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Edith Lin

An award-winning documentary capturing the lives of six girls over 10 years by Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting will be screened at a film festival in Italy, three years after it was pulled from local cinemas due to a lack of consent from interviewees.
To My Nineteen-year-old Self, which centres on Ying Wa Girls’ School, was one of the four special screenings revealed in the Far East Film Festival’s line-up on Thursday.
The film festival, to be held between April 24 and May 2 in Udine, Italy, listed the documentary among 24 titles in its “out of competition” section – a category for films of “extreme value” that do not meet certain event requirements.
Cheung and co-director William Kwok Wai-lun, along with a producer, two unit directors and a post-production coordinator for the documentary, were also on the film festival’s guest list, which was shared on the same day.
Cheung reportedly said the screening was handled by the documentary’s distributor, Golden Scene.
The South China Morning Post has reached out to Cheung, Golden Scene and the Ying Wa Girls’ School for comment.
The documentary was pulled from screening in Hong Kong cinemas four days after its official release in February 2023, amid a brewing controversy over the lack of consent from interviewees.
“Ah Ling”, one of the students featured heavily in the documentary, wrote to Ming Pao Weekly and complained that the documentary was screened publicly without her consent.

Olympic medal-winning cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze also complained that the film included footage of her interview conducted by Cheung in 2016. She said she had never agreed for the footage to be used in the documentary for commercial screening.
When announcing the suspension of cinema screenings, Cheung said she and the school agreed to deal with the issues as they felt people were more important than the film itself, hoping to have space and time to discuss with the girls and the relevant parties.
Cheung also said the girls had signed consent forms at the beginning and at a later stage of production, and were also told the film could be shown in cinemas someday.
The 136-minute documentary features six secondary students from Ying Wa Girls’ School whom Cheung’s team had tracked for a decade to witness their personal journeys of self-discovery during turbulent times in Hong Kong.
Cheung, an alumna, was invited to take up the project as part of fundraising efforts for the reconstruction of the elite school.
The coming-of-age documentary won best picture at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards in 2023, despite the controversy.
At the ceremony, co-director Kwok used his acceptance speech to urge fellow filmmakers “not to be scared, film it first, edit it first and screen it first”.
But Kwok later issued a written apology to the school over his “inappropriate remarks”.
He conceded his speech at the awards failed to consider the sensitive background of the incident, adding that he “firmly believed” documentary filmmakers must be fair to those being filmed and provide adequate protection for underage participants in the process.


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Hong Kong documentary pulled from cinemas 3 years ago to be screened in Italy

A still from Mabel Cheung’s documentary To My Nineteen-year-old Self. Photo: Golden Scene

Filmmaker Mabel Cheung (second right) with students from the documentary movie and the girls’ then school principal. Photo: Handout

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The production team for To My Nineteen-Year-old Self celebrates after the film won best picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Photo: Dickson Lee

Filmmaker Yeh Ka-lun. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Documentarians Choi Tai-ling (left) and Shum Wan-wah. Photo: Jonathan Wong

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A still from Mabel Cheung’s documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self. Photo: Golden Scene

Ying Wa Girls’ School has reiterated its refusal to take part in the film awards. Photo: Jelly Tse

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More former pupils of Ying Wa Girls’ School say they were uneasy about a controversial documentary shot at the elite institution. Photo: Handout

Filmmaker Mabel Cheung and some of the participating students. Photo: Handout

A still from Mabel Cheung’s documentary To My Nineteen-year-old Self. Photo: Handout

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To My Nineteen-year-old Self will be shown at Far East Film Festival after withdrawal in 2023 over lack of consent from interviewees


To My Nineteen-year-old Self will be shown at Far East Film Festival after withdrawal in 2023 over lack of consent from interviewees.


Hong Kong documentary pulled from cinemas 3 years ago to be screened in Italy

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}To My Nineteen-year-old Self will be shown at Far East Film Festival after withdrawal in 2023 over lack of consent from interviewees

To My Nineteen-year-old Self will be shown at Far East Film Festival after withdrawal in 2023 over lack of consent from interviewees