CHANEL’s support has been instrumental in bringing this festival to life. “More than a century ago, Gabrielle Chanel was a notable patron of the arts — she approached her work with a spirit of curiosity, generosity and embrace of the avant-garde,” shares Yana Peel, Global Head of Arts & Culture, CHANEL. CHANEL’s ongoing dedication to the arts is fuelled by The CHANEL Culture Fund, which was founded to engage in long-term partnerships with cultural institutions like M+, who are “spotlighting the now and the next, as well as activating history to define the future”. 

Looking ahead, the partnership between CHANEL and M+ promises to evolve and expand. Peel shares exciting plans for the future, including the M+ Restored programme, highlighting Hong Kong’s role in the board history of cinema. “CHANEL is in a position to help M+ restore classic films so they can be rediscovered by contemporary audiences and inspire emerging filmmakers today,” she said. “These are not archival, academic films for niche audiences but modern works of art that speak to the moment, and I am really delighted that CHANEL can play a part in bringing them into the light.”

The inaugural Asian Avant-Garde Film Festival stands as a testament to the resilience and creativity of Asian filmmakers. With the support of CHANEL, M+ is poised to continue this journey, uncovering new talent and reviving forgotten masterpieces. As Peel aptly put it, “We hope this film festival, curated by M+, will help unearth the next Wong Kar-wai or Ellen Pau.” 

Experimental film is an expansive genre—how did you approach defining the contours of “Asian avant-garde” in a way that is inclusive but also identifies common threads?

Silke Schmickl: As a curator, I always love it when the work speaks to me without having a theme in mind. I want to look at all the materials and see if something emerges from them. For historical films, when you work under very difficult economic and political conditions, often what you have is only your body and your camera. It is very natural—you use your body as the main tool because you may not have actors or a budget, only your friends. You just start using what is available. When you are not politically free, people create works that are more intimate to find full freedom, even if it’s just within their living room. However, we also wanted to think about artists like Lu Yang, a Chinese contemporary artist who uses avatars and video games. The body, the digital body, is still present in her performance alongside the physical body, with two Indian dancers who will activate the avatar. It’s about trying to find these connections. Of course, the body is present in Wing’s photography as well—how the famous film bodies, the celebrities, also become reactivated in a different way. It’s about looking at this motif from very different angles but also through different media, from 16 millimetres and 8 millimetres all the way to AI and the digital.

What do you see as some of the key challenges or opportunities for Asian experimental filmmakers today? 

Wing Shya: There are a lot of challenges, but the role of social media has changed in our society, allowing people to connect and do many things online, such as NFTs. The scene is different now.

Silke Schmickl: I think the challenges are the same for everyone, everywhere in the world. Our economy is fragile; you can’t make a living out of these experimental works. It takes a lot of courage to bring something truly personal to the table or voice your political opinion, whatever it may be. We sometimes call it a “cinema of courage” because these avant-garde films are made so independently and not for a specific audience, economically speaking. It is difficult everywhere, but I think what Wing says is really true. Before social media, people had to build a community through different means. If you wanted to exchange dialogues about experimental filmmaking, you needed a platform like a festival to bring people together. This is also why we aim to create such a platform—we still believe that bringing people together physically can strengthen the community, even though many things are accessible online. It is also important that, parallel to the industry, we continue to nurture the creative energy that is essential to our society.

What are your thoughts on the future of Asian avant-garde filmmaking in Hong Kong and beyond?

Wing Shya: As a creative, you need to be more daring. These kinds of festivals help a lot. When I was studying in Canada, they had a festival that changed me significantly because you feel more brave and daring when you see others doing the same kind of things, especially as a student. For young creatives, this will help a lot by showing them they are not alone in their endeavours. I hope that in the future, we see more of these events and more experimental work in the filmmaking scene—pieces that bring something new to the market.

Silke Schmickl: I totally agree. When I moved to Paris as a student, I was exposed to this kind of cinema, and it was really empowering. I felt that there was a unique community I could be a part of. There is often an assumption that new things are more progressive and daring, but if you look back at some historical works, you will find that you can learn from them again and again. Experimental cinema has always been exciting, and I don’t think it will ever die out because people always have something to say. We all have cameras now and can express ourselves through this medium. However, it’s important that these kinds of works also find a place in institutions like M+, which is why I started this collection—to give these works a home. They often just exist on hard drives or within grassroots organisations. It’s part of our heritage and a means to empower future generations. Therefore, we need to find a place for them so that they are accessible and safe.

Do you have a favourite piece of work at the festival?

Silke Schmickl: I have been researching in this field for around 10 years now and hold many of these works dear to my heart because I’ve shown them in Paris, Singapore, and other places globally. However, there is one piece by Chang Chao-tang, a Taiwanese photographer whom I deeply admired but who sadly just passed away. He made this piece—Modern Poetry, one of his earliest films—together with his friends. It takes place in a garden and is a very improvised piece by young people using poetry while living under martial law in Taiwan. It was a different way of living their lives as young, creative people. What I liked a lot about his approach back then is that he worked at an ATV station, so he could access cameras through his day job and took them out in the evenings and on weekends to make films with his friends. This story moved me a lot. Another one is Nick Deocampo, a really amazing filmmaker and professor in the Philippines, who is an initiator in the Philippines with very eccentric, vibrant films. He lived under the Marcos regime, where the dictatorship did not allow for this kind of cinema, but he did it anyway. He will be one of our guests, so I’m very excited to celebrate these people who kept going during difficult times. They are now in their 60s but have never stopped creating and being brave. Behind every film is a beautiful story. I hope the festival will allow us to retell these stories.