HKAFF Director of Focus Mipo O brought her new film Living in Two World to meet with film fans and shared filming experience with Adam Wong, the director of The Way We Talk, a film also focuses on the deaf.

Living in Two World is the latest film of director Mipo O after a nine-year hiatus from making films. O, who has always been good at filming family stories, said that she was touched by the relationship between the deaf child and his parents from the very beginning, and the fact that her nephew is also a deaf child made the production even more meaningful.

Both films are based on deaf people. During the research period, both directors said that their understanding of the deaf community, especially the real needs of the deaf, had been deepened. They coincidentally chose communication as the core of their films. In Living in Two Worlds, O brings out the communication needs of the deaf in their daily lives through their children and friends; while Wong explores how the deaf communicate with each other through their choice of communication.

They also shared a lot of information about the preparation process and filming. Both of them have invited the deaf to join the cast, and there is also a sign language director on site. O revealed that when translating a word into sign language, different emotions, age, and place of upbringing will lead to variations of the sign language. So during the rehearsal, the sign language director will make different versions of a word for the director to choose from. After the actual filming, the sign language was adjusted according to the scene, so every shot was carefully considered. Wong had the same experience. He learnt sign language in order to present the story better, and the deaf protagonist Yau learnt and practised sign language for a year for his role. The deaf actor Ng took acting lessons for his role, and all of them put in a lot of hard work for the film, both in front of and behind the scenes.

O is also very grateful for the invitation of HKAFF, she said it was hard to imagine that her five feature films and the early shooting of her grandmother's short film could all be screened in Hong Kong. Despite the tight schedule this time, she said that she would take the time to go sightseeing and taste the local snacks, she also looks forward to attending the post-screening talk of another film The Light Shines Only There tomorrow, and talk with the Hong Kong audience again.