Ann Hui

Ann Hui

Birth : 1947-05-23, Anshan, Liaoning, China

History

Ann Hui On-wah (born 23 May 1947 to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother) is a Hong Kong film director, film producer and occasional screenwriter, one of the most critically acclaimed amongst the Hong Kong New Wave.

Profile

Ann Hui
Ann Hui
Ann Hui

Movies

The King of Wuxia
Self
The life of the epoch-making master of martial arts cinema, King Hu.
Love After Love
Director
The film tells the story of a young girl who travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong in pursuit of education, but ends up working for her aunt seducing rich and powerful men.
Keep Rolling
One of Hong Kong's most influential filmmakers, Ann Hui, becomes a “star” for the first time in Man Lim-chung's directorial debut. A forerunner of the New Wave, Hui’s tumultuous, forty-year career is an unequivocal testimony to her unyielding dedication to filmmaking, and her expedition into the metamorphic city. This biopic probes into the acclaimed director’s idiosyncratic world, where we witness her rashness and goofiness, as well as her humanistic concerns for the everyday nobodies which make her films so moving.
Septet: The Story of Hong Kong
A seven-part anthology film exploring the history of Hong Kong from the 1940s to present day.
Septet: The Story of Hong Kong
Director
A seven-part anthology film exploring the history of Hong Kong from the 1940s to present day.
Fagara
Producer
After her father died, a Hong Kong girl discovers she has two hitherto unknown sisters, one in Taiwan and one in China. To settle her father's debt, she must reunite with them to run the family's hot pot restaurant.
No. 7 Cherry Lane
The Pickpocket (voice)
Set in Hong Kong in 1967 — a time of complex politics when it was still a British colony — No. 7 Cherry Lane revolves around a love triangle between a university student, a single mother and her teenage daughter.
I Am Somebody
Herself
A young man travels from his hometown to Hengdian, the place where the country's biggest movies are filmed. Like many others, his dream is to become a movie star. However, the life of an actor proves to be very harsh, and only a select few will ever be anything more than extras.
The Golden Era
Director
The story of writer Xiao Hong comes alive through memories of her great love affair, literary influence and escape from China during World War II.
She Recognized the Storm: Xiao Hong and Her Golden Era
Documentary on the ups and downs of the female writer Xiao Hong's life experience, her works, her love and the golden era she lived in.
My Way
Director
A 20mins short film commissioned by Hong Kong International Film Festival 2012. Starring Francis Ng and Jade Leung - about a pre-op transsexual woman nervously waiting for his operation.
Beautiful 2012
Director
A collection of shorts by four East Asian directors: Ann Hui on a male-to-female sex change, Kim Tae-yong on an emotional imposture, Gu Changwei on pregnancy in China and Tsai Ming-Liang on time and the city of Hong Kong.
A Simple Life
Director
The relationship between a middle-aged man and the elderly woman, who has been the family's helper for sixty years.
All About Love
Director
After being separated for years, former lovers Macy and Anita are reunited at a pregnancy seminar. After sharing the accidental circumstances that led to their respective pregnancies, the two fall back in love. However, to add to the trouble caused by the fathers of their babies, Anita also finds herself the victim of gender discrimination at work due to her pregnancy. Will Macy and Anita make it through the obstacles in the way of their reunion, and what roles will the two to-be-fathers end up playing in the women's lives?
Echoes of the Rainbow
Miss Chan - teacher on the roof
Told through the eyes of sticky-fingered eight-year-old boy Big Ears, Echoes of the Rainbow takes place in a close-knit grassroots community in 1960s Hong Kong. Big Ears' mother and father run the neighborhood shoe store, and his older brother Desmond is every family's dream son - an outstanding athlete with grades worthy of Hong Kong's best school.
Night and Fog
Director
Ann Hui's darkly realistic Night and Fog starts at the end of the story: a man murders his wife and, based on statements by unreliable witnesses, the film goes on to investigate how things could have got this far and what kind of man was able to kill his family.
The Way We Are
Director
A woman finds it easier to come to the aid of a relative stranger than to deal with her family.
The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
Director
Ye Rutang (Siqin Gaowa), a single-living woman in her late fifties, struggles to maintain a dignified life amid the dangers of Shanghai.
Simply Actors
Police Chief
When undercover cops start losing their lives to drug lords who blame their demise on "poor acting", the Police Force counters by sending Hong Kong's Finest to acting school.
Goddess of Mercy
Director
