An important landmark of the Hong Kong New Wave, Boat People follows Shaomi Akutagawa, a Japanese journalist who arrives in Vietnam intent on documenting the country’s recovery from the war. He meets a young girl from a poor family who helps open his eyes to the oppressive living conditions of the North Vietnamese. Implicitly anti-communist, Boat People was censored in China at the time of its release, but went on to a successful showing at Cannes and the Best Picture and Best Director prizes at the 1983 Hong Kong Academy Awards.