Apart

Set against Hong Kong's explosive politics from the student-led Umbrella Movement to the unprecedented Anti-Extradition Movement: Five young students discover the harsh reality of socio-political impact on their life and relationship, as they fight through their way from seeking democracy to defending their freedom from fear.

Maryanne and Yin are committed lovers at university. Historic events threaten to pull them apart when they and Maryanne’s best friend Shi, and Yin’s cousin Toh, join a nascent student strike to achieve their long-stolen democracy. Jessica, Yin’s and Toh’s remote cousin born in Hong Kong but raised in US, join them.

When idealism meets reality and the personal meets the political, they find they are weathering through storms of impacts on their goals and relationship in the midst of social turmoil. Yin faces opposition from his family whose business is seriously hampered by city-wide blockades, while Maryanne becomes ever more committed to the cause. Despite their pure feelings binding them together, will the strain of their respective ties and the socio-political chaos tear them apart?

Years after when Maryanne has become a legislator and Yin a venture capitalist getting into the Chinese market, they face an even tougher pull as the chasm between their goals and responsibilities deepens. Passion and love are the incentives of revolution, but will they get lost in their own ups and downs?

Charting some of the most vital moments in Hong Kong’s history, “Apart” is a handsomely lensed romance and heartfelt family drama mixed with documentary and fictional footages that tracks the characters from their free-thinking teens into adulthood bundled with responsibilities and hesitation. When the night is deep and the crowds are gone, and when one gets to sit down and reflect, is lost youth a mere regret or inevitable in growing up?

  • CHAN, Chitman
    Director
    (directorial debut)
  • CHAN, Chitman
    Writer
    (debut)
  • YAU, Herman
    Producer
  • NG, Sofiee
    Key Cast
    "Maryanne"
  • OR, Will
    Key Cast
    "Yin"
  • FUNG, Yoyo
    Key Cast
    "Shi"
  • CHOI, Jocelyn
    Key Cast
    "Jessica"
  • CHAN, Lit-man
    Key Cast
    "Toh"
  • CHAN, Chitman
    Key Cast
    "Hung"
    Eve and The Fire Horse (Frank, the father)
  • WONG, Bonnie
    Key Cast
    "Grandma"
  • CHEUNG, Kenneth
    Key Cast
    "Keung"
  • YUEN, Ben
    Key Cast
    "Nick"
  • HO, Kai-wa
    Key Cast
    "Chicken"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    散後
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Romance, Politics
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 37 minutes 6 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 8, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    705,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Hong Kong
  • Country of Filming:
    Hong Kong
  • Language:
    English, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese (Cantonese)
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 15th Osaka Asian Film Festival, 2020
    Osaka
    Japan
    March 7, 2020
    International Premiere
    Official Selection, Competition
  • Hong Kong Independent Film Festival 2020
    Hong Kong
    Hong Kong
    January 11, 2020
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 14th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, 2020
    Warsaw
    Poland
    November 25, 2020
    Polish Premiere
    Official Selection, "Hong Kong Now" section
  • 17th Asian Film Festival (Rome, Italy), 2020
    Rome
    Italy
    July 30, 2020
    European Premiere
    Official Selection, Competition
  • 7th TaoYuan Film Festival, 2020
    Tao Yuan
    Taiwan
    October 9, 2020
    Taiwan Premiere
    Official Selection, "City Panorama" section
  • 2nd Asian Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2020
    Los Angeles
    United States
    November 21, 2020
    North American Premiere
    4 Nominations - Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Music, Best Production Design
Director Biography - CHAN, Chitman

Chitman received Acting MFA from City University of New York. His major awards include –

• Champion script, 2nd "First Feature Film Initiative (Professional Group)", Hong Kong – Director / Writer / Co-producer / Actor / Co-editor of "Apart" (post-production).
• "Best Supporting Actor" Nomination, 27th Genie Awards, Canada – as Frank in "Eve and the Fire Horse".

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

APART is a result of its Championship in Hong Kong’s Second “First Feature Film Initiative – Professional Group”, a competition hosted by the Hong Kong Government that carries a grant by the Hong Kong Film Development Fund to fund the winner’s production.

It explores the dilemma faced by Hong Kong’s younger generation who get involved in the socio-political tensions of this turbulent city. They have gone through two major movements starting from the Umbrella Movement in 2014, and pushing all the way into the Anti-Extradition Protest in 2019 that had shocked the world. As a National Security Law was brutally crushed onto the city later by the Chinese Communist Party, violating the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between United Kingdom and China, the reality faced by the citizens there grows only dimmer.

Set as a romantic family drama, APART explores the inner lives and impacts of such turmoil on 5 young characters as they fight their way through – from seeking democracy, to protecting their own basic rights of security. Consequently, they all have to face touch choices in their lives, that manifest the complicated scenarios faced by all their citizens, and perhaps all peoples in the world too who suffer from suppression by authoritarianism and totalitarianism.

In the past, Hong Kong cinema was known for its great entertainment values and fast tempo. But APART has brought in an additional layer, to show that Hong Kong films can also be entertaining, yet carrying deep, universal, thought-provoking and humanistic touches as well as feelings.

As reviewed by Sławomir Wasiński, an Asian film expert writing for the Five Flavours Asian Film Festival of Poland, 2020 –
“…If I were to choose only one film from the section (of Hong Kong cinema) that needs to be watched, I would point to this one (Apart), because of a certain on-screen truth that is not easy to find in cinema today.”