Hot Topics: Controversy over Hong Kong film ‘To My Nineteen-year-old Self’ raises issues about consent in documentaries

To My Nineteen-year-old Self, a documentary by Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting that tracked the growth of six girls from Ying Wa Girls’ School over a period of 10 years, was pulled from cinemas last month after some of those featured in the film claimed they had not given their consent to screen the film publicly.

The row erupted after “Ah Ling”, one of the students who featured heavily in the documentary, wrote to Ming Pao Weekly. According to Ah Ling, she had been told the documentary was meant to be an internal project and that she had “from the beginning disagreed for the film to be publicly screened no matter in whatever form”. She said she had explained her wishes to the school and Cheung.

Ah Ling said the school had never indicated the film could be screened publicly, shown in private screenings at cinemas or sent to take part in film festivals.

She had asked to watch the edited version of the documentary before its screening, “many times either through the school or the director directly”, but her request was not granted.

When Ah Ling raised privacy concerns after an internal on-campus screening of the film in December 2021, she said the school explained it was not possible to get consent from all six participants. The school also argued her parents had signed a consent form back in 2012. But according to Ah Ling, she had never read it.

The director, in response, has suspended public screenings of the film. However, Cheung maintained the girls had signed consent forms at the beginning of filming and in the later stage of production, and were also told the documentary could be shown in cinemas someday.

She added that as Ah Ling’s parents and younger brother had attended celebratory events, alongside the positive feedback the film garnered, it had fuelled her assumption the girl was fine with the arrangement. She hoped the film could be publicly screened again “someday” after some communication.

Major cinema chains such as Broadway Circuit, Emperor Cinemas, Golden Harvest and MCL Cinemas, as well as the documentary’s distributor Golden Scene Cinema, have since removed all scheduled screenings from their websites.

Staff writers

Documentary of Ying Wa Girls’ School ‘To My Nineteen-year-old Self’ pulled from cinemas after complaints from students

Question prompts:

• State TWO reasons why the girls from Ying Wa Girls’ School might have been upset about public screenings of To My Nineteen-year-old Self.

• Based on Context, list ONE problem with parents or guardians having the authority to give consent on a child’s behalf in the instance of this documentary.

• What is shown in the background of this still from the documentary?

• What do you think the filmmakers would have to do to feature these photographs in the film?

• To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self secured three nominations at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards

• The school said it has decided to withdraw the documentary from the running for best film

Ying Wa Girls’ School has withdrawn the documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self from competing for the best film prize at the prestigious Hong Kong Film Awards after it was nominated in three categories – best film, best director and best film editing.

Ying Wa Girls’ School, which commissioned the production of the movie, said last week that it had turned down a request from the Hong Kong Film Awards Association to screen the film for the second round of voters, which opens the possibility of the movie being disqualified under the association’s rules.

The school reiterated it would not participate in the awards process or accept any prizes in its capacity as the film’s copyright holder but expressed its respect for the competition and the local film industry.

The association said that any film publicly screened in Hong Kong was automatically included as a nominee and there was no mechanism for a nominated movie to withdraw from the competition.

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But according to the rules and regulations of the awards, the association can disqualify a nominee if the film company fails to provide a DVD or digital file of the movie for a screening for voters.

Director Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting earlier said she would not attend the ceremony, though co-director and editor William Kwok Wai-Lun made it clear he would accept an award.

“The life shown in the documentary is wonderful and moving,” he told film distributor Golden Scene. “During the 10-year production process, the events and experiences behind the camera were also unforgettable and precious.”

Hong Kong director-writer Alfred Cheung Kin-ting, who has known Mabel Cheung for more than 40 years, said he believed her to be an innocent person. However, he noted that commercial interest in the film, along with its positive reviews, might have caused further harm to its subjects.

Staff writers

Question prompts:

• To what extent do you agree with William Kwok’s decision to accept the nominations for best director and best film editing, and why?

• What did Alfred Cheung mean when he said the commercial interest in the film and its positive reviews might have caused “further harm” to the documentary’s subjects?

• Executive secretary of the Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights said any projects involving youngsters should be handled with caution

• Expert says filmmakers should strike a balance between legality and ethics

Documentarians should clearly communicate with their subjects and carefully consider the emotional impact the film may have on them, experts have warned, after To My Nineteen-year-old Self raised questions about how young characters are treated.

