Freedom Swimmer | 15min | Animated Short | 2022 | UK
Yue Chinese (Cantonese) English Subtitles |
Writer/Director: Olivia Martin/McGuire
In order to understand the present, we need to shed light on the past. Freedom Swimmer documents one of the most extraordinary mass escapes of the 20th century – and offers context for a city in uprise, today. Our hybrid, poetic documentary, interweaving extraordinary hand-drawn animation and film, tells the tale of a grandfather’s perilous swim from China to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution. It is a tale that rhythmically parallels his granddaughter’s participation in mass protests now, and the building pressure for her to escape Hong Kong as new National Security Laws set in. Our film is a story of fear to freedom.
