Obedience is set in a run-down area of Hung Hom in Hong Kong, where local buildings have fallen into disrepair due to a delay in the MTR's Sha Tin to Central Link project. The area is home to the Kwun Yum temple, which attracts large numbers of devotees seeking financial betterment during the Treasury Opening Festival. However, nestled between the high-rise buildings and the temple is a group of families who scour the streets for discarded cardboard and depend on leftovers from restaurants. Patrolling streets lined with funeral stores, cleaners brave the rain to move trolleys full of garbage, hawkers sell unwanted items at the local flea market, and recycling stores face closure due to an urban redevelopment project.

Filmed by Hong Kong independent documentary director Wong Siu Pong over the span of six years, including three years of filming and three years of post-production, Obedience is an observational documentary that uses wide-angle shots to spotlight the lives of Hung Hom’s forgotten residents. Compared with his previous works Snuggle (2016) and 3CM (2019), Wong’s latest documentary offers a more comprehensive perspective on contemporary Hong Kong society.

The screening on 6 October will be followed by a talk in Cantonese with director Wong Siu-pong, moderated by M+ Assistant Curator of Moving Image Francisco Lo.

Wong Siu-pong (b. 1986, Hong Kong) graduated from Hong Kong Shue Yan University in 2021 with a degree in journalism and communication. In 2013, he made his first feature documentary, Fish Story (2013), which follows a pair of Hong Kong primary school students. In 2014, he volunteered at the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and made the documentary Snuggle (2016) on the topic of life and death. In 2017, he followed for more than a year the families of two patients with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, resulting in the documentary 3CM (2019). In 2020, Wong and his friends opened SINCE Concept Store, the first store in Hong Kong dedicated to promoting mental health and documentaries. Obedience (2024) premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.