A jointly produced four-episode documentary on the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong by the Department of Media and Communication and the Xinhua Television News Network has recently won a second runner-up award in China’s prestigious Golden Eagle competition.
The documentary unveils a 40-year effort to eliminate corruption in Hong Kong spearheaded by the ICAC. Based on massive historical information and interviews with more than 40 ICAC officers who have been directly involved in the establishment of the ICA and personally handled landmark cases, it traces the history of the anti-graft agency, analyzes the social and economic root causes of corruption, and depicts an difficult but successful campaign waged by the entire Hong Kong community to clean up graft.
The documentary was first broadcast by the Xinhua Television News Network in English, Cantonese and Putonghua to more than 70 cities outside China in February 2014 and rescreened by the popular online LeTV video channel with the first-week hits soaring to No. 1. It also drew attention from the top leaders in charge of the anti-corruption campaign in China.
“Artistically, this is the first documentary in the Greater China region that has employed a unique narrative expression with the anchor witnessing the landmark cases across time and space,” said, Dr. He Zhou, associate head of the Department of Media and Communication, who served as the chief director with Eason Du, who is an alumnus of the department.
“In this documentary that targets both the mainland Chinese and overseas audiences,” Dr. He said, “We do not hold back anything, not even such sensitive cases as the investigation of the former ICAC Commissioner for abusive use of public funds, the ICAC’s charge against the former Chief Secretary for graft, and the probe of the former Chief Executive of Hong Kong for taking suspicious gifts.”
As the documentary features a great amount of reenactment and shooting in locations as far as Britain, a large group of students taking Dr. He’s class of multimedia practicum and faculty and staff members have participated in the production as directors of photography, cinematographers, video editors, graphic animators, sound specialists, and actors and actresses.
“This is not only an educational experience for our students but also an unprecedented collective endeavor by my colleagues in the department,” Dr. He said. “I am grateful to all of them, and I feel that the award honors them more than me.”
The documentary will be broadcast in a second run by China Central Television’s Documentary Channel in January 2015.
The following is the link to the trailer of the documentary.