Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung’s documentary suspended amid complaints over public screening

Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung has apologised for not getting consent of public screening from six girls who were featured in a local documentary To My Nineteen-year-old Self. The documentary will be pulled from cinemas from 6 February.

Cheung said after a screening in Whampoa on 5 February that she will suspend a documentary featuring the 10-year-growth of six girls from Ying Wah Girls’ School from 6 February, after some girls featured in the film said their consent was not sought for public screening.

“I have discussed it with the school and we agreed that we should deal with these issues as we think people are more important than the film itself,” Cheung said. “We wish to have space and the time to sit down and discuss it with the girls and the relevant parties.”

The controversies come after “Ah Ling”, one of the girls who was featured heavily in the film, wrote to Ming Pao Weekly and claimed that the documentary was screened publicly without her consent.

Ah Ling said she did not know about the plan to publicly screen the film until half a year to a few months before the school's premiere in December 2021. She also said that the school once drafted a letter of consent authorising the school to conduct outsourced screenings and participate in film festivals, but she never signed it. The school and the team later presented another "notice" signed by her parents back in 2012, saying that they had sought legal advice. Ling said the director and the school have signed a contract for public screening in their last meeting, so there’s nothing she could do to stop it.

Another character of the film Ah Sheh also said in a statement that she did not see the final edited version of the film, “The film is not about a solo interview of myself, but including other people’s lives, which I think is not a good idea,” she said. She also complained about being included in the shots while she was smoking. She is also unhappy about some shots mentioning her past love lives and family relationships.  

Meanwhile, Olympic medal-winning cyclist Sarah Lee Wai Sze also said the film did not get her consent of playing a footage of an interview Cheung did with her in 2016 publicly. 

In response, Cheung said the school, the crew of the film and the six girls have all signed a letter of consent before the filming of the documentary, and the agreement contract has included public screening of the film in Hong Kong and overseas. She also said she hasn't discovered any negative sentiments from the six girls since the screening of the documentary. 

She also attributed the incident to "misunderstanding issues", "It is important for us to discuss with each of the parties, as it's been 10 years since the movie was filmed. Time flies, there could be difference among different parties," she said.