Winners of major award categories:
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Best Film: To My Nineteen-year-old Self
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Best Actress: Sammi Cheng Sau-man in Lost Love
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Best Actor: Sean Lau Ching-wan in Detective vs Sleuths
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Best New Performer: Sahal Zaman in The Sunny Side of the Street
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Best New Director: Ho Cheuk-tin for The Sparring Partner
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Best Film Editing: Lee Him-ming, Zhang Zhao and Jojo Shek for The Sparring Partner
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Best Screenplay: Wai Ka-fai, Ryker Chan, Mak Tin-shu for Detective vs Sleuths
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Best Director: Wai Ka-fai for Detective vs Sleuths
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Best Supporting Actor: Michael Hui Koon-man in Where the Wind Blows
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Best Supporting Actress: Ivana Wong Yuen-chi in Table for Six
Controversial documentary To My Nineteen-year-old Self bagged best picture at Hong Kong’s most prestigious film awards on Sunday, despite earlier being pulled from cinemas after some interviewees said they had not consented to any public screenings.
“Remember not to be scared, film it first, edit it first and screen it first,” co-director William Kwok Wai-Lun said at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards, urging the city’s documentary filmmakers to keep going and not to be afraid.
The coming-of-age documentary, directed by Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, traces the lives of six girls from Ying Wa Girls’ School over a period of 10 years.
The school said it had not sent a representative to attend the awards ceremony as it had decided to withdraw from the event.
“Our school would like to express our sincere apologies to the organisers and thank them for their assistance and understanding over the past few months,” it said in a statement.
It also reiterated that during the production process, those involved in the documentary had worked under the assumption of the subjects’ consent and knowledge, with no intention of forced or secret filming.
The school earlier said it had decided to withdraw the documentary from the best film category after careful consideration, following its decision to pull it from public screens in the wake of the controversy.
But Kwok, one of the editors of the documentary, had said he would accept the remaining two nominations, namely best director and best film editing, despite public outcry.
Cheung did not attend Sunday’s ceremony and no footage from the film was played as the nominees were announced, while two of the documentary’s interviewees made an appearance.
Kwok said producers were in talks with the school about resuming screenings, but acknowledged it “was a very complicated issue”.
He added that the movie deserved the award and urged people to separate the controversy from the art.
Speaking about the film’s director, producer Eunice Wong Wai said Cheung had gone through many months of “indescribable torture”. “I wish she can leave the valley of depression tomorrow, do better and make an even stronger comeback,” she added.
Detective vs Sleuths, meanwhile, emerged as the biggest winner of the awards. The film took home four prizes, including best screenplay and best cinematography. Wai Ka-fai also bagged best director, while veteran performer Sean Lau Ching-wan won best actor.
Singer-turned-actress Sammi Cheng Sau-man, who has been nominated for best actress seven times for 10 movies since 2000, finally took home the prize she had wanted for years after playing a grieving mother who fosters children with her husband in Lost Love.
“From being determined by people as a comedic actress, turning to serious drama acting … the effort and the road that I put up with has been very long,” Cheng said tearfully.
“I am really happy, this time I don’t have to be on the track quietly running behind and beside people. I can finally, proudly cross the finish line.”
Earlier, Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh stole the limelight with a celebratory visit to the city where she first made a name for herself.
The 60-year-old Malaysian actress became the first Asian to win the Oscar’s best actress award for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once last month.
Yeoh presented the award for the best new performer category, which went to 10-year-old Sahal Zaman for The Sunny Side of the Street.
“So as long as we keep going beyond, keep striving, work hard, persist, and never give up. Believe in your dreams and dreams do come true,” Yeoh said before handing him the award.
Zaman, who became the first member of an ethnic minority group to win the prestigious award, thanked his parents for believing in him and director Lau Kok-rui for giving him the opportunity to star in the movie.
The film stars Zaman as a Hong Kong-born Pakistani refugee boy who forms an unexpected bond with a local taxi driver.
The spotlight of the awards was also on The Sparring Partner, which received 16 nominations, the most among all up for prizes. But it won only for best new director and best film editing.
The movie, based on a gruesome double murder that made headlines in 2014, has become the highest-grossing locally produced film ever in Hong Kong with a Category III – adults-only – rating.
During the night, Where the Wind Blows and Warriors of Future each took home three prizes.
Receiving the award for best supporting actor for his role in Where the Wind Blows, veteran comedian Michael Hui Koon-man said it felt like a miracle.
“I won the best actor on the very same stage 41 years ago. I never would have dreamed of winning the best supporting actor 41 years later in a non-comedy role,” Hui said. “I feel like a new actor again.”
“After the pandemic, I look at life differently. Life is short, you should treasure every chance in your life. If you dare to try new things, miracles happen,” he said.
Bowie Woo Fung, 91, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.