Hong Kong first-time filmmaker Nick Cheuk Yik-him won best new director at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards on Saturday night for his socially conscious drama about family trauma and student suicides.
During his acceptance speech at the awards ceremony in Taipei, Cheuk paid tribute to the friend whose suicide inspired Time Still Turns The Pages.
“I would like to thank my friend who is resting in heaven,” he said. “I know I will never be able to return to that night and give my friend a hug before he went, but I wish that those who choose to stay behind may each feel a hug.”
Cheuk also thanked his girlfriend for staying by his side and supporting him as he struggled with the strain of making his first feature film.
“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.”
A day earlier, the film won the Audience Choice Award.
The idea for the movie stems from the 36-year-old director’s own experience 14 years ago when the close friend from university took his own life.
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. I only got eight marks in the public exam, and I felt like a loser,” Cheuk told the Post.
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“Movies are not about getting high scores but being honest to yourself and your creativity,” he said. “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 and said: “parents are happy to see the child doing the work he likes”.
The filmmaker also stands a chance of picking another three trophies from the official nominations for best narrative feature, best original screenplay and best film editing.
Hong Kong cinema well represented in Golden Horse Awards nominations
Hong Kong cinema well represented in Golden Horse Awards nominations
The other nominated films by young Hong Kong directors are In Broad Daylight (with five nods, including Jennifer Yu Heung-ying for best leading actress), The Lyricist Wannabe (with two, including Chung Suet-ying for lead actress).
Among them, Actress Yoyo Tse on Saturday also won best new performer for her role in Sasha Chuk’s Fly Me to the Moon, which already bagged the Fipresci Prize from the International Federation of Film Critic on Friday.
The annual ceremony has seen a fifth-year absence of stars from mainland China since Beijing boycotted the event in 2019 over political tension.