Yang Rui falls in love for the cleaning woman who works in a taekwando gym, only to later discover she's an undercover cop named An Xin. An is in hiding from drug smugglers who have a score to settle with her - a raid she led resulted in the death of one of the smuggler's parents. To complicate matters further, An was previously romantically involved with the smuggler whose parents were killed.
July Rhapsody
Producer
Lam Yiu Kwok, a Hong Kong secondary school teacher is facing a mid-life crisis. While he has only his pride and Chinese poetry to fall back on, his peers are successful businessmen and professionals who flaunt their extravagant lifestyles at reunion dinners. After many years, Lam is still living in a modest apartment with his wife, Man Ching and two teenage sons. However financial stagnancy is not his only problem. An old flame of Man Ching (who was the couple's former schoolteacher) returns to Hong Kong and uncovers old wounds. Man Ching feels obliged to help her ex-lover. Meanwhile, Yiu Kwok faces another dilemma: Choy Lam, a precocious student, has a crush on him and the 'forbidden fruit' looks more and more tempting in the light of his wife's 'infidelity'. Will he succumb to young charms and let history repeat itself?
July Rhapsody
Director
Lam Yiu Kwok, a Hong Kong secondary school teacher is facing a mid-life crisis. While he has only his pride and Chinese poetry to fall back on, his peers are successful businessmen and professionals who flaunt their extravagant lifestyles at reunion dinners. After many years, Lam is still living in a modest apartment with his wife, Man Ching and two teenage sons. However financial stagnancy is not his only problem. An old flame of Man Ching (who was the couple's former schoolteacher) returns to Hong Kong and uncovers old wounds. Man Ching feels obliged to help her ex-lover. Meanwhile, Yiu Kwok faces another dilemma: Choy Lam, a precocious student, has a crush on him and the 'forbidden fruit' looks more and more tempting in the light of his wife's 'infidelity'. Will he succumb to young charms and let history repeat itself?
Peony Pavilion
Producer
The story takes place in a beautiful pavilion in 1930's Suzhou. Jade is a famous songstress courtesan, marrying into the noble house. She develops a dubious relationship with a female cousin of the family and also being admired secretly by her butler. LAN, the cousin, is a modern woman who wants to be independent and serves her country, but when she meets the charismatic Shing, an official from the North, all her plans go astray. These two women's love bears no fruit with their men and in the end they have only each other to lean on.
Merry-Go-Round
In a summer holiday, a father (Mr. Kuk) with his children (Ku Fung and Little Kuk-Ku) has decided to open a noodle bar on a 2-month lease. He has great expectations for his noodle business. Kuk Fung quickly falls in love with Carlily (Kuk Fung's friend). Meanwhile, Little Kuk-ku has met a new friend, Wo who is working at the noodle bar. As the vacation is going, the nodle bar has to be closed. Mr Kuk's business performance didn't come up to his expectations, but it ends up with two puppy loves.
The Making of 'Youling renjian - Visible Secret'
Director and Producer
2001 documentary
The Making of 'Youling renjian - Visible Secret'
Director
2001 documentary
Visible Secret
Director
Urban tale of fantasies, genre greatly favoured by Hong-Kong cinematography, the latest movie of filmmaker Ann Hui combines elements of horror films with other comical aspects to offer an intriguing and terrifying work of great visual strength.
Forever and Ever
Dr Li
Based on a true story, Xiao Fu was contracted HIV virus through blood transmission due to hemophilia. He made his difference by writing a book before his death to change the public's view toward patients with HIV.
Jiang Hu: The Triad Zone
Sister 13
Gang leader Jim Yam has ascended nearly to the pinnacle of power in the underworld, but it brings him few satisfactions. As he watches his peers drop dead around him - many of them amazingly from natural causes - he finds himself more and more soldiering on because that's just what bosses do. Reflecting back on his younger days in London, it is sad to contrast his current lavish - but empty - life as a crime lord in Hong Kong with the joys he experienced as a petty thief in England. These flashbacks and voice overs give us insights not only into Yam himself, but also his closest associates, whom we discover he in truth barely knows.
Ordinary Heroes
Producer
Ordinary Heroes is a narration about the life stories of an advocate, a prostitute, a social worker, and a priest during the social movements from 1970s to 1980s in Hong Kong. The film is based upon true stories.
Ordinary Heroes
Director in TV ad
Ordinary Heroes is a narration about the life stories of an advocate, a prostitute, a social worker, and a priest during the social movements from 1970s to 1980s in Hong Kong. The film is based upon true stories.
Ordinary Heroes
Director
Ordinary Heroes is a narration about the life stories of an advocate, a prostitute, a social worker, and a priest during the social movements from 1970s to 1980s in Hong Kong. The film is based upon true stories.
As Time Goes By
Writer
