A cult film imagining a bleak future for Hong Kong has been thrust into the local limelight even as it is suppressed in China, after winning best picture at the city’s film awards.

A five-part movie directed by five Hong Kong filmmakers, Ten Years sees a city transformed by encroaching mainland dominance. One contribution depicts a city in which Mandarin has replaced Cantonese as the main language. In another, an elderly pro-democracy activist sets herself on fire outside the consular offices of the UK, the former colonial power.

“Thank you for having the courage to give this award to us,” said Andrew Choi, one of the film’s producers — a sentiment echoed by Derek Yee, chairman of the awards association, who quoted Franklin D Roosevelt as saying: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”