Golden Horse Best Actress playing deaf girl brings attention to vulnerable group films

Chung Suet-ying, winner of the Golden Horse Film Best Leading Actress, called for more attention to be allocated to locally independent films while thanking fans supporting the film The Way We Talk at the special screening of Hong Kong Baptist University Communication School, her alma mater.

The movie explores the choice of hearing-impaired people between using cochlear implants(electronic devices to improve hearing) or simply using sign language. Sophie Fong, played by Chung Suet-ying, was such a girl getting confused between the two advocacies and later decided to follow inner voices for living her own life.

As of March 3, the movie achieved a box office of HK$ 5.35 million, ranking the fourth among all movies that have been released locally within the month. Also, nearly 60% of the audience on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) gave the movie a score above or at eight out of ten. 

As for awards winning, besides Chung locking in the "Best Leading Actress" at the Golden Horse Film Awards, the movie also secured the Audience Choice Award and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Recommended Movies Award. 

"Some worried a movie about  ‘deaf people’ will not be popular, but I have confidence in the Hong Kong audience, which was proved by the award we got," said Adam Wong Sau-ping, the director on his Facebook page after winning the "Audience Choice Award" at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.

“It is a discussion of identity politics,”said the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. “Adam Wong Sau-ping three-dimensionally presents the intersecting situation of deaf people and hearing people, and the diverse faces of their life circle,” the society added.   

Despite the positive reception of Wong’s film, local productions face challenges in Hong Kong’s competitive market. Only three of the top ten box office movies released in 2025 are from Hong Kong, with the rest being produced overseas or in mainland China. The highest-grossing movie currently showing is locked by the mainland-produced Ne Zha 2 with a box office of HK$29.65 million as of March 2, followed by Captain America: Brave New World. 

To promote Hong Kong as a cultural centre and encourage more local projects, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in the budget speech on Feb. 26 that the government will further strengthen its support for Hong Kong's cultural and arts industries, including the "Film Development Fund."

“A cumulative total of over $1.3 billion has been approved by the fund to support more than 120 film projects, involving more than 110 new directors and producers, and the relevant films have won more than 180 awards,” said Chan in his speech.

On 14 February, Chung returned to HKBU for a sharing session where she shared her experiences as a journalism student as well as offering suggestions to fellow students using examples from her career path.

“I encourage film-industry players to actively apply for this scheme (the Film Development Fund), whether film students or independent film-makers, to utilize the resources to enlarge the chances of their art pieces becoming mainstream movies,” said Chung.