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Naked Nations - Tribe Hong Kong

Social unrest has rocked the world. Hong Kong continues to be savagely plagued by anti-pandemic measures leading to a loss of more innocent lives.

In an act of defiance, and on the edge of darkness himself, one filmmaker has chosen self-exile following the completion of his final feature film. It is a film about people, about the young actors living bravely through this dark age, about living with fleeting hope, but hope nonetheless, in their hearts.

Eventually, everyone involved must face a choice: to follow the director into uncharted waters risking it all, or to stay fight, with the very real possibility of losing to the realities of the world. How will their friendships, their love, their lives play out after such decisions?

Naked Nations is a deeply human, joyful, poignant and heartbreaking film about freedom and its many manifestations, fragility and limits, a film about life, depression and difficult decisions. But above all, a film about love. Hong Kong director Scud says goodbye

  • Scud
    Director
    City Without Baseball, Permanent Residence, Amphetamine, Love Actually....Sucks!, Adonis, Apostles, Bodyshop, Voyage, Utopians
  • Scud
    Writer
    City Without Baseball, Permanent Residence, Amphetamine, Love Actually....Sucks!, Adonis, Apostles, Bodyshop, Voyage, Utopians
  • Scud
    Key Cast
    "Scud"
    City Without Baseball, Permanent Residence, Amphetamine, Love Actually....Sucks!, Thirsty Years of Adonis, Apostles, Bodyshop, Voyage, Utopians
  • Adonis He
    Key Cast
    "Adonis"
    Bodyshop, Utopians, Thirty Years of Adonis, Apostles
  • Amanda Lee
    Key Cast
    "Amanda"
    School on Fire, Magnificent Team, Shanghai Grand
  • Susan Yam-Yam Shaw
    Key Cast
    "Susan"
    The Unknown Mother, Gallants, The Romantic Scholar
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    LGBT, Drama
  • Runtime:
    2 hours 41 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 1, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Hong Kong
  • Country of Filming:
    Hong Kong
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • International Film Festival Rotterdam
    Rotterdam
    Netherlands
    January 26, 2024
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Scott Motisko PR
    Sales Agent
    Country: Worldwide
Director Biography - Scud

Born in China, had a 20 years IT career, founded a public listed company, travelled 80 countries before settling in Sydney. Realizing that he had fulfilled the dream of others but not his own, he returned to Hong Kong to start Artwalker, producing acclaimed films such as the Berlinale official selection “Amphetamine” (2009) and “Voyage” (2012). Scud was the tribute honoree and the first Q-Hugo Award recipient in the 49th Chicago International Film Festival and received an “Artistic Achievement Award” for his “Edgy, Tender and Bold Filmmaking”. SCUD announced his intended retirement in 2022, after making his 10th and last film “Naked Nations”.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When I was casting a leading man of my second film, Permanent Residence, Osman Hung who then became the first boyband heartthrob ever to go full frontal, asked me about my ideal for the new studio, Artwalker.

In a hurry to respond in a cool way, I said I liked to make 10 films so every wall will be covered by posters.

I almost failed that, after my fifth film, Voyage, and then after my twin 8th and 9th films, Apostles and Bodyshop, when my depression took the better of me and pushed me towards quitting altogether.

But then the idea of Naked Nations dawned on me, the name of which was actually borrowed from an epic film I wrote a decade ago that could never be made, for most of the shootings had to be done in China.

Without the so called “vaccine passport” I could go nowhere, even most parts of Hong Kong, the city I’ve been living for over 40 years on and off. I pulled myself together to shoot this last work of mine, with my ever devoting actors here, with our iPhones only.

It’s about the darkest time of our era, the darkest spot on earth. After years of social unrest that rocked the world, the former colony was further plagued by some of the harshest anti-pandemic measures.

It’s about the life and death of people, innocent lives lost not by the virus but man-made disasters, and the stubborn ones hanging on despite the sudden loss of almost all freedoms.

It’s about love, like almost every films do, but loves hastened, intensified and escalated, especially of amorous young ones, with their bold acts to defy the curfew and offset the helplessness.

It’s about freedom, what we take for granted, being revoked brutally, and had to fought some back ourselves. My visitors had to climb like 50 levels of backstairs to bypass the guards. Were I to see someone in a close friend’s bar, she would rehearse an exit strategy with me first in case policemen might hop in anytime. Just the freedom to meet, but then meeting alone would not suffice.

As the title suggests, we’d get naked whenever we can, have pleasures of all sorts buoyed by the excitement of breaking the confinement. It’s just life, only that our most private and intimate moments are lay bare brazenly, like in any of my films.

It’s about choices, life decisions facing Hong Kongers all the time, more so this time. Would one stay fighting, submitting to realities, lying flat ‘til the tide turns, capitalizing on the opportunities, or sailing to uncharted water?