A 16-year-old student leader who led street protests in Hong Kong over the territory’s democratic selection process is the subject of a documentary that premiered on Jan. 20 at the Sundance Film Festival.
The docu about Joshua Wong, who was Time Magazine cover boy, titled “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower,” was recently acquired by Netflix. The Joe Piscatella-directed docu would be streamed by Netflix to its 93 million subscribers globally, BBC reported.
Unfortunately, mainland China residents would not be able to watch the docu since Netflix is not available there. Moreover, Chinese authorities would surely not like the contents of the docu which showed scenes of the 2014 protests on Hong Kong streets, led by Joshua Wong, who were demanding a fully democratic selection process unlike the current system in which only 1,200 members of a committee – perceived as pro-Beijing – select Hong Kong’s leader.
Umbrella Movement
The docu covers four years, from 2012 when Joshua Wong was only 16 to 2016 when he was 20 years old. The street protests, called Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, failed to move Beijing which led Joshua Wong to establish the “Demosisto” political party.
Joshua Wong led the 79-day occupation, considered the biggest challenge to China’s political authority, since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. They sought genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong citizens which is guaranteed by the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s charter, StudyInternational reported.
Global Audience
Lisa Nishimura, Netflix VP of Original Documentaries, said the docu allows its global audience to engage on the issues of freedom of expression and heightened civic participation. Netflix said the film on Joshua Wong is “a remarkable portrait of courage, resilience and youthful idealism.”
Besides the Hong Kong government, Joshua Wong had also sparred with his father, Roger Wong, over LGBT issues when HSBC placed in December two rainbow-colored replicates of the bank’s iconic lions in support of Hong Kong’s LGBT community which angered the elder Wong who did not want the bank to support LGBT causes and grant benefits to gay partners of bank employees.