PROJECT SIFU

Project Sifu x Shaolin Temple UK

Date: 30 May 2026

Time: 2–4pm

Venue: Shaolin Temple UK

Very excited that Project Sifu will be bringing a free Shaolin screen combat workshop to London later this month in collaboration with Fighting Spirit Film Festival and the University of Sheffield.

Grateful to Dom Dumaresq for sharing his experience and practice with students and the wider martial arts community. Dom is a British Stunt Register stunt performer, a student of Shaolin Temple UK, and a disciple of Shifu Yanzi and Shifu Yanlei.

This is a FREE workshop for Shaolin Temple UK students with an active monthly membership and spaces are limited to 30 participants.

Please register at the reception of the Shaolin Temple UK. If you can no longer attend, do let us know as early as possible so the place can be offered to someone on the waiting list.

We’ll also be filming parts of the workshop as part of the ongoing Project Sifu documentary, which will screen at this year’s Fighting Spirit Film Festival. Looking forward to continuing these conversations around martial arts, cinema, and embodied knowledge through practice and community.

Project Sifu: East Asia Tour

Date: 12-25 Apr 2026

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been very grateful to share Project Sifu and ideas from Martial Arts Ecology across Hong Kong, Singapore, and beyond through screenings, talks, and workshops with students, scholars, practitioners, and local communities.

At PolyU CPCE, many thanks to Esther Tong and Tina Qiu for organising such a thoughtful and well-run screening and workshop. It meant a lot to share Project Sifu, an original concept developed with Soo Cole (Fighting Spirit Film Festival), alongside my recent book Martial Arts Ecology (Edinburgh University Press, 2026). I’m especially thankful to Andrew Pong for joining as guest speaker and so generously working with participants on kung fu and stunt techniques.

I’m also very thankful to Prof. Pan Lu and Dr Kaiyiu Lau for the invitation to Hong Kong Polytechnic University main campus, and to Carmen Law for all the care behind the scenes that made the event run so smoothly. It was wonderful to continue these conversations with students and colleagues in Hong Kong.

In Singapore, I was very grateful to be hosted by Kiu-wai Chu and Florence Mok at NTU’s Hong Kong Research Hub. It was a real pleasure to share more about Martial Arts Ecology alongside Project Sifu, and I deeply appreciated the generous and thoughtful questions from everyone who attended.

I’m also very thankful to Meaghan, Shawna, Josh, and Tamara for their generous hospitality in Sydney, and to Chris for organising such a thoughtful seminar, with special thanks as well to Peter for taking care of the room setup. I was really moved by the audience responses to the documentary and the insightful conversations afterwards.

Across all these events, I’ve been reminded again how meaningful it is to build connections between academia, film, martial arts practice, and community engagement across different places and contexts. Very thankful to everyone who hosted, attended, supported, and contributed along the way 🙏

Project Sifu: Canada Tour

Date: 21-28 March 2026

The past week has been really fruitful, and it’s nice to finally have a bit of rest. I’ve been travelling across three cities in Canada and trying out a slightly different format, combining a book talk, a screening, and a workshop. It felt like a more complete way of sharing the work, moving from ideas to film and into practice.

In Vancouver at the University of British Columbia, I’m very grateful to Helena Wu and UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative for the invitation and care in hosting, and to the student helpers for capturing the moments. I’m also very thankful to Martin Cochingco @e.martincochingco, a Primetime Emmy Award winner for stunt performance on Shōgun and The Last of Us, for generously sharing insights from his work.

In Edmonton at MacEwan University, thank you to Jimmy Lo @jimmylocm and The Stunt Garage @the_stuntgarage, Aaron @aaron_d.c, Miya @miya_kaneda, and Carmel, for sharing their time and craft so generously. It made a real difference for students to see how this work is done in practice.

At the University of Toronto, thank you to Emily Dobrich @emilydobrich, the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies, CIDEC, and especially Dan Iaboni @pkdanno, founder of The Monkey Vault, for joining and supporting the session. His gym now supports over 1,200 students learning professional stunt work and has become one of the largest training spaces in Toronto.

This tour really came together through people. I’m thankful to have learned alongside everyone, and looking forward to continuing these conversations next month in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney.

Project Sifu x Showroom Shorts 

Date: Tue, 17 March 2026
Time: 8:30–9:30 pm
Venue: Showroom Cinema, Sheffield

A really lovely evening at #ShowroomShorts at @showroom_cinema 

Grateful to @Rob Speranza and @syfilmmakersnetwork for including Project Sifu in the programme, and thank you to everyone who came along and watched the film. It meant a lot to share the documentary with such a warm and engaged audience in Sheffield.

#ShowroomShorts
#syfilmmakersnetwork

Project Sifu Screening and mini Workshop x Year of the Horse Party 2026

Date: Sat, 28 February 2026
Time: 2:25–3:35 pm
Venue: Millennium Gallery, Sheffield

Feeling very grateful after today’s Year of the Horse celebrations in Sheffield 🐎🧧

Thank again for the invitation and for the chance to share Project Sifu with so many people across the city. I stepped in as an action performer for the demonstration, and the workshop following the short screening brought generous and encouraging feedback from the audience.

