【文︰林森，影像無國界導師】
林森、他的組員及學生助理 (「影像無國界」 2018/19)
Lam Sum and participants and student mentor of his group (“All About Us” 2018/19)
今年是我作為 ifva 舉辦的「影像無國界」(All About Us) 少數族裔青年影像創作計劃導師的第五個年頭。光陰似箭，還記得我第一次參與時，我的一些組員還只是活潑佻皮的少年人，現在已變成穩重沉實的大學生。最初答允參與這個計劃成為導師，其實只是因為我當時認為作為讀電影畢業的人，也應該將拍攝電影的知識分享給有需要的人，純粹單方面的思考。經過五年時間的參與，我卻發現，我得到的卻比我給予的更多。
從小到大，學校的教育告訴我們，人生而平等，不應因膚色、種族的不同，而有不同的待遇，這是現代最基本的普世價值，我相信絕大部份人都會認同。我也一樣，最初認為香港是一個自由平等的國際大都會，無論甚麼種族的人，得到的機會都必然是均等的，能否把握，大概就只是個人的能力問題吧。可是，後來透過各種機會，跟在港的少數族裔接觸多了，開始了解到很多時他們在融入社會之前，可能因為制度問題，已將他們排拒在外。參與了「影像無國界」，接觸多了少數族裔的青少年後，從他們身上我更理解到，他們的發展可能已被先天局限了。
還記得，一路以來參與「影像無國界」的少數族裔青少年，製作的短片作品題材除了有較貼近他們文化、類「Bollywood」式的歌舞片外，作為導師，我會鼓勵他們從自身生活經驗出發去創作。所以他們的短片作品主題，很多關於學業、夢想和未來發展等，有幾套印象較深的作品，都分別提到他們在香港學習中文的困難和對於他們未來發展的影響。透過觀看這些青少年創作的作品，我更了解到，除了母語、第二語言英文，原來中文對他們來說是第三語言，而因為中文從文法上、發音到書寫都依從一套完全不同的語言系統，他們能聽能講已相當了不起。如要求他們能完全掌握，甚至流利書寫，實在非常困難。所以，對比以中文為母語的本地學生，他們在學習上的困難是難以想像的。亦因為本港教育制度及職場上對中文程度的要求，他們更難在本地升大學、追求更好發展。很多時我問我的組員「未來想做甚麼？」，他們多數都支吾以對。如果我從沒有參與「影像無國界」、沒有跟他們相處過、沒有看過他們的創作，作為一個土生土長的香港人，我根本不會理解，他們在成長階段原來已需面對很多局限。
當然，造成這些局限的原因很多。我們除了要反思政策上或制度上的問題外，大眾媒體某程度上也有很大責任。記得有次帶領組員到球場的觀眾席拍攝，卻遭到一個租了場的足球隊教練攔阻，更差點發生衝突，原因卻只因為該教練以為參與拍攝的少數族裔青少年們在喧鬧。縱使我們多番解釋，卻還是被趕離場。事後跟我的組員討論，他們對於該教練的反應固然非常憤怒，但他們更在意的，是造成這位教練對他們存有偏見的原因。其實只要看看每天的新聞報導及主流電影電視作品中，普遍如何描述少數族裔，我們就會知道答案。
「影像無國界」是這個時代一個很好的平台，為少數族裔青少年提供機會，透過電影創作，訴說他們的故事。它同時是一個溝通媒介，讓少數族裔學生掌握發聲機會，令大眾透過他們的創作，了解他們更多，消解我們之間的偏見及誤會，一同尋找共同生活的可能性。
林森與他的組員 (「影像無國界」 2018/19)
Lam Sum and participants of his group (“All About Us” 2018/19)
Text: Lam Sum, Teaching Artist of All About Us
This is my fifth year being the instructor of All About Us, a creative filmmaking project for ethnic minorities youths organised by ifva. How time flies. I still remember the faces of those lively, playful teens during my first year of participation, though they have now become mature, down-to-earth university students. The reason why I initially agreed to be an instructor for this project is simply because I believed as a graduate of filmmaking, I should share my knowledge in the field with people in need. It was a one-sided thinking. After five years of participation, I finally realise that what I have gained far exceeds what I have given.
Growing up, formal education teaches us that all people are equal. People of another skin colour or ethnicity should not be treated differently. This is the most basic universal value with which most people, I believe, would agree. I, too, initially considered Hong Kong as a free and equal metropolitan where people are entitled to the same opportunities regardless of ethnicities. It probably only comes down to personal abilities that determine whether a person could successfully seize the opportunities or not. However, after frequent contact with ethnic minorities in Hong Kong via various channels, I began to understand that a lot of them might have already been excluded by institutional causes way before they are even given a chance to get assimilated into the society. All About Us allows me to get closer with ethnic minorities youths. I learn from them that their developments may have already been limited by outside factors.
As an instructor, I often encourage the ethnic minority youths taking part in All About Us to create short films based on personal experiences other than merely following the Bollywood-style dance films close to their cultures. As a result, a lot of their short films are about their school life, dreams and future developments. A few memorable works talk about the challenges they face in learning Chinese in Hong Kong and the resulting effects on their future. Through these works, I further realise that apart from their native tongue and English as a second language, Chinese is a third language to them. As Chinese possesses a completely different linguistic system in terms of grammar, pronunciations and writing, it is already quite a feat for them to be able to speak and understand by listening. It is extremely demanding to expect them to be able to completely grasp the language or even write fluently. Therefore, compared to local students whose first language is Chinese, the difficulties that these ethnic minority youths encounter in learning are almost unimaginable. The requirement for Chinese at schools and workplaces makes it even harder for them to enter universities and pursue better developments in Hong Kong. I often ask my groupmates, “What do you want to do in the future?”, a question that is mostly met with equivocal or uncertain murmurs. If I had not taken part in All About Us where I spend time with these youths and see their works, I would not be able to comprehend the many limitations imposed on their growth.
Of course, there are many reasons for these limitations. Apart from the existing issues in our policies or institutions that require rethinking, a great deal of responsibility can be attributed to the mass media. I remember I once took my group mates to the audience seats of a football field for shooting. We were stopped by the coach there who rented the field, which nearly led to an altercation. It was simply because the coach stubbornly thought that the ethnic minority youths were trying to make a racket. Despite our many attempts to explain the matter, we were eventually driven out of the field. During my later discussion with the groupmates, they were of course angry with the coach’s reaction. But what really bothered them the most was how the coach had come to be so prejudiced and discriminatory. A casual look at how our everyday news and mainstream movies and TV dramas depict ethnic minorities would have easily revealed the answer.
All About Us is an excellent platform in this generation for ethnic minorities youths to tell their stories through filmmaking. It is simultaneously a communication channel through which these youths can make their voices heard and let the public understand them more through their works, dispelling any prejudices and misunderstanding and seeking further possibilities in living together harmoniously.
