It was meant to be a documentary exploring the themes of youth and growing up. But the participants of director Mabel Cheung’s To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self were invited to share their stories only to have their views sidelined instead. Perhaps that’s just what it’s like to be a young person in Hong Kong these days.

Mabel Cheung is one of Hong Kong’s most well-known filmmakers. She emerged on the scene during a time largely considered to be not only the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, but the best of times for the city itself. Cheung’s films were frequently nominated for awards but she had her critics too. The fictional Beijing Rocks (2001) was set in Beijing’s then-burgeoning rock music scene. Before its release, bands featured in the film accused her of shallowness, exploitation and ignoring their views. This same criticism would resurface twenty-two years later in relation to To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self.

• Tags: Hong Kong, Issue 32, Mabel Cheung, Sean Tierney