Synopsis
A man lost his love. He decides to go out and find her in the night of Hong Kong, only to realise that it's not with her he's in love, but with the city itself.

Notes
Pyrénées, France, summer 2007. I remember at the beginning that I wanted to do an erotic short. Because this genre is very under developped in animation, and it has many interesting aesthetic codes. I was also thinking about making a film with a politic or sociologic message. But it's the first idea that caught my attention.

Hong Kong, one month later. From the day I discovered this island, in 2000, I wanted to share the amazing vision that was offered to my eyes each day over there, to my hometown friends in France. I started to seriously shift my daily rythm, so far it came to a point I was wandering at night in the streets, taking pictures, sitting down in bars to write ideas of shots, and sleeping during the day. I kept on thinking everyday about a synopsis, a concept, a strong idea. Nothing seemed to come to my mind. I know I wanted to include this street, this situation, those details... But nothing seemed to hold them together. Three days before going to Vancouver, I decided to sit down to seriously write it. Everything was suddenly clear : I had the idea to combine both. Making scenes in Hong Kong that were not explicitely erotic, but that somewhat held a fragrance of desire. The Wanchai market at night seemed perfect for that. Each shot is a scene I more or less lived, in a different angle than my character, but that relates to me in a particular way. I know where all shots take place, I could name each street. That may not be really how it is, but it's how I see it. My own Hong Kong. Wet, loud, intense, crowded, with its strong lights and smelly streets, it's gigantic forests of allmighty skyscrapers that seem to crush its pedestrians underneath. It's gorgeous colours. It's breathtaking views, no matter if you're on a glass lift rising you to the top of a mall, or above the hills. My friends Samuel and Sonia helped me taking reference shots of themselves for some actions, and took me to Kowloon City, where the old airport used to be, with all the Thailand immigrants that bring a very special light to this district.

Compared to the film I've done in Supinfocom, this experience was pretty straightforward. Except some shots, everything was almost decided. As soon as the pre-production stage was over, I didn't put things in question too much. There was a single storyboard and animatics that were just updates of the first one.

I had two big influences, that I consider as some of the best animated features ever made, and that opened my eyes about how much freedom one can allow himself when making animation : Mind Game, from Studio 4C, and Tokyo Godfathers, from Satoshi Kon. After seing the latest Studio 4C film, Tekkon Kinkreet, I rediscovered a band I already loved : Plaid. I tried to compose some music going in that sense for the film. I wanted this kind of ethereal atmosphere for the hero, lost in this world with his feelings confused. I loved also Sunji Iwai, especially the way the music works with the film in All About Lily Chou Chou. Not to forget Christopher Doyle, that collaborated many times with Wong Kar Wai as a director of photography, for his hot and vivid colors and his sense of composition. In his book Cloud in Trousers, he talks about cinema in a way that makes it the most beautiful thing to do on earth.