About

Directed by Ann Hui — among the most celebrated figures of the Hong Kong New Wave — this semi-autobiographical drama weaves together intergenerational tales of diaspora to reflect on Hong Kong’s colonial entanglements at a moment of political change.

Set in the 1970s, Song of the Exile follows Hue-Yin (Maggie Cheung) as she returns to Hong Kong for her sister’s wedding after years studying in London. Hue-Yin feels stifled and resumes a tense relationship with her widowed Japanese mother Aiko (Xiao Feng Lu), who has long been shunned by her parents in law. Raised as Chinese, and unaware of her mother’s past, Hue-Yin’s perspective changes entirely when she accompanies Aiko to Japan. Through flashbacks to Hue-Yin’s childhood, a delicate portrait of division, unification and belonging draws the personal into conversation with East Asian history.