Putting Hong Kong’s forgotten figures in the spotlight is filmmaker’s labour of love
Former TV producer’s passion project profiles 25 overlooked figures in Hong Kong’s cultural scene
Bad experiences have made ceramic artist Johnson Tsang Cheung-shing wary of video interviews. The last time he accepted a television station’s request, he went to considerable effort to present his porcelain figurines in different stages of preparation to illustrate the creative process.
But the scramble and stress he endured on the shoot did not pay off, Tsang says. All too often such videos prove disappointing; moreover he is fed up with how the post-production editing distorts what he says in his interviews.
Nevertheless, Tsang was intrigued last March when part-time documentary maker Patrick Cheong Po-man approached him about being a subject in the latter’s Influencer 25 project, a series of video profiles about people in Hong Kong who live their beliefs.
“Before saying yes, I watched some of [Cheong’s] videos and found them to be quite different,” Tsang says. “They are more genuine and I credit that to how he lets the subjects express themselves without any presumption. It’s more like two friends chatting.”
Influencer 25 is a labour of love for Cheong, a former television producer who has worked at media companies including TVB, Star TV and National Geographic for some 20 years.
