Ann Hui: 40 Years of Filmmaking

Ann Hui has a 40-year career in film, having directed 26 films. Her first feature film, "The Secret" (1979), won the Best Feature Film Award at the 17th Golden Horse Awards. In 1982, "Boat People" won five awards at the second Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, establishing her as an important director of the Hong Kong New Wave. In 1995, "Summer Snow" became the first film to win all nine awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards. "Night and Day" (2008) and "A Simple Life" (2012) continued her concern for the ordinary people, with the latter winning five awards at the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2017, "Our Time Will Come" earned her the Best Director award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the sixth time. Hui's works include horror films, ghost films, art-house cinema, martial arts films, documentaries, semi-autobiographical films, light comedies, and historical dramas, across a variety of genres. Her films are rare in that they do not blindly follow audience preferences or reject them. They keep up with the times without losing their own perspective and style, while maintaining a humanistic vision and concerns for Hong Kong throughout, making her a rare and pivotal figure in the Hong Kong film industry. This book was planned by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society two and a half years ago. It is divided into two parts: special articles and interviews with people. Through discussions from multiple angles with film critics who have known Hui for many years, it analyzes the style and characteristics of her film and television works, as well as interviews with Ann Hui and her working partners, attempting to enter her creative and production world from a personal perspective and understand the unknown hardships and joys behind it. It systematically displays the films she has made and her career development over the past forty years.