Reference no: EM133410858

Mabel was a millennium baby born in the millennium year of 2000. During the period from 2012 to 2018, she studied Form 1 to Form 6 at ABC School (the "School").

In the year of 2011, the School planned to redevelop the school campus, but at that time it did not have sufficient funds to do so. The School's Principal had several fund-raising proposals for the campus redevelopment project. One of the fund-raising proposals was to invite a famous film director to produce a documentary to record the changes in the School as well as the personal lives and growth of its students during the scheduled redevelopment period from 2012 to 2018. All proceeds from the movie's screening, broadcasting, public display, or distribution should be donated to the redevelopment fund.

Mabel was one of the students of the School chosen to play a major role in the documentary. In order to ensure the successful production of the documentary, the School sought the consent of Mabel's parents to allow Mabel to participate in the film production. Part of the "Consent Letter for Documentary Filming of the ABC School Redevelopment Project" states that:-

"Parents understand that the copyright of the Documentary is owned by ABC School, and agree that the filming team has the full autonomy of record creation and editing. Parents further agree that the School can use the Documentary and/or the products of any part thereof in Hong Kong or other places outside Hong Kong for publication, in any way including but not limited to screening, broadcasting, public display, or distribution, now or in the future.

All proceeds from publishing, screening, broadcasting, public display, or distribution shall be donated to the School Redevelopment Fund, and the School shall have full rights to decide how to deal with the proceeds."

Mabel's mother agreed with the School to allow Mabel to participate in the film production activities including conducting interviews with Mable and filming her personal and family living conditions, and hence Mable's mother signed the Consent Letter in April 2013. The production of the documentary was successfully completed in or about June 2021, and Mabel did play a major role in it. The first screening was held in the School in September 2021, and in December 2021, the film was granted the Best Documentary Award at the Hong Kong Film Festival. As the comments on the documentary were very positive, the School decided to arrange for it to be screened in public cinemas in Hong Kong in December 2022.

After the first screening in September 2021, Mabel was not happy with the documentary and suffered from depression. In early February 2023, Mabel in the social media and mass media expressed her objection and complaint against the public screening of the documentary and requested the School to stop it.

1. Discuss with reference to the decided cases under the law of contract if there is a valid contract made between the School and Mabel's mother; and

2. Advise Mabel if there is any legal action that she could take to stop the public screening of the documentary, and to which court she could bring her case.