Some people go to the cinema to watch. And some go to the cinema to watch, listen and learn. Take 18-year-old Kim Mi-kyung as an example. A senior at Island School, she is both an avid film-goer, and a student of the art of filmmaking.
She has put these passions to good use, too, having formed her school's film club two years ago, and establishing its Spring Film Festival last year. This year's event, held three weeks ago, was a resounding success. It attracted entries from six schools, gathered a crowd of about 200 people for its awards night, and raised $40,000 for the End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation.
So does Hong Kong have a junior movie mogul waiting in the wings? Mi-kyung scoffs at the suggestion when we met at the school's library. 'No, not really,' she says. 'I've applied to film schools, but life is still uncertain because I am still young.'
Mi-kyung's initial foray into the world of film came through her school's video technology course. And it was during these lessons that she first got her idea to form a film club, and then hold a student film festival. 'I noticed that our school offered clubs in all the other arts but not film. And there were no events where we could show all the videos we were making in video technology classes. The videos were really good, but no one was getting to see them outside of class. For art they hire an art gallery every year to show their stuff. So I decided to start a club.'
As well as screening their work for other students, the club holds regular trips to the cinema, offers its services for videotaping sporting and other events, and takes part in the annual 48-Hour Film Project. Run out of the US, it is an international filmmaking competition, with an open entry system. 'What you have to do is make a film from scratch in 48 hours,' Mi-kyung says. 'You are given a theme, a line of dialogue and a prop on the Friday night. The whole thing has to be finished by Sunday.'
Sounds like an intense weekend. You have to write, film, edit, all with the clock ticking. And the end result must be a minimum of four minutes and a maximum of eight minutes long. 'You don't get any sleep,' she says. 'But it is a lot of fun, and three of the films submitted by our club made it into the top group for their sections.'