Hong Kong filmmaker Victor Leung overcomes troubled childhood to release first micro movie
- Victor Leung Man-kit has battled anxiety, delinquency and a strained relationship with his parents, all of which almost cost him his dream
Budding moviemaker Victor Leung Man-kit thought he had ruined his chances of developing a career in film production when he stopped receiving orders from his boss. Leung, 20, admits it was his fault: “I would stay up all night even when I knew I had an important assignment the following day. I would also sleep on the job.”
It would be a year before he would manage to turn his attitude around.
He joined the production company as a freelance assistant after backing out of a diploma programme in filmmaking at Baptist University. Still recovering from a turbulent final few years at secondary school, Leung quit the course because he was anxious about forming new relationships with peers.
Leung’s mother is the owner of a snack shop, and his father a delivery worker. Because of their busy schedules, Leung, for most of his childhood, was placed in the care of babysitters at his kindergarten, and, later, his grandmother. He recalls vividly how one night, his mother left him at kindergarten until almost 10pm.
“By then all the other kids had gone home with their parents. I was so lonely I was having imaginary conversations with paintings on the wall and playing with Blu-Tack. I thought my mum would never come back for me.”
