Admittedly, at the beginning, I felt somewhat awkward and anxious about being part of the Young Jury. This was mainly because of the differences in background (and primary language of use) between the rest of the jury and myself. I felt torn between the desire to express myself clearly and the perceived pressure to speak mainly Cantonese, as a way to feel worthy of sitting on the Young Jury. Luckily, my anxiety dissolved over the course of jury duty, as I made friends and conversed in both English and Cantonese (though still with an accent) as I realized the purpose of a jury was to gain different perspectives. Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of local Hongkongers in the theaters, watching foreign and “exotic” films, and the intensity of the jury’s deliberation on the penultimate day. From this, I further realized the strength of film was its ability to inspire a universal form of empathy that all of us could agree was powerful and worth platforming on the global stage. Regardless, not only did I achieve my original goal of getting better at Cantonese, I also gained a handful of new ways to analyse and watch films from vastly different parts of the world from my peers and mentors. Many invaluable takeaways from this brief but meaningful experience that I will apply to my IB film journey.

Written by Moses Lai