Mr Chun Kim

1926-1969

Director

Director and scriptwriter Chun Kim was born Chan Kin and was also known as Chan Zhi Yee. He adopted the pseudonyms Chan Ching and Sima Choi Wah for writing screenplays. Chun was introduced to the film industry by Sek Kin as a continuity man for director Wu Pang. This “Whiz Kid of the Cinema”, as he was called, began penning scripts at age 20; his first work was made into the film Two Dragons Chase after a Pearl (1948). In the same year, he co-directed Separated Too Soon (1948) with Ng Wui. At age 23, Chun helmed For My Country (1949) and, a year later, caught the eye of the critics and the public alike with Fishermen’s Song of the South Sea (1950). By the time he made A Son is Born (1953) for Union Film Enterprise, his talent was obvious. Chun directed numerous titles for Union Film, of which he was a co-founder, including A Mother’s Tears (1953) and Parents’ Hearts (1955). In 1955, Chun founded Kong Ngee Motion Picture Production Company with Chan Man. The studio produced modern Cantonese films with urban settings and nurtured actors and directors, including big names like Patrick Tse Yin, Kar Ling, Nam Hung, Kong Suet, Keung Chung Ping, Chor Yuen and Lung Kong. In his 43 years of life, Chun helmed more than 60 Cantonese and Mandarin films in an assortment of genres, also scripting the majority of them. Among his exemplary Cantonese films are Dragnet (1956), The Whispering Palms (1957), My Intimate Partner (1960) and How to Get a Wife (1961); while Till the End of Time (1966), The Long Voyage Home (1966) and Farewell My Love (1969) are some of his notable Mandarin creations. Chun tragically took his own life in 1969.