Montages of a Modern Motherhood
Press Play to start
Theatrical Screenings
Kinoteka 3
Kinoteka 3
Online Availability
Additional Materials
Film description
The concept of the "virtuous wife and good mother" remains a cultural ideal with which young women in Confucian societies continue to struggle to this day. It demands unconditional sacrifice for the family, even as contemporary life calls for individuality and self-reliance. When, after years of trying, Jing and Wai welcome their long-awaited baby girl, the joy of their firstborn’s arrival quickly clashes with a harsh reality. Sleepless nights, endless feedings, and hair falling out in clumps reveal the hidden side of the coin behind a facade of social expectations. Jing's desire to return to work is met with disapproval from her traditional mother-in-law, while mounting pressure and a lack of support from her husband overwhelm the young mother. In the face of crisis, Jing asks herself a harrowing question: where does the line lie between maternal devotion and losing oneself entirely?
In an intimate, deeply personal narrative, Oliver Chan Siu-kuen empathetically depicts the highs and lows of motherhood, giving voice to experiences that are all too often silenced. Breaking through cultural taboos, Montages of a Modern Motherhood shows that sometimes the quiet struggle to preserve one's own identity is the hardest battle of all.
text:
Lucyna Szczykutowicz
Oliver Chan Siu-kuen
Born in Hong Kong in 1987, Oliver Chan Siu-kuen is a director and screenwriter. Raised in a public housing estate in Kowloon, she appeared as a child actor in educational television programmes. After high school, she entered the business school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), studying business administration with one-year exchange programmes at the Copenhagen Business School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Upon graduating, she worked for two years at Hang Seng Bank before shifting career paths in 2012 to pursue film studies at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Her debut short film, 3 Coins, won an award funded by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, while her 2015 short, Children, was selected for the Fresh Wave programme. Following her studies, she founded No Ceiling Film Production Limited, directing commercials and corporate films. Her feature directorial debut, Still Human, screened at the 13th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival.
2013 Saam go gam bai / 3 Coins
2015 ALOHA
2015 Ji neoi / Children
2018 Pozostać człowiekiem / Lun lok yan / Still Human
2024 Urywki z macierzyństwa / Fu duk bat / Montages of a Modern Motherhood
Festival guests
Oliver Chan Siu-kuen
film director and screenwriter


