The Protests

The Protests is an American/British/Hong Kong live-action/drama film based on ongoing Hong Kong protests. It stars Zoe Tria, Yohan Tria, Raphael Lau, Louis Cheung, Sarah Geronimo, Connor Ball, Bradley Simpson, Tristan Evans, and James McVey.

Synopsis
In Hong Kong, protests have been going on and a young girl, seeing her entire family dying right in front of her during the 2014 and 2019-20 protests. However, her older adoptive brother, Edward along with the members of The Vamps tried to help her cope with it.

Plot
The movie starts in 2014, during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. Andrew Cheung and Jessica Garcia were taking their kids, Emily Cheung and Albert Cheung home from school. However, in the streets, there were protests going on. The family tried to go through the crowd in order to go to their home in the hospital. But then, both Jessica and Albert were affected by tear gas. Horrified, Andrew and Emily tried to help but it was too late, Jessica and Albert died.

Filled with grief, Emily stayed in her room in the children's ward crying. Meanwhile, Andrew tried to deal with it to continue his job as a doctor. 2 years later in 2016, there was an accident in a street close to where Emily used to study now that she's home schooled. There was a wrecked car about 200 meters from the school consisting of a family of 7, a mother, a father, 4 girls, and a boy.

They were soon admitted to the hospital but unfortunately, the boy whose name is Edward Lau survived while his family, revealing that his mother's name is Sarah, his father's name is James and his sisters' names are Amelia(died at age 14), Alisa(died at age 5), Arabella(died at age 3) and Annabel(died at age 2). Edward is also revealed that he is Emily's classmate and best friend. After Edward was released from the hospital, Andrew adopted him and is now Emily's adoptive older brother(because he is 6 months older than her).

Another 4 years went by and both Edward and Emily worked tirelessly to treat sick kids in the children's ward. They were told not to go anywhere else in the hospital or anywhere outside the hospital because there are ongoing protests there unless they are going with the other paramedics. That's when they were called into action when a British band was hit in the protests. One with a busted eye, one was hiding his face with an umbrella, one was affected by tear gas and one with the Guy Fawkes mask. 2 of them were soon rushed and admitted to the hospital.

Later in the hospital, the one with a busted eye is revealed to be James McVey, the one was hiding his face with an umbrella Tristan Evans, the one was affected by tear gas is Brad Simpson and the one with the Guy Fawkes mask is Connor Ball. Andrew went up to them and told them that James has busted his eye after being hit by Hong Kong police multiple times and Brad is in critical condition after being affected by tear gas. He allowed them to stay for a while until the protests calm down.

Connor, James and Tristan were taken to Emily and Edward's room. Emily explained that she used to share her room with her younger biological brother, Albert before he died in the 2014 protests. When she adopted Edward, she shares it with him now. Then she showed them her family photo with her and her family back in 2013 in Disneyland.

A week later, James recovered from his busted eye and Andrew allowed them to see Brad in the ICU. Once they got there, Brad looks deathly pale with a BiPAP mask attached to his face. When he woke up, he started panicking but Emily reassured him that it's okay and that there are Hong Kong protests going on. He eventually calmed down. Then Edward asked why were they in Hong Kong. James answered that it was for a tour but the protests started affecting them so they joined in as pro-democratic protesters. Then James and Brad were beaten up by the police while Connor and Tristan escaped.

Soon after that, Brad was discharged but has to be on oxygen due to long-term respiratory effects from the tear gas. Andrew told them to stay in the hospital until the protests calm down. But one day, when Andrew was trying to help an injured protester, he was hot and killed by the police. Emily was traumatized, she has lost her last living family member. The Vamps later adopted Emily and Edward and went back to London together in order to help the kids find better lives there. Emily and Edward later adjusted to life in London and they lived happily with their new family, even though they ended their career.

10 years later, Emily and Edward became doctors and worked at a hospital in London. The Vamps resumed their career and everything is back to normal. Until one day, they went back to Hong Kong. They went to the hospital where Brad and James were admitted to and went to Emily and Edward's childhood bedroom. Emily looked at her childhood photo and a voice of her mother can be heard. Then they left the room and the movie ends.

