Room 404

A never-ending typhoon outside of room 525 in Hong Kong has transposed the artist duo into an unsettling situation of digital error of 404 in the present time. Originally taking their inspiration from the concept of Room 666 by Wim Wenders, Elysa Wendi and Wai Shing Lee invited various artists to the hotel room 525 during an art residency in 2019. Being affected by the situation of social movements in the city, they began to question the function of artists, or rather filmmakers like themselves, in times like this.
Room 404 is an essayistic response to the documentary Room 525 shot by the same artists. The film marks the transition from documentary to essay, from the real space of the room to the reality marked by the most common error of the digital age, 404: file not found. The desire to express the objective truth of the situation, which drove the makers to experience the calamity as it unraveled, gives way to the doubt that permeates the situation that emerges in the post-calamity state.

Formally trained as a dancer and choreographer, independent filmmaker and artist Elysa Wendi investigates the dislocation and displacement of memories and identities in her practice. Straddling the amorphous boundaries between borders, languages, and histories, Wendi works through hybrid documentary projects, audio-visual essays, and meta-choreographic rituals to explore the auto-fictional narratives of bodies and movements. Her films have been screened widely at film festivals, including Jihlava, Le FIFA (Montréal), and Image Forum (Tokyo), and awarded in Hong Kong (Gold Award, 28th ifva) and Tainan (Best Experimental Film, 17th South Taiwan Film Festival), among others.

Wai Shing Lee is an independent filmmaker. He graduated from the Hong Kong Design Institute and started his own independent film works after his first film was selected for the South Taiwan Film Festival in 2014. He later studied documentary filmmaking at Visible Record and Beijing Caochangdi Lab, and was involved with Chinese Independent Documentary Lab from 2016 to 2018. His latest documentary film Family Family Day, supported by HKU Documentary Seed Grants, won the Gold Award (Open Category) in the 24th ifva Awards in Hong Kong in 2019. His recent films include Afar (West Kowloon M+ museum commission film, 2023) and A Long Walk (Taikwun Contemporary Arts commission film, 2022).

Production Krzysztof Franek, Krzysztof Pijarski. Production company Łódź Film School / Visual Narrative Laboratory vnLab (Łódź, Poland). Directed by Elysa Wendi, Wai Shing Lee. Screenplay Elysa Wendi, Wai Shing Lee. Cinematography Elysa Wendi. Editing Wai Shing Lee. Sound design Philandros Alkeides. Colourist Jiekai Liao. Creative producer Michał Matuszewski, Stanisław Liguziński. Executive producer Peter Yam.

World sales Łódź Film School / Visual Narrative Laboratory vnLab

Films

Elysa Wendi: 2012: One Min of Breath (15 min.). 2017: 1958 Delivery (14 min.), Passaged Way (with Azhar Syukor, 3 min.). 2018: Someday I will Become a Rock (with Cheuk Cheung, 19 min.). 2019: Forgive or Not to Forgive (5 min.), Stay If You Can / Go If You Must (12 min.). 2020: Room 525 (with Wai Shing Lee, 30 min.). 2021: Rooms (with Jiekai Liao, 16 min.), In Memory of A Dance : Prologue (with Wai Shing Lee, 15 min.), If Forest Remembered (36 min.). 2022: A Long Walk (with Wai Shing Lee, 15 min.), As I Imagine My Body Moving (30 min.). 2023: Room 404.

Wai Shing Lee: 2010: Something Wrong (6 min.). 2011: The Day After A Man Gone (8 min.). 2013: Tell Me Mum (9 min.). 2014: C:/MyFavourite/HomeVideo (12 min.), Brother’s Room (15 min.). 2016: BBC (10 min.), 310 Tung Chau Street (with Jo Cheng, 28 min.). 2017: Family Day (15 min.). 2018: Turn-Off_Turn-On (13 min.). 2019: A Rock (10 min.), Family Family Day (27 min.). 2020: Room 525 (with Elysa Wendi, 30 min.). 2021: In Memory of A Dance : Prologue (with Elysa Wendi, 15 min.), Solitude is Like a Rain (4 min.). 2022: A Long Walk (with Elysa Wendi, 15 min.). 2023: Room 404, Afar (5 min.).