1997 documentary, part of the Taiwan-produced series "Personal Memoir of Hong Kong", is both a self-portrait and a depiction of Hong Kong during the 40 years preceding the handover by the United Kingdom to China.
As Time Goes By
1997 documentary, part of the Taiwan-produced series "Personal Memoir of Hong Kong", is both a self-portrait and a depiction of Hong Kong during the 40 years preceding the handover by the United Kingdom to China.
As Time Goes By
Director
1997 documentary, part of the Taiwan-produced series "Personal Memoir of Hong Kong", is both a self-portrait and a depiction of Hong Kong during the 40 years preceding the handover by the United Kingdom to China.
Eighteen Springs
Director
In 1930s Shanghai, a young office girl falls in love with a factory worker in the same company.
The River
Film Director
A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river; his dysfunctional parents are unable to provide any relief for him or themselves.
The Stunt Woman
Director
A few years in the life of Ah Kam, starting with her joining action director Master Tung's team of regulars.
Who's the Man, Who's the Woman
Air stewardess
Music producer Sam and his cross-dressing protege Wing have finally professed their love for another, but now what?
Summer Snow
Neighbour
Tells the story of the relationship between a widower with Alzheimer's disease and his daughter-in-law, May Sun, who is a housewife in her forties trying cope with the upheavals in her family.
Summer Snow
Producer
Tells the story of the relationship between a widower with Alzheimer's disease and his daughter-in-law, May Sun, who is a housewife in her forties trying cope with the upheavals in her family.
Summer Snow
Director
Tells the story of the relationship between a widower with Alzheimer's disease and his daughter-in-law, May Sun, who is a housewife in her forties trying cope with the upheavals in her family.
The Meaning of Life
Obstetrician Joey Fong helps childless couple Shiu and Lan kidnap an unloved child and then decides she wants to have a baby with heartless news reporter husband Terrence.
The Day the Sun Turned Cold
Costume Design
Guan Jian wants to report the murder of his father who died 10 years ago. The alleged murderer whom Guan Jian accuses of the crime is his own mother.
The Day the Sun Turned Cold
Producer
Guan Jian wants to report the murder of his father who died 10 years ago. The alleged murderer whom Guan Jian accuses of the crime is his own mother.
Boy and His Hero
Director
1993 film
The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk
Production Design
The secret Red Lotus Flower Society is committed to the overthrow of the evil Manchu Emperor and his minions. One of his Governors is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of members of that secret society. Meanwhile, Canton kung fu practitioner Fong Sai-Yuk falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant.
The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk
Co-Producer
The secret Red Lotus Flower Society is committed to the overthrow of the evil Manchu Emperor and his minions. One of his Governors is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of members of that secret society. Meanwhile, Canton kung fu practitioner Fong Sai-Yuk falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant.
Twin Dragons
Mrs Ma's Gynaecologist
Twins, separated at birth, end up as a Hong Kong gangster and a New York concert pianist. When the pianist travels to Hong Kong for a concert, the two inevitably get mistaken for each other.
My American Grandson
Director
A 12-year-old boy from America experiences the clash of cultures and the generation gap when he visits his grandfather in Shanghai.
Zodiac Killers
Director
Hong Kong student Ben Lee becomes friends with his mainland Chinese classmate Chang Chih while studying abroad in Japan. Ben is unmotivated to study and only cares about money and on the other hand, whenever Chih encounters a Chinese person, he would ask whereabouts of his childhood sweetheart. Ming is also from Hong Kong and in order to elevate his social status, he becomes involved with a bar hostess and owner Yuriko, hoping to become Yakuza leader Yamada Ishikawa's brother in-law.
Sunshine Friends
The war of ratings is over when Mars TV, with its two popular shows bears down Earth TV. Mak, the boss of Mars TV, plan to takeover Earth TV while Lee, the boss of Earth TV wants to jump from a skyscraper to make publicity for his station.
Song of the Exile
Director
Set in the early 1970s, it tells the story of a Chinese-Japanese student who returns to her native Hong Kong after graduating from a university in London. Once she arrives back home, she and her family begins to fight, largely due to cultural and societal conflicts between her mother and herself.
Swordsman
Director
When a scroll containing valuable martial arts secrets is stolen from the Emperor, an army detachment is sent to recover it. It is based on the novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jinyong.
Starry Is the Night
Director
