Controversial Documentary ‘To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self’ Wins at Hong Kong Film Awards
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Hong Kong Film Awards gave a huge dose of support to veteran filmmaker Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, naming her documentary “To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self” as best film on Sunday, despite local controversy which saw it pulled from screens earlier this year.
The numerical winner on the night was “Detectives Vs Sleuths,” which earned four major awards: best director, best screenplay, best actor (Sean Lau Ching-wan) and best cinematography.
The hugely popular Sammi Cheng was named winner of the best actress award, her first win after six previous nominations. Michelle Yeoh was on hand to present the prize for best new performer to 10-year-old Sahal Zaman, for his role in “Sunny Side of the Street.” Yeoh, who recently won the Oscar for best actress in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” established her career in Hong Kong and won the same award back in 1986 with “Yes, Madam.” Cheung, who as both a producer and a director has made a career of painstaking and heartfelt films about Hong Kong, was embroiled in controversy in February, when one of the youngsters from Ying Wa Girls School who had been tracked for a decade in “Nineteen-Year-Old Self,” complained that her privacy had been infringed.
Cinemas in Hong Kong pulled the film after four days of public screenings, despite it having earlier played at the 2022 edition of the Hong Kong Film Festival, last year’s Golden Horse Film Festival and festivals in Europe.
Read more on variety.com