Film | Inside the Red Brick Wall

Why would a university become a battlefield?

In November 2019, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University became a site of resistance watched by the world. Police besieged the campus, firing tear gas and rubber bullets for days on end while hundreds of protesters were trapped inside. Some tried to break out; others chose to stay; still others waited in fear behind the blockade for rescue.

The documentary Inside the Red Brick Wall captures the siege in raw, first-hand footage. Without narration or dramatization, it places viewers directly inside the blockaded campus, confronting the chaos, fear, and courage — and the choices people made under extreme conditions.

The post-screening discussion, “The Aesthetics of Violence in Resistance,” brings together two speakers who took part in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Law Movement, sharing the historical background behind the siege, the situation frontline protesters faced, and stories the news footage never fully captured.

This event invites you to return to that moment in history, to understand the siege anew, and to reflect on how people resist when institutional violence confronts them — and what it costs them for the choices they make.