Empowering youth through martial arts and filmmaking
Amid rising UK youth violence, Project Sifu is a pilot merging martial arts and action filmmaking in Sheffield. Led by Dr Wayne Wong, the initiative empowers young people by combining physical training, discipline, and East Asian culture with cinematic storytelling to boost wellbeing and confidence.
Creative projects, like film making and martial arts, have the ability to bring people together, build connections, and foster a deeper cultural understanding between communities. At the University of Sheffield, East Asian studies researchers are using their knowledge on the role of media, sound, and text to help people in the UK better understand everyday life and culture in East Asia.
Dr Wayne Wong is a lecturer in East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield and cluster lead for the research strand, Media, Text, and Sound in East Asia. His research into embodied practice and diasporic co-creation is transforming how BritishâHong Kong communities connect with their identity, wellbeing, and sense of belonging.
Dr Wongâs work explores how those living away from their homeland express their culture through physical activities, like martial arts or dance, and how they work together on creative projects to mix their heritage with their new life in the UK. These practices create bridges between the BritishâHong Kong community and the wider UK population, leading to better integration and a more diverse society.
To engage directly with diasporic youth in Sheffield, Dr Wong began in 2025 alongside Project co-lead, Soo Cole, founder of the Fighting Spirit Film Festival UK. The initiative combines martial arts training with filmmaking to see how embodied practice such as training, choreography, storytelling, can empower young people and build intercultural belonging through creativity and connection.
Project Sifu
Supported by the Knowledge Exchange fund, Project Sifu is a collaboration between the School of East Asian Studies at the University and . Led by Dr Wong, it brings together the art of martial arts training and the creative world of filmmaking to inspire and empower young people in the UK. By blending physical training with cinematic storytelling, the project aims to foster a deeper understanding of cultural heritage, promote mental and physical wellbeing, and tackle serious issues like knife crime and violence.
Martial arts and cinema offer a unique combination of physical discipline and artistic expression. By engaging in these practices, participants not only build strength and resilience but also learn valuable skills in teamwork, storytelling, and cultural appreciation. The project celebrates these two powerful mediums and their potential to transform lives.
âProject Sifu began as a 12 week pilot project to help young people learn about martial art filmmaking. We had 10 participants, predominantly female, with no filmmaking background. The first eight weeks focused on martial art training - so teaching the participants the basics like punching and kicking, as well as how to fall safely without hurting themselves. We also taught them specific styles such as judo and Chinese kung fuâ explains Dr Wong.
âDuring this period, I made a documentary that followed the journey of our participants. I think the most interesting thing about the documentary is that it shows what we can produce from a group of people without any martial arts background in three months' timeâ adds Dr Wong.
âThe final four weeks of the pilot focused on making a short film. We wanted to produce a fight scene of maybe two or three minutes with a very simple story line. So we invited some industry martial arts stuntmen to help us choreograph some of the fight scenes and we also invited feature film makers to help us do a bit of filming. So I was responsible for making the documentary but at the same time making the short film as wellâ explains Dr Wong.
Participants involved in Project Sifu were given the opportunity to reimagine martial arts as a medium of empathy, adaptability, and resistance. Through collaborative movement, camera work, and post-production, Dr Wong successfully challenged gendered and ethnic assumptions embedded in martial arts cinema. Quantitative feedback indicated that 87% of Project Sifu participants reported increased confidence in public speaking, and over half expressed a desire to pursue creative careers. These results, coupled with qualitative reflections, illustrate how embodied co-creation enables migrant youth to articulate their stories on their own terms. One participant involved said, âbefore, I thought martial arts were just about fighting. Now I see it as a language I can use to tell my own storyâ.
âI think for Project Sifu, it's not just about putting theory into practice, it's more about cultural exchange and the experiences of young people from different places. Itâs all about understanding how East Asian culture and martial art cinema can be a tool for people to learn more about different cultures. For example, how to promote mutual respect, self-discipline, and empowermentâ explains Dr Wong.
Since October 2025, the project has reached an international audience. In February 2026, Dr Wong was invited as a named panellist at Connected Pathways: Community Martial Arts Models Advancing Social Justice and Youth Wellbeing - a side event at the United Nationsâ 64th Commission for Social Development in New York, joining practitioners from South Africa, Slovenia, France and Brazil. Since then, the team has showcased Project Sifu in Hong Kong, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Singapore and Sydney, with further collaborations now under discussion with Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and UNESCO-ICM in South Korea.
Building on the pilot's success, Project Sifu 2 is set to launch in September 2026. Expanding on the original initiative, the team has produced both a documentary and a short film, supported by Higher Education Innovation Funding and additional Central Impact Funding from the University. A premiere is planned on campus in Sheffield later in autumn.
Dr Wong has also recently established the at 51²è¹Ý¶ù, a civic knowledge exchange platform for diasporic cultural participation backed by Knowledge Exchange Funding from the University, extending Project Sifu's co-creation approach to a wider network of community initiatives.
Cultural exchange and integration programme
At the core of Dr Wongâs work is the empowerment of diasporic youth and migrant families navigating uncertainty in post-2019 Britain. Dr Wong provided strategic input and hands-on support throughout the delivery of a £300,000 UK government-funded programme led by Good Neighbour Church England. Serving as trustee chairperson in 2024, he helped steer the organisationâs direction, shape community priorities, and coordinate the planning and execution of 199 cultural, career, and wellbeing events between 2023 and 2024. These activities supported the settlement and integration of Hong Kong British National (Overseas) migrants across multiple UK regions.
27,500 people directly benefitted from the events and services delivered through the government-funded . The participants took part in cultural, educational, and wellbeing workshops, such as mental health seminars, Chinese calligraphy classes, and parentâchild . They also attended cross-cultural events, including music performances, sports competitions, film screenings, and community forums that brought together Hong Kong migrants with other local and refugee groups.
Next steps
Through Dr Wongâs practice-led research, he has redefined the role of embodied arts in diasporic life. He plans to continue his mission to provide a unique platform for young participants to explore the rich tradition of martial arts cinema while developing valuable life skills - and Project Sifu provides a scalable model for that ambition to flourish.
Written by Anna Blagg (Research Marketing and Communications Coordinator)
For further information please contact: mediateam@sheffield.ac.uk.