Golden Horse Awards: Hong Kong’s Nick Cheuk wins best new director for tragic drama Time Still Turns the Pages

“When I was shooting the movie, I was … diagnosed with depression,” he said. “But I thank my girlfriend, whose beautiful soul walked me through the darkness.”

His film was nominated for the grand prize – best narrative film – but the award went to the Taiwanese feature Stonewalling, directed by Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji.

The other nominated films by young Hong Kong directors were Lawrence Kan Kwan-chun’s In Broad Daylight (with five nods, including Jennifer Yu Heung-ying for best leading actress), Norris Wong Yee-lam’s The Lyricist Wannabe (with two, including Chung Suet-ying for lead actress) and Sasha Chuk Tsz-yin’s Fly Me to the Moon, whose Yoyo Tse won best new performer.

Both Yu and Chung lost out to 12-year-old Taiwanese actress Audrey Lin for her performance in Trouble Girl, becoming the youngest winner in the category.

Chuk’s feature also bagged the Fipresci Prize from the International Federation of Film Critics on Friday.

Hong Kong’s Sean Wong Tsz-lok, an 11-year-old performer nominated for best supporting actor for his turn as the film’s troubled student Eli, lost out to veteran Taiwanese performer Akio Chen for his role in Old Fox.

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The tragedy led Cheuk to contemplate the pervasiveness of dejection among Hong Kong youth, which the filmmaker could also relate to as a student.

“I was a sentimental kid … who suffered great pressure in academics as I was never a high achieving student,” he said in the interview. “I only got eight marks in the public exam, and I felt like a loser.”

“Movies are not about getting high scores but being honest to yourself and your creativity. I used to think I was stupid because of my poor grades, but later, I realised it was not the case after I gained different skills in film studies, such as photography and communication.”

The director’s father, Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, earlier cheered his son’s Audience Choice Award win, saying: “Parents are happy to see their child doing the work he likes”.

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The nod to the budding director for the tragic drama comes as Hong Kong has witnessed a spate of suicides among students. A recent university study found that 22 teenagers attempted suicide or tried to take their lives between August and October of this year.

While Cheuk came away with the award for best new director, he lost out to film editors Liao Ching-Sung and Otsuka for their work on Stonewalling.

Hong Kong director Ho Sze-wai won the award for best live action short for her 30-minute film Before the Box Gets Emptied.

“In days when some words are unspeakable, I wish everyone living in the city could be brave and stride forward to document lives,” she said in her acceptance speech.

Renowned director Ann Hui On-wah, who featured the city’s contemporary poetry scene in her latest documentary Elegies, lost out on the award for best documentary feature.

The lifetime achievement award was given to long-retired Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, an icon of Hong Kong cinema who starred in more than 100 films.

Lin expressed her gratitude to the many people she worked with over her decades-long career.

The annual ceremony has seen a fifth-year absence of stars from mainland China since Beijing boycotted the event in 2019 over political tensions.

If you have suicidal thoughts or know someone who is experiencing them, help is available. In Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services.