For me at the age of 19｜Liang Jichang does not apologize for being surrounded by the film, and Ye Jianyuan hopes to be fair to all parties

The 10-year-old documentary "To My Nineteen-Year-Old Me", directed by Maggie Cheung, was suspended due to ethical disputes.

Maggie Cheung, who was just appointed by the SAR government as the "Task Force for Promoting Hong Kong's New Advantages", became the target of attacks. Even the "pan-democratic" former Legislative Council members Yip Kin-yuen and Leung Kai-cheong, who had posted a post on Facebook praising the movie, could not escape.

Facing the encirclement and suppression by netizens who call themselves "teachers of justice", Ye Jianyuan only added a little bit to the original post, "I hope that after the release of the show, there will be a fair treatment in all aspects"; Liang Jichang also said that it is "impossible" to apologize , because he stayed in Hong Kong "one of the reasons is to watch good Hong Kong movies."

In the face of the negative opinions from the audience of "For Me at Nineteen", Director Maggie Cheung said that the time of the work is too recent, and it is impossible to evaluate it objectively at this stage.

(Photo by Chen Shunzhen)

Ye Jianyuan hopes to be fair to all parties

"To the Nineteen-Year-Old Me" won the Best Film Award at the 29th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards and was officially released last Thursday (February 2).

The film was first released in September last year, and the public generally received positive reviews, believing it to be highly educational and triggering audience reflection. Some voices also questioned the filming technique, dissatisfied with Zhang Wanting's "paternalistic" tone and perspective to record the growth of girls.

On the day the film was released, Ye Jianyuan, a former member of the Legislative Council's education sector, wrote in a newspaper column that he "strongly recommends it to friends who care about young people." "This is a very rare opportunity to discuss the growth of young people." He described, ""For Nineteen-Year-Old Me" is an extremely rare documentary that allows us to see the youthful journey of a group of girls and the significance of school education." Because the movie is quite real, I believe that the audience "must be touched and thoughtful." As for the movie that once triggered For example, the protagonist claimed that he did not see the film for the first time until August last year. Ye Jianyuan pointed out that he saw many girls in the film when he participated in the school screening as early as December 2021. "This simple fact illustrates the above statement and facts. Far from it."

Until last Sunday (February 5th), as the protagonist A Ling wrote a 4D text in the newspaper to accuse the film producer of disrespecting his wish to oppose the release, the incident aroused the attention of the whole city. Sorry, hope to communicate with the other party again.

The Internet continued to stir up criticism, portraying Maggie Cheung, who was just appointed by the SAR government as the "Task Force for Promoting Hong Kong's New Advantages", as a "vote for the Communist Party" and a "blue corpse", and besieged those who had watched or praised the film.

Liang Jichang did not apologize for the positive review

Ye Jianyuan, who has always been gentle, was also criticized by netizens for "being an educator in vain" and "teaching animals".

Facing the controversy, Ye Jianyuan edited the post on Facebook yesterday (February 6) that originally reproduced the above-mentioned column article, saying, "Things have developed suddenly. I hope that after the release of the show, there will be a fair solution to all aspects."

Another more pragmatic Liang Jichang also posted a post on Facebook last Saturday (February 4) about "For the Nineteen-Year-Old Me".

He quoted the impressions of his female colleagues from the same famous school, describing the movie as real, the principal is loving, and the Yinghua girls are close to the ground; and he plans to "second brush" (watch the second time) with his daughter this week, and mark the post with " Support Hong Kong Films".

In the face of controversy, some netizens asked Leung Chi-cheung to retract the above remarks. Leung Chi-cheong posted a separate post saying "impossible", and said that the film plan was good, but the actual operation was poor, and one of the reasons why he stayed in Hong Kong was to support Hong Kong films.