Clara Law is often introduced as part of the ‘Hong Kong New Wave,’ although she refuses to be defined by territorial labels, a form of categorisation she continually challenges throughout her body of works. Born in Macau, raised in Hong Kong, and now based in Melbourne, Law—like many of her characters—is perpetually in motion, crossing national borders and cultural boundaries, making the sense of displacement in diaspora a recurring theme in both her life and work.

This retrospective charts the turning points in her career, beginning with They Say the Moon Is Fuller Here, her rarely screened first feature, made while studying film in London after directing drama programs at the Radio Television Hong Kong. Returning to Hong Kong in the 1990s, Law emerged as a rising filmmaker with Farewell China, the first instalment of what became her ‘migration trilogy’. In 1994, she moved to Australia with her partner and long-term collaborator Eddie Fong, and gained recognition at major festivals with Australian-made films, including The Goddess of 1967. In her latest work Drifting Petals, she revisits Macau and Hong Kong, reflecting on her personal ties to both cities. Some of the films are shown for the first time in the UK. 

Curated by Eleanor Lu and Ching Wong 
With thanks to Cecilia Wong.

Saturday 20 September, 12.20pm
They Say the Moon is Fuller Here + online Q&A
What was originally conceived as a graduation short at the National Film and Television School became Clara Law’s notable debut feature: a 16mm film that launched her cinema of the diaspora and offers a rare glimpse of her captivating onscreen performance.



Saturday 20 September, 7pm
The Goddess of 1967 (2K Restoration)
A car aficionado (Kurokawa Rikiya) travels from Japan to Australia to buy his dream car, a Citroën DS, and meets a mysterious blind girl (Rose Byrne) from the area. The two strangers embark on a journey where an intimacy develops between them as they confront past traumas along the way.



Sunday 21 September, 12.20pm
Farewell China + online Q&A
Made on the heels of the 1989 Tiananmen Crackdown, Clara Law reflects on the condition of voluntary exile in the diasporic Chinese community. Set to a sorrowful blend of Heng Chung folk music from Southern Taiwan and electric blues, the film pays attention to the forgotten aspiring migrants, whose hardships were not redeemed, forever longing for a home they cannot reclaim. 



Sunday 28 September, 2pm
Drifting Petals + online Q&A
A filmmaker (voiced by Clara Law) first meets piano student Jeff in Australia. Three years later, they reunited in Hong Kong. Each begins their own nocturnal journey through the streets of their hometown. Jeff spends his sleepless nights wandering Hong Kong and is unexpectedly drawn into a stranger’s family affairs, while the filmmaker returns to her birthplace, Macau, and encounters a boy who reminds her of her missing brother.