Ms Ann Hui On Wah

1947-

Director

Director and film producer Ann Hui was born in Liaoning and moved to Hong Kong at age five. She studied Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong and, after completing her Master’s degree, left for London Film School to learn about filmmaking. She graduated with First Class Honours in 1975 and returned to Hong Kong, working as a producer for TVB, the ICAC and then RTHK. She shot her first feature, The Secret, in 1979, a film that is regarded as one of the most important works of Hong Kong New Wave Cinema. Boat People (1982) was screened during that year’s Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Director’s Fortnight) at the Cannes Film Festival and garnered Hui international recognition. Hui went on to try her hand at literary films, including adaptations of Eileen Chang’s Love in a Fallen City in 1984 and Louis Cha’s The Romance of Book and Sword in 1987. Ordinary Heroes (1999), on the other hand, experimented with the documentary style and reflected a deep social conscience. Hui has the most Best Director wins (six) at the Hong Kong Film Awards, winning for Boat People (1982), Summer Snow (1995), The Way We Are (2008), A Simple Life (2012), The Golden Era (2014) and Our Time Will Come (2018). She also won Best Director three times at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards for Ordinary Heroes (1999), A Simple Life (2012) and The Golden Era (2014). The leading ladies of several of her films also claimed Best Actress at various film festivals, including Josephine Siao, Siqin Gaowa, Nina Paw Hee Ching and Deanie Ip. In 2008, Hui became the first woman to receive Japan’s Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize. In 2011, the Asian Film Awards honoured her with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A year later, she was named a recipient of the Bronze Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong Government.