Document Hong Kong: Out of the Shadows Amazing Azerbaijan

Hong Kong: Out of the Shadows
Dir. Sam Wild, UK 2014, 30 mins, Scottish Premiere

A film five years in the making, Hong Kong: Out of the Shadows explores how many of the city's residents are struggling to achieve full democracy while also confronting economic injustice.

Interviews with major political players and people from civic society underpin the film and outline how– for many- direct action and protest remain the key platform through which frustrations are articulated in the absence of a fully democratic political system.

The stories of two people- one a highly-paid British expat accountant, the other an impoverished Chinese migrant- provide two very different perspectives on life in this heavily-populated metropolis.

Amazing Azerbaijan
Dir. Liz Mermin, Azerbaijan 2013, 60m, UK Premiere

For Eurovision 2011, a sugary duet with the unintentionally ironic title 'Running Scared' won the contest for this oil and gas-rich, secular Shia, former Soviet Republic. The competition claims to be an apolitical celebration of cultural unity; but when the President of Azerbaijan declared the victory a national achievement, he offered the nation up to the harsh glare of the international spotlight, for better or worse.

There is a duality to this Eurasian country: one is a shiny democratic republic the government proudly puts on display for visiting journalists and dignitaries. The other is a repressive and corrupt land with no respect for freedom of expression or assembly- one in which bloggers are arrested on trumped up charges, peaceful protesters are violently beaten, and journalists are threatened- or even killed...