pauli’s model of the Blue Economy. His documentaries address these environmental politics and alternative visions not only through their content but also through their participatory modes of representation and distribution. This article discusses the politics of the participatory by focusing on the aesthetic modes of address for inviting audience involvement; the promotion of the commons as a cause or ideal in communication and social and environmental affairs; the representation and expression of diverse social, cultural and political voices, including those of marginalized groups; the use of public screenings and interactive media for the sharing and creating of content, and the social debates, connections and actions established through these communicative processes.