- Dubai Youth Film Festival 2019 – Best Performance
- Across Asia Youth Film Festival 2018 – Best Film
- Rosaryhill Secondary School Student Council – President (2017-18) & Vice-president (2018-19)
- The 31st HKSAR Outstanding Students Selection – Top Ten Outstanding Student (2018)
- Wan Chai District Outstanding Young Persons Selection 2018 (Secondary School Section)
Six years ago, I was nowhere near qualified to graduate to secondary school. With an ‘F’ grade in almost all of my subjects, a conduct grade dismally low and no real heart to change for the better, it isn’t hard to figure out why no school would accept such a student. That time was only six years ago, which gives you an idea of how much this award really means to me.
It really has been quite a journey, and it was not an easy or immediate change, but I am pretty certain it all started when my mum told me that “you can achieve anything as long as you put your heart and mind to it.” It sounds a bit cliché but that was the push I needed, because it was those words that led me down the path to who I am today.
To be honest, it took me a while to fully understand what my mum was trying to say. Now it seems like day and night but at the time, I really did not know what I was doing. I had no real concept of a dream, no plans for the future, even ‘friends’ was a long shot for me. But after I entered secondary school, I vowed that I would start doing ‘something’ with my life, whatever that might have been.
I started by giving everything a shot, even if I am unsure about it, because that is the only way I can know whether I actually liked it or not. So that was exactly what I did, I gave absolutely everything a try. From musical instruments to engineering, I looked everywhere to find something I could truly chase with a passion. It was not until two years ago I found it – filmmaking.
It simply started when I got into a brief course on scriptwriting and it all sprouted from there. My whole life started revolving around writing scripts – every lesson I had, every spare moment, I would even lose sleep to it. I had finally found something that I could call a passion. I did not think I was going to go anywhere with the scripts I wrote, and I considered most of them to be terrible actually. Or at least so I thought, because in late 2017, one was picked up by a producer and thus I debuted as a filmmaker.
After writing, directing and editing my first film, I honestly felt better than I have ever had in my life up to that point. That was when I knew filmmaking was where I belonged; it was just this gut feeling despite all the difficulties that such a passion would entail. I remembered back to what my mum had told me years before and for the first time, started believing in myself.
Two years later, here I am. That simple ideology led me to be in student council for two terms as chairperson and vice- chairperson, to write & direct five short films and best of all, to figure out who I am and what my goal in life is – finally figuring out a purpose.
I figured that I would not have become who I am today if it was not for my mother, who believed in me before anyone else did, and was proud of me even when there was nothing to be proud of. She was the one who inspired me to go above and beyond what I thought I was capable of, and in the end, to chase my dreams. So I aspire to inspire, I hope to encourage others to chase their own dreams no matter what their circumstances are.
I am extremely grateful for everything I have now, from my loving family, my always supportive friends, to of course, a passion and dream that I have been able to pursue. I am forever in debt to all my friends and family for sticking by my side through the bad times. In the long run, I hope that I can always stay humble and forever remember where it all started.