Cast
Zoe Tria as Emily Cheung, a 14-year-old girl who is the daughter of Dr. Andrew Cheung and Mrs. Jessica Garcia. She is half Chinese half Filipino. She was home schooled since she was 8 and grew up in the hospital to prevent ending up like her mother and brother. She supports pro-democracy. Raphael Lau as Edward Lau-Cheung, a 14-year-old(later 15) boy who is biologically the son of James Lau and Sarah Wu. His father is half-British half-Chinese. After surviving a car accident which killed his parents along with his sisters, Amelia Lau, Alisa Lau, Arabella Lau and Annabel Lau and being admitted to the hospital Andrew worked in, he is adopted and lived with Emily in the hospital. He is 5 months older than Emily. He supports pro-democracy. Yohan Tria as Albert Cheung, a 7-year-old boy who died alongside his mother in the 2014 protests. He was the son of Dr. Andrew Cheung and Mrs. Jessica Garcia and he is half Chinese half Filipino.
 * Miya Cech as 8-year-old and 10-year-old Emily
 * Awkwafina as 24-year-old Emily
 * Aston Droomer as 10-year-old Edward
 * Chris Pang as 24-year-old Edward

Louis Cheung as Dr. Andrew Cheung, a doctor who helps patients in the hospital. He is biologically the father of Emily Cheung and Albert Cheung. He also helped James treat his busted eye and Brad when he was affected by tear gas. He died by a gunshot by the police while he was in action to help an injured protester. He supports pro-democracy.

Sarah Geronimo as Mrs. Jessica Garcia, a teacher of a school Emily and Edward used to study in. She died in the 2014 protests alongside her son, Albert Cheung.

Connor Ball as himself, the bassist of The Vamps and Emily and Edward's now adoptive father. He portrays the anti-mask law showing that he hid his face with a Guy Fawkes mask.

Bradley Simpson as himself, the lead singer of The Vamps and Emily and Edward's now adoptive father. He portrays the effects of tear gas showing him affected by it.

Tristan Evans as himself, the drummer of The Vamps and Emily and Edward's now adoptive father. He portrays the umbrella movement showing that he hid his face with an umbrella.

James McVey as himself, the lead guitarist of The Vamps and Emily and Edward's now adoptive father. He portrays the August 2019 protests showing that he was injured in the eye by the police.

Development
Jackie Chan, the director of the film shows concerns about the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests so he decided to make and direct a film about it. About a young girl and a boy involved in the Hong Kong protests along with some British guys. He was working with the cast of The Darkest Awakening at the time so he invited Zoe Tria to play the girl and Raphael Lau as the boy. He also wanted to invite British people in the set so he asked the members of The Vamps to be in the film. Brad Simpson, the lead singer of the band agreed since he and James McVey were also involved in the protests. Filming started in Hong Kong in October 2019.

Set-Up
The film is set in Hong Kong and London, England.

Post-Production
After reviewing the film, the film is announced that it will be PG-13. The film was originally going to be released in Mainland China but because of tensions, it was released in Macau and Taiwan instead.

Rating
The film is fated PG-13 for the following reasons
 * The protests shown in many scenes of the film is too violent for younger kids to watch
 * Jessica and Albert's death on screen
 * Edward's family's death in a car wreck
 * James' eye is shown with blood which doesn't make some of the audience's comfortable
 * Brad being affected by tear gas shows him with irritated eyes, snot coming out of his nose, saliva coming out of his mouth and him being pale and have bags under his eyes(which everyone else has)
 * Police beating up people
 * Andrew's death later in the film

Theatrical Release

 * March 18 2020- Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan


 * March 20 2020- Worldwide

Digital Release

 * September 8 2020-Netflix, Download
 * September 18 2020-DD, Blue-Ray

Sequel
The sequel is The Protests: Coronavirus Outbreak based on the 2019-20 Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak