Jurors’ notes:

Here’s another work of someone standing by the window of a home. (Hoi Wong)
And this is also another work in this batch using telling a story on a Google Map (Winnie Yan)
These common features are in fact why I want such works to be collected in this issue. (Hoi Wong, Winnie Yan)

There is yet another feature manifested in more than one work. Say, we put Salina and Lipari side by side with 4000 Blows. They both deal with how to cope with COVID quarantine: the latter transform banal daily postures into dance, the former construct a folk tale to express separation. (Hoi Wong)

Indeed, this is an obvious angle for this round of submission. Many works could form a COVID-19 special series around the topic of loneliness and isolation. (Linda Lai)
For this very reason, I found it easier to compare the works submitted in this round. (Winnie Yan)

As for Salina and Lipari, I think it seeks to explore story-telling methods -- and the maker did via two monologues to pinpoint how to make decisions to move on with the journey. (Winnie Yan)

I always appreciate efforts put into story-telling. Someone wants to tell a story, and it is visually illustrated. Grateful. I just do not find the story intriguing enough for very high appraisal. (John Chow)

I think there is much room to improve for the two voice performances. There is even the question of accuracy. How do two people attracted to each other talk? My problem is mainly with the tone of the voices, not the technical quality of the recording. (Hoi Wong) 
I supposed this is a common problem with voice over. Not all voices could stand up to recording. There is a kind of sensitivity required. (Winnie Yan)

The work has heavy use of Google map and personal sketches in it. (Hoi Wong)
Perhaps all this is a practice resulting from the quarantine? (John Chow)
Perhaps there are more practical communication issues due to quarantine isolation. Especially in documentary works about a place. A name is mentioned but how do we know what it is? For example, I hear Huangpu -- but is it Shanghai? Guangzhou? Or the name of a military school? My point is: I tend to be more forgiving with the use of Google Map. At least I get to know where even if I don’t have live images to look at. At least I get some clues of a place’s relative location. (Linda Lai)

The story is about two islands and I think the attempt to justify the story is obvious. After all, I find the work’s sound design rather humorous -- for example, we learn that we go from one island to the other one by swimming. (Hoi Wong)

I like this work. I could feel the maker deploying any resources around him and maximizing whatever he’s got -- and he did to tell a story that could have many different readings. You could like it, believe it, or just laugh at it. And there the work acquires its style. (Linda Lai)

Jurors’ notes:

[Juror’s Special Mention: John Chow]

Playful, smart and effective...Almost feels like a riddle or a game. At first glance, I was "tricked" into watching this work as a confession from a woman, about how she rejects a man cruelly...until something felt a little off. Then I realized the voiceover was a serial killer’s. I rewatched the work, and only then was my viewing complete. The work rang in my mind for some time afterwards -- it was deliberately constructed to have that effect, to provoke proactive spectatorship that instills a sense of intimacy between the maker and the viewer.
I also enjoyed that touch of humor of an artist turning into a murderer when rejecting someone.           

I did not pay much attention to the VO, nor the fact that a female voice could have been to simulate that of a male protagonist. … The fragments to me very casually hang together and the structure could have been solid. (Hoi Wong)

I like this work although I, too, find it a bit elliptical. It is visually surprising, and yet the gender play could have been better constructed. I don’t feel much for the themes and motifs, but the overall setup has managed to fix my attention on the voice over. On the VO’s gender switch... I’m not entirely sure about the intended impact other than signifying a gesture on gender politics. I recall Chris Marker and Trinh T. Minh-ha -- both have experimented this as a critical response to cinematic convention leading to the transformation of the representation of experiences. The work in question now is pointing to that experimental tradition but it is in fact more to provoke fun and irony. I still appreciate the work for its achieving great certainty in its tone and to present ambiguities the way they could make us feel estranged.. There is something to think about regarding the victim of this crime. Would we have “read” the story differently had the VO and victim been gender-neutral? (Linda Lai)

Jurors’ notes:

I watched the video twice, it’s very direct and simple. I like the way he turns it into a sketch-like video. (John Chow)

I like such simple and direct experimentation; it demonstrates a kind of confidence that this video has to happen. Then I find the work a lot of fun. It’s very memorable and unique in the context of a video zine. (WONG Fei-pang)

Jurors’ notes:

I like this work being very expressive, and I like its excess.  I am impressed by the maker’s ability to stretch a simple concept in so many directions. I could describe the work as a ritual in itself, an exorcism that unfolds over time. (Linda Lai) 

I think it’s constantly about layers: driven by shame, the making is constantly writing and covering up. (John Chow)

I like this work after seeing the candy melting. I found this work more interesting than others with its multi-fold meaning; it is not just overlaying. There is a touch of horror. (WONG Fei-pang)