Welcome, My Cow! | 嘜COW歡迎您！

Goal 參與目標
Script Refining, Funds, Distribution Partner, Festival Screening
完善劇本、籌集資金、發行夥伴、電影節放映

Logline 故事摘要
A teenage runaway who is mistaken for a cow becomes an unexpected celebrity in the city of Macau.
一名逃家的青少年被全澳門誤認為成一隻牛，意外成為城中名人 。

Synopsis 故事大綱
A teenage runaway accidentally becomes the centre of attention in Macau when being mistaken for a cow that escaped from a slaughterhouse. Videos of this “runaway cow” have gone viral online,  evoking memories of the bygone era when live cows paraded through Macau’s streets. Netizens advocate for the cow’s life, transforming the teenager into the beloved mascot “Ma-cow” of Macau. He becomes a renowned figure in the city, enjoying a luxurious life. Soon, the teenager realises he has become an exhibit in the local zoo, a spokesperson for the city, and a propaganda tool for politicians. Just as the zoo prepares a new home for the teenager and a grand ceremony, he mysteriously vanishes. Suddenly, more runaway “cows” have appeared on the streets, seeking the same enchanting legend of “Ma-cow”.
The film attempts to reimagine the 2019 incident of the “Ilha Verde Cow” escape in Macau, combining fiction and non-fiction storytelling, mass media footage, and interviews with local community, offering insights and traversing the historical narratives, contemporary socio-political situations and postcolonial cultural identification in Macau.

在繁華的澳門街頭，一名十多歲的逃家少年，被誤認為是逃出屠宰場的一頭牛而意外爆紅。大量「逃家牛」的影像在網絡瘋傳，似乎與幾十年前澳門活牛遊街的光景重疊身影。網民紛紛提出「刀下留牛」的訴求，讓少年成為澳門吉祥物「Ma-cow」。他隨之成為了城中名牛，得到奢華的照顧與無憂的生活。他漸漸意識到自己成為了動物園的展品、城市代言人和政治宣傳工具。正當動物園為少年籌備新家的開幕典禮，他卻神秘消失。最後更多逃家的「牛」在街上出現，尋求同樣奇幻的「Ma-cow」傳奇。
影片嘗試重新想像2019年澳門「青洲牛」逃脫事件，拼貼虛構敘事、紀實影像及人物訪問等， 探索與遊走澳門在當前的社會現況、歷史及後殖民文化身份建構。

Director’s Statement 導演闡述
In 2019, I came across a video of a cow wandering the streets of Macau. Later, I learned from the news that the cow had escaped from a slaughterhouse and was eventually placed in a zoo, its forever home. To me, the “cow” incident revealed the hidden alignment between entertainment and societal progress, and how our agency and autonomy are cleverly arranged and performed. The ideological influence of mass media and the political propaganda of urban development, along with the embedded errors, flaws, and gaps, erase authentic emotions and memories. Through reimagining the cow incident, I attempt to deconstruct and reflect on the post-colonial context of present-day Macau, examining how the proliferation of narratives, discourses, and appropriations conceal the identity representations of specific groups, as well as the cultural interactions between official institutions and the local community. By collaging heterogeneous images and evoking emotions and memories, can we explore an alternative expression of our cultural identity? Five years have passed, “Ma-cow”, how are you doing?

2019年，我偶然在網上看到了一隻牛在澳門街頭漫遊的影片，隨後從新聞中得知牠從屠宰場逃走，最終被政府安置於動物園作為永久的家。「青洲牛」事件揭示了娛樂的展示形態和社會進步所隱藏的合謀結構。我們的能動性與自主權如何被巧妙地安排和展演、大眾媒體的意識形態和城市發展的政治宣傳，及鑲嵌其中的錯誤、缺陷與空白，抹滅了真實的情感與記憶。我嘗試從牛仔事件的重新想像，拆解並反思現時澳門的後殖民語境，審視泛濫的敍事、論述和挪用如何掩蓋特定群體的身份表述，以及官方機構與本地社群的文化互動。透過拼貼異質的影像和召喚情感與記憶，我們能否另闢自身文化身份表述的可能性？五年過去，「Ma-cow」你還好嗎？

Lao Keng U 劉景愉
Graduated from Arts University Bournemouth with a Bachelor‘s Degree in Film Directing. Through different materialities of the moving image, Lao explores how perceptions and imaginaries of reality are manipulated and generated. Lao’s works reflect and refract conceptions of identity, memory, and futurity in contemporary Macau. His films have been shown in festivals across the Chinese territories and internationally, including at Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival and Bogota Experimental Film Festival.

畢業於英國伯恩茅斯藝術大學，主修導演系。他的作品常描繪現實的感知和想像如何被操縱和生成，反映了當代澳門身份、記憶和未來的概念。作品曾於漢堡短片節、聖保羅國際短片節、波哥大實驗電影節等展出。

Choi Sin Yi 蔡倩怡
Hong Kong-based independent curator and a board member of Videotage. Currently producing A Thousand Winds, which is selected for the Asian Network of Documentary Fund at the 2023 Busan International Film Festival, and Undercurrent, a recipient of the Eye Catcher Pitching Award 2022.

香港獨立策展人、錄映太奇(Videotage)董事。現為《若無其事》（入圍2023年度釜山國際影展亞洲紀錄片網絡資助）及 《這煩囂城中》（獲奪目影像廠計劃2022年奪目提案獎）的製片/監製。

Li Hon Ting 李漢廷
Hong Kong independent performing arts producer and dramaturg. He is the founder of the independent art space Tin Project which focuses on organising non-production based artistic events and supporting process-based research and development of artistic practices. He is currently the board member of a Hong Kong contemporary dance company Unlock Dancing Plaza.

李漢廷是一位香港獨立表演藝術製作人及戲劇構作，亦是獨立藝術空間小田工作室的創辦人，專注策劃非製作主導、以及支持藝術家實踐研究及發展的藝術活動。他現時為本地專業當代舞團不加鎖舞踊館的董事。

Jay Sun
Actively engaged in the film festival industry in Macau for years, Sun is currently the Festival Director of Macao International Queer Film Festival and the Programmer of Cinematheque・Passion and Macao International Documentary Film Festival.

影展工作者，現任澳門國際酷兒影展總監，及戀愛・電影館和澳門國際紀錄片電影節選片人。