As Cai Mei, a single 40 year old woman and a social worker starts a relationship with a teen-ager Tian-Ah, she remembers her relationship when she was young with her professor, a married man older than her.
Calling the Shots
Self
Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.
Princess Fragrance
Director
Princess Fragrance is a 1987 Hong Kong film based on Louis Cha's novel The Book and the Sword. The film is a sequel to The Romance of Book and Sword, which was released earlier in the same month and was also directed by Ann Hui.
The Romance of Book and Sword
Writer
The story is based on the popular novel developed from folk legend. It goes that the Manchurian emperor Qianlong of China (circa 18th Century) was actually the son of a Han Chinese, the subject ethnicity. His brother of blood, Chen Jialuo just happened to be the chief of the Red Flower Society, an anti-Manchu secret society. Chen, a learned scholar, thought he could get his brother turn his back on the Manchu and restore the Han Chinese reign. But the story was ended by brutal clearence of the society members. It reflects one of the dark pages in Chinese culture, that ethics and humanity always become impotent when countered with power.
The Romance of Book and Sword
Director
The story is based on the popular novel developed from folk legend. It goes that the Manchurian emperor Qianlong of China (circa 18th Century) was actually the son of a Han Chinese, the subject ethnicity. His brother of blood, Chen Jialuo just happened to be the chief of the Red Flower Society, an anti-Manchu secret society. Chen, a learned scholar, thought he could get his brother turn his back on the Manchu and restore the Han Chinese reign. But the story was ended by brutal clearence of the society members. It reflects one of the dark pages in Chinese culture, that ethics and humanity always become impotent when countered with power.
Love in a Fallen City
Director
Taking place in 1941, Love in a Fallen City centers on Pai, a young woman who has been ostracized by her family for divorcing her rich husband. A local match-maker, Mrs. Hsu, takes pity on Pai and decides to bring her to Hong Kong, under the guise of employing her as the Hsu's nanny, but in reality to introduce her to Fan. Pai and Fan seem to hit it off, but Fan's refusal to marry Pai soon sours things. However, as the Japanese begin to invade Hong Kong, the two begin to realize their true feelings for each other.
Winners & Sinners
Maxim's Counter Staff
Five friends are released from prison and do their best to stay out trouble. While trying to mind their own business (and run their 5-Star Cleaning Service), they are caught up in a war between rival Triad gangs fighting for control of the counterfeit currency market.
Visions Cinema: Film as a Way of Life: Hong Kong Cinema - A Report by Tony Rayns
Herself
Examines the early 1980s Hong Kong filmmaking community. Tony Rayns interviews some of the new generation of filmmakers and figures from the wider film culture.
Boat People
Director
A Japanese photojournalist revisits Vietnam after the liberation to document the nation, and begins following and documenting the young children from a poor Vietnamese family.
The Story of Woo Viet
Director
Wu Viet is a Vietnamese refugee who wants to leave his country behind and start over in the United States. First, he must make his way to Hong Kong, but as he passes through Thailand, he meets a beautiful woman who travels with him. Wu and his new love end up in a refugee camp in Thailand, where they discover many of their countrymen are disappearing under mysterious circumstances. As Wu tries to learn the truth about what's happening, he discovers his life is in danger, and he must flee to the Philippines for safety.
Love Massacre
Di Di
The boyfriend of a young co-ed turns into a demented stalker after his sister's suicide.
The Spooky Bunch
Director
A Cantonese opera company is attacked by an army of ghosts, thanks to a feud between the dead grandfathers of one of the company's actresses and a young man.
The Secret
Director
A real murder case which was complicated by the ménage à trois relationship the victim had with the main suspects. As different witnesses narrated their conflicting stories, the case seemed set to lead to nowhere; especially when the real identity of the dead person was finally discovered.
獅子山下:路
Director
Two women with complex family backgrounds coincided on the wrong path of drug abuse.
The Boy from Vietnam
Writer
The three young people who came to Hong Kong from Vietnam (Zeng Quansheng, Li Guosong and You Qingfeng) have different choices for life. Some people are selling their own body and quick money, hoping to obtain the right of abode in the United States and start a new life in different places. Some people face reality in the gallery and just try to solve the problem of three meals and one night. Some people still cherish their dreams and hope to go to France Learn to draw. Unfortunately, refugees can not help but their own lives can only drift in the waves of destiny, the only certainty is that they are carrying a cruel past.
The Boy from Vietnam
Director
The three young people who came to Hong Kong from Vietnam (Zeng Quansheng