The Standard: A voice we must all hear
by SIU SAI-WO
The Child Development Initiative Alliance held its first anniversary dinner reception, and Ruby Yang, director of My Voice, My Life, was guest speaker.
In fact, Yang has been invited to attend quite a few similar events recently as many social organizations have chosen her inspiring movie as their fund-raising show.
The popularity of the work has, however, put Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung in a somewhat rather awkward position.
Cheung has received a number of invitations from different groups asking him to attend their functions to watch the movie, and he has had to turn some of them down.
The movie opened to wide acclaim at local cinemas earlier this month and a top official even called it “the Light of Hong Kong.”
It highlights current issues facing the younger generation by recording the struggle of a group of Band 3 students working together to stage a musical in a project organized by a social enterprise.
In Hong Kong, students with good grades are the darlings of both teachers and parents but those who do not do so well are often seen as troublemakers, just like the protagonists in the movie.
Youngsters belonging to the latter group face more challenges growing up, and are in need of help and opportunities, and that is the message of the movie.
Yang’s works have won numerous prizes, including the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject for The Blood of Yingzhou District which focuses on the effect of AIDS on orphans in 2007.
My Voice, My Life is also a documentary, a form of cinematic expression that is considered light on commercial elements both by local and international standards.
But when she agreed to take part in making the movie, Yang was adamant that it be released in mainstream cinemas, and the idea was supported by the organizer of the project.
I think the huge success the movie has achieved is in itself a real life example of triumph in the face of adversity. Siu Sai-wo is publisher of Sing Tao Daily
