The anticipating audience in Norris Cinema Theatre quieted to a murmur as senior cinema and media studies major Enoch Lai stepped up to the podium at the front of the room. Behind him, a large screen where his short film, “The World is Not Enough,” as well as a feature-length independent film directed by Hester Kwok, “My Hong Kong Diaries in 2022,” would play within minutes. Welcome to Hong Kong On Screen, an annual film festival now entering its third year.

“My Hong Kong Diaries in 2022” is 115 minutes long, a compilation of footage Kwok recorded during the pandemic. The film included clips of phone conversations, Zoom classes, heartwarming moments with friends, intimate moments of solitude and static photos of her life before quarantine.

The overarching storyline detailed her relationship with her grandfather as his health declined, and the pain of her inability to be physically present during the end of his life.

Audience member Riley Munro, a freshman majoring in cinematic arts, film and television production, had mixed emotions after the screening.

“There were moments that were very poignant and emotional and that I could connect with, and they were kind of sandwiched between just the most extended, long, boring sequences I’ve ever encountered,” Munro said. “All the conversations she has with her grandpa are very good.”

Munro also noted the cinematography and style of the piece, calling Kwok’s birdseye shots from her apartment window “voyeuristic.”

“You’re getting this high, top-down perspective of people living their lives, which is just kind of interesting, a little weird, but kind of interesting … I’d say the beauty came in those little moments,” Munro said.

Kwok also made sure to include not only familial but also the still-ongoing political tensions of the time, referencing an instance of law enforcement officers going undercover to a screening and the government’s consequent crackdown on freedom of speech.

Kwok’s film was preceded by Lai’s 19-minute “The World is Not Enough.” Lai’s film was inspired by his grief at learning that his parents would be selling the apartment he had grown up in to fund his education. The piece was filmed in and around his childhood home. The film was created entirely by Lai — he played director, producer, writer and editor, as well as making an on-screen debut as a young adult character.

“I grew up there. The apartment, and also the neighborhood, really means a lot to me. I thought the only thing I could do as a filmmaker is to make a film there,” Lai said. “Instead of having a straightforward story, I wanted it to be more about the location than the characters.”

Lai’s film, entirely in Cantonese, followed three sets of characters — two children, a young adult and a young journalist writing a story about a retired novelist. The characters are intended to exist at different points in time, but the one commonality is the location: Lai’s apartment. Lai also inserted footage he found from his childhood, recorded by loved ones. The piece is an intimate look at Lai’s life growing up, through a fictional lens.

“I think a lot of people are not familiar with Hong Kong culture, and I also think not enough people appreciate art films and films that are more vague and more experimental, especially in USC. I think USC is very commercial,” Lai said. “It would be great if people could be more open to more artistic, more arthouse methods.”

Lai’s sentiments were shared by Hong Kong On Screen co-founder and USC alum Kay Ho. The project was created in an attempt to push back against recent artistic censorship in Hong Kong, as well as exposing more Americans to Hong Kong culture and filmmaking.

“[Besides preserving] that freedom of speech … we really want to promote the culture of Hong Kong to the area in Los Angeles,” Ho said. “Film is a very important medium to spread our culture … [Kwok’s film] really showed an image about Hong Kong, that is really never seen … She actually exposed about the disruption, the noise, about all the construction sites — that is Hong Kong. It’s broken.”

It was the 2019-–2020 censorship that inspired Ho to create Hong Kong On Screen.

“I think, as a Hongkonger living abroad, I just got a mission or got this interest: I need to reserve this freedom of speech,” Ho said. “I want to help those films that got banned in Hong Kong have exposure opportunity overseas and then to let more people watch their films.”

Even in the United States, according to Ho, many people taking part in the project live in fear of retaliation from Hong Kong authorities.

“Right now I’m living in the United States. I should enjoy this freedom of speech … I shouldn’t fear of anything. But, because of this intervention from our authoritarian regime, we all feel the pressure, even though right now we are already living in a free country,” Ho said. “We can foresee the situation just getting worse and worse. We also don’t know how long we can continue to [screen banned films].”

While their future may be uncertain, Hong Kong On Screen has screenings on the books for now, including another on campus next Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“We miss our home, but to a certain extent, we actually cannot go back,” Ho said. “Society has changed a lot. [Politics], culture, even the educational system, it changed a lot. Enoch’s film is … kind of like a love letter to Hong Kong.”