Screening
Youth Group Finalist
Feel My Empty Soul
Nicole Wong
Hong Kong / 15'24'' / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
At forty, social worker Chan Sing Hei has had his passion eroded by the relentless grind of reality. In a carpark, he meets Hei, a sixteen-year-old clutching a bunch of keys, stubbornly searching for a "nonexistent exit" he believes it will bring freedom. Chan initially dismisses him, yet gradually sees how the boy's naive persistence mirrors a conviction he abandoned long ago: that even amid life's tedium, one can still yearn for liberation. But pressure from his supervisor and professional boundaries drag him back, and he shatters the boy's dream with his own words. Only after Hei vanishes does Chan realise the boy was the innocence he had buried within himself. Chan returns to the carpark with a wry smile, learning to carry out his duties while gently embracing the voice inside—seeking his own balance between reality and desire.
