Ten Years, a dark socio-political fantasy that won the top prize at Hong Kong’s film awards, will be available in the Google Play store on Friday, after an unofficial version was leaked last week.
The pirated version uploaded last week was “not the official full version shown in cinemas”, according to the filmmakers, but a version made for a film festival. The production team said the leak showed “utter disrespect” to them.
“You don’t have to watch the incomplete Ten Years using your own method any more!” the filmmakers said on their official Facebook page on Thursday, apparently making fun of the pirated version.
The post then repeated three times that “it is the full version!” and urged people to support it.
It is understood that a DVD version of the film will be released this summer.
Although the film is not scheduled to be shown in major cinemas anymore, there have been additional screenings at small cinema houses.
The film crew also said that more public screenings would be held.
Ten Years imagines what Hong Kong may look like in ten years time. Five directors produced five shorts exploring a city where shops are attacked by uniformed army cadets for selling banned materials, where Mandarin is the dominant language, and where an activist self-immolates in a fight for Hong Kong’s independence.
Chinese state media outlet Global Times dismissed the film as “ridiculous,” and claimed it was “spreading desperation“.
However, Ten Years was named the “Best Film” at the 2016 Hong Kong Film Awards in early April.
