Controversial Hong Kong documentary pulled from Italian film festival

Award-winning Hong Kong documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self has been withdrawn by its distributor from an Italian film festival after a dispute among stakeholders worsened.Golden Scene said on Sunday that its documentary would not feature at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, 10 days after the event’s line-up listed the title in its “out of competition” section.“We deeply regret this and reserve all legal rights to protect our company’s reputation and interests,” the film distributor said, citing its decision was due to “recent developments”.Co-directed by local filmmaker and Ying Wa Girls’ School alumnus Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self tracks the lives of six students from the institution for a decade, chronicling their personal journeys amid a turbulent period.The film, which was initially part of the school’s fundraising efforts among alumni to rebuild the campus in the Mid-Levels, was first released in local cinemas in February 2023.The documentary was pulled from cinemas days later after one student featured in the film, Ah Ling, revealed that she did not consent to public screening.