Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong

Almost leaving filmmaking behind after Utopians (2016), and then after Apostles (2022) and again after Bodyshop (2022), incessantly stubborn Scud ended up fulfilling his prophecy jokingly uttered to Osman Hung when he was casting him as the lead of Permanent Residence (2008): Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong is Scud's tenth film leaving no doubts it is his goodbye to filmmaking, and his last dedication to the art, the place and the people he loves.

Produced over the past three or so years, Naked Nations functions as a drama, a making-of, a documentary and an act of defiance. It is a film about people who have lost and re-found hope, and those who managed to always hold on to it. Scud invites his collaborators from previous films, states his case and faces the final curtain, and this time he’s the one stripping down, confirming once and for all that this attitude was never merely pretence.

Naked Nations is a deeply human, joyful, poignant and heartbreaking film about freedom and its many manifestations, fragility and limits, a film about life, depression and difficult decisions. But above all, a film about love.

– kijA