Huge thanks to @candgartpartment, @rewater_sheffield, and @sheffmuseums for the opportunity. I’m especially thankful to @sooeyc for developing this project with me in collaboration with @fightingspiritfilmfestival, and to @nathan_geering and @mattrdirector for their support, @sam_ccn and @konkycontent for filming, and @aniostsodium for helping with the logistics.

It’s heartening to see more people in Sheffield getting to know the project. I hope we can continue to share it across Northern England and beyond before travelling to Vancouver, Edmunton, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney in the coming months. 

Project Sifu in at the United Nations' 64th Commission for Social Development

Date: Mon, 9 February 2026
Time: 1:15–2:30 pm (New York time)
Venue: Official UN CSocD64 Side Event | Online
Registration: here

Grateful to share that I’ve been invited by the Martial Arts Coalition for Sustainable Development (MCS) to take part in Connected Pathways at the United Nations Commission for Social Development in New York this February.

Project Sifu will be presented alongside community martial arts initiatives from across the world, including projects based in Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, and Scotland. It’s an honour to be part of such a diverse group of practitioners working in very different local contexts, but connected by shared commitments to youth wellbeing, social justice, and community care.

Thank you to MCS for the invitation. I’m really looking forward to bringing this work to New York and learning from others across this global network. See less

Project Sifu (2025) Hong Kong Premiere 

Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026
Time: 3:30PM - 5:00PM
Venue: Arts Tech Lab (Room 4.35), 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus (Free entry)

A huge thank you to everyone who made last Friday’s Project Sifu screenings and action-choreography workshops at HKU and HKBU so special 🇭🇰🥋🎬

At HKU, I’m deeply grateful to Winnie Yee and Amy Kwan for making this event possible. A special shout-out to Andrew Pong, son of legendary Hong Kong action star Chin Siu-ho, for being my demonstration partner, and to Miss Hong Kong Virginia Lau for her generous support throughout the event. Big thanks as well to film director and producer Bey Logan, who brought everyone together and helped make the session such a success.

I’m also thankful to my friends and colleagues from the Department of Comparative Literature at HKU for joining and supporting the event, especially Jason Coe, Fiona Law, Tsz Kit Yim, Stephen Ng, and many others. The energy in the room, the questions, and the conversations were truly inspiring.

At HKBU, heartfelt thanks to Dorothy Lau and Ying Liang for making the screening possible. I’m especially grateful to Ying Liang for his incisive questions in his documentary class, and to his MA students for their thoughtful feedback and engagement.

Thank you to both HKU and HKBU for the warm welcome. I’m very much looking forward to returning to Hong Kong later this year, visiting more universities, and bringing Project Sifu to even wider audiences.

Next stop: Canada 🇨🇦 Vancouver and Edmonton. Stay tuned 👊

Empowering youth through martial arts and filmmaking

Project Sifu (2025) has just been featured on the University of Sheffield’s research achievement site. I’m genuinely grateful to everyone who’s been part of this so far. Feels like just the beginning 👊🏼🎬

Project Sifu (2025) Lincoln Premiere 

Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025
Time: 12:00PM - 2:00PM
Venue: ATB0109, University of Lincoln (Free entry)

A big thank you to Dr Adonis Li (Lecturer in East Asian History) for inviting me to the University of Lincoln today to screen Project Sifu (2025). I’m really grateful for the support and hospitality from Prof. Gary Rawnsley, Dr. Ming-Yeh T Rawnsley, Dr Emily Timms, and it was lovely to meet so many engaged students and colleagues.

I truly appreciated the positive feedback on the film and the thoughtful questions during the Q&A. It’s always encouraging to see how martial arts and filmmaking resonate with different audiences.

I’m excited to continue bringing screenings and action-choreography workshops to communities across the South Yorkshire region 🥋🎬 Thanks again for such a warm welcome in Lincoln.

Project Sifu (2025) Sheffield Premiere + Martial Arts Choreography Workshop

Project Sifu: A Short Film & Documentary + Director Q&A
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025
Time: 3:00PM - 5:00PM
Venue: 38 Mappin Street, 106 - Workroom 03 (Free entry)

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us for the screening, Q&A, and action choreography workshop led by the brilliant @nathan_geering (award-winning choreographer and director). 💥🥋 Special thanks to our students, mentors (@curioustanuki @kirkbytheway), and supporters who made this journey possible and to all who helped behind the scenes to bring this event to life. 🙏 From Sheffield to London to Seoul 🌍 and now back home, Project Sifu continues to show the power of martial arts and cinema. Stay tuned for Project Sifu 2!

Project Sifu (2025) in the UNESCO–ICM International Martial Arts Seminar in Seoul

Project Sifu: A Short Film & Documentary + Director Q&A
Date: Thursday, 25 Sep 2025
Time: 8:00PM
Venue: Seoul Olympic Parktel

Successful screening of Project Sifu (2025) in Seoul. Many thanks to UNESCO and International Center of Martial Arts (ICM) for their invitation so that I can share this project with audience in East Asia.

Premiere at Fighting SPIRIT Film Festival 2025

Project Sifu: A Short Film & Documentary + Director Q&A
Date: Saturday 13 September 2025
Time: 2:40PM
Venue: Hackney Picturehouse, London (Free entry)