Reels of Integrity

You can take Professor Ruby Yang out of film, but you cannot take film out of Ruby Yang.

Professor Yang won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2007 for The Blood of Yingzhou District about the effects of AIDS on orphans in the province of Anhui in China. She was nominated again in 2011 for The Warriors of Qiugang about a village’s response to chemical pollution. She has also produced award-winning documentaries in Hong Kong over the past decade and mentored young filmmakers.

So in June, when she was confirmed as the new Director of JMSC, she framed her role in terms she knows best.

“It’s like producing a big-scale documentary, with a few new complications,” she said, praising the support she has received from JMSC founder Professor Ying Chan and the Faculty of Social Sciences after she was made Interim Director in 2023. “It has been a hard learning curve, but I have got the job done.”

That job has included launching a new Master’s degree in documentary filmmaking, making preparations for new undergraduate programmes and features, and generally ensuring that students are prepared to take on challenges such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the demands arising from social media.

She has also been absorbing the values and goals of the Centre, which are not far from her own values in filmmaking.

“Integrity is very important, whether it’s in journalism or doing a documentary or in AI. Integrity means we tell the truth, we are honest, and we uphold our values,” she said.

Shining a light

Professor Yang’s values developed through a career that started in the US. She was born in Hong Kong, but her family emigrated there, and she ended up studying filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1970s. She became involved in the Asian American scene, which was exploring how to get their experiences and perspectives represented in culture.

Filmmaking felt the right fit for her for doing this. She started making her own films – her first was Citizen Hong Kong released in 1999 about the city reinventing itself – while also establishing a strong track record as a film editor, including for a series on the US Public Broadcasting Service, Becoming American: The Chinese Experience, that was led by acclaimed journalist Bill Moyers.

During the production of that series, she interviewed AIDS scientist David Ho and learnt about the AIDS challenge in Mainland China. This inspired her to move to Beijing in 2004, where she founded the Chang Ai Media Project with fellow filmmaker Thomas F Lennon to raise awareness about HIV-AIDS. This resulted in, among other things, The Blood of Yingzhou District and HIV-AIDS public service announcements aired on Chinese television stations.

She also produced other documentaries about Mainland China’s LGBT community and about Tibetan nomads and how basketball was leading them into modernity.

“As a documentary filmmaker, I want to tell a story and shine a light on issues that audiences may have not seen or been aware of before – to use media to advocate for something,” she said.

Future focus

Professor Yang came to Hong Kong in 2014 at the invitation of Professor Ying Chan, just when she was thinking of returning to the US. She mentored JMSC students in filmmaking and received funding for the Hong Kong Documentary Initiative, which ran until 2019 and provided master classes and seed grants for a new generation of filmmakers.

She also made the film My Voice, My Life which followed ‘band three’ students who excelled in the arts but not academically. It won awards in Hong Kong and has been screened more than 400 times in local schools, and a sequel has been made. “I have really enjoyed teaching and mentoring students. This is why I’ve stayed,” she said.

Professor Yang’s artistry, integrity and commitment to storytelling make her a thoughtful choice to head the JMSC. Apart from the Master’s in documentary filmmaking – obviously close to her heart – the Centre is preparing an undergraduate programme in strategic communications to equip students to articulate complex information and help counter fake news and disinformation.

AI courses have also become a core part of the Centre’s regular programmes and there are plans to develop tracks in business journalism and possibly health communication. To that end, the JMSC has recruited two academic track professors (most of its staff are practice track) in data journalism and health communication.

The JMSC has also celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. “Things are developing so quickly. Our students have been very employable and now we want to prepare them with the skills they will need for the future workplace,” Professor Yang said.