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A disputed coming-of-age documentary was removed from an Italian film festival following objections from two of its participants who raised issues about privacy.

Golden Scene, the movie’s distributor, statedTo My Nineteen-Year-Old Selfwill not be shown at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, local media reported on Sunday.

The documentary is no longer available on alistscreenings available on the festival’s website.

A prize-winning documentary that followed the lives of six students from Ying Wa Girls’ School over a period of ten years starting in 2011, the film wasremoved from cinemas in 2023after one of the students highlighted – last name Wong – stated she did not agree to public showings.

The play triggered a vigorous discussion about ethical standards in documentaries, which was revived last week when Wong – along with another film subject named Sheh – expressed disagreement with the Italian showing.

Director Mabel Cheung and her production team released an open letter on Thursday evening as the controversy escalated, following a statement from Ying Wa Girls’ School – which had commissioned the documentary as part of a fundraising initiative – issued astatementearlier that day, it had not given approval for the screening in Italy.

Cheung charged the school with deception, stating that the principal did not object to the screening during a meeting two months ago.

The director mentioned that she knew Wong was against the screening, and that her team removed her scenes from the movie. However, they hadn’t anticipated another student also objecting.

On a Thursday statement, Golden Scene confirmed Cheung’s version of a meeting with the school’s principal earlier this year and stated that the school’s claims were untrue.

HKFP has contacted Golden Scene and the Far East Film Festival for their response.

In 2021, before a charity premiere, Ying Wa Girls’ Schooldescribedthe movie as a “compelling display of the challenges and hardships, the hopes and ambitions, and the recollections and bonds formed during teenage years, and one that definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.”

The documentary received the best film award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2023, two months following its removal from theaters after Wong released a lengthy statement.letterin a news organization, she stated that she had been against the movie’s public showing “since the start.”

Following the release of news last week that the movie was set to be shown in Italy, Wongtold mediathat she was not involved in the decision and that she continued to disagree. Sheh alsoreportedlyShe mentioned that she had informed Ying Wa Girls’ School of her opposition to the screening plan in January.