Bruce Lui Ping-kuen, a former journalist and a senior lecturer at Baptist University’s school of communication, said that creators of non-fiction work should never put their interests before those of their subjects. “Journalists should listen to the subjects’ concerns at the early stage of the production and try their best to communicate,” he said. “Under the circumstances that no news values and ethics are violated, we should handle it with empathy.”

While a consent form might be legally binding, filmmakers had to strike a balance between legality and ethics, Lui said, suggesting that students sign another consent form when they reached legal age.

Billy Wong Wai-yuk, executive secretary of the Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights, said any projects involving youngsters should be handled with caution because they could easily be manipulated by adults.

“For any event, in particular, research, consultation, documentation of the views, feelings and experience of children in the form of words or images, it is a very sensitive issue and one that needs to be handled with care,” she said.

Wong said adults involved in such work should develop a plan to safeguard any minors involved and communicate directly in a way they could easily understand. She added that filmmakers should ensure no harm came to the children involved and that they knew where to complain if their rights were violated.

Citing the United Nations’ guidelines, she said any project or event involving children should be transparent and informative in its goals and procedures, ensure an environment that is friendly for minors, and be voluntary, accountable and sensitive to risk.

Staff writers

Question prompts:

• Using your own knowledge, explain what it means to get consent in a documentary.

• Was it solely the filmmakers’ responsibility to ensure the teenagers’ rights were protected? Explain using Issue and Glossary.

• What does Bruce Lui Ping-kuen mean when he says filmmakers must strike a balance between legality and ethics?

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consent form: a legal document that serves as written permission to send or receive information among participating parties. The consent form signed by the students’ parents in 2012 allowed the school to use the documentary in any manner in or outside Hong Kong for purposes such as publication, screening, broadcast and public access.

ethics: moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour; the degree to which something agrees with the law

To My Nineteen-year-old Self: a 136-minute documentary featuring six secondary students from Ying Wa Girls’ School. Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting and her team tracked the girls 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 reconstruction of its century-old campus. It had been screened privately since late 2021, but the production team decided to show it publicly on February 2, 2023. The documentary has been shown at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, the Czech Republic’s FILMASIA festival, and London East Asia Film Festival.

Context:

• State TWO reasons why the girls from Ying Wa Girls’ School might have been upset about public screenings of “To My Nineteen-year-old Self”. There was no indication about where the film would be screened/ they didn’t how they would be portrayed in the final footage/ they thought the film was for internal use only/ they were underage when most of the filming took place and their parents gave consent on their behalf.

• Based on Context, list ONE problem with parents or guardians having the authority to give consent on a child’s behalf in the instance of this documentary. They are making decisions on behalf of a young individual who perhaps has never read the consent form or couldn’t understand it, and now they regret taking part in the film.

Photo:

• What is shown in the background of this still from the documentary? Photographs of students at Ying Wa Girl’s School

• What do you think the filmmakers would have to do to feature these photographs in the film? They had to obtain consent from the individuals.

News:

• To what extent do you agree with William Kwok’s decision to accept the nominations for best director and best film editing, and why? I do not think it is appropriate for Kwok to accept the nominations until the dispute has been resolved and all parties have come to an agreement. This is because the awards for best director and best film editing should not be given purely on the basis of a film’s technical aspects but also its integrity during the overall production process and how it was put together.

• What did Alfred Cheung mean when he said the commercial interest in the film and its positive reviews might have caused “further harm” to the documentary’s subjects? He meant that further screening and publicity of ‘To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self’, which generates more interest in the film, will cause more distress to the individuals featured in the documentary but have no control over it.

Issue:

• Using your own knowledge, explain what it means to get consent in a documentary. It means to tell the subjects featured in the documentary exactly how their information or image will be used, ensuring that they understand what they are agreeing to, and that they are not consenting under pressure or duress.

• Was it solely the filmmakers’ responsibility to ensure the teenagers’ rights were protected? Explain using Issue and Glossary. Ying Wa Girl’s School also played an important role in this instance because the project was commissioned by the school and a significant part of the filming took place within the school’s premises.

• What does Bruce Lui Ping-kuen mean when he says filmmakers must strike a balance between legality and ethics? In drawing up legally binding contracts and agreements for their subjects, filmmakers have to consider any potential repercussions on these individuals and the consequences of portraying them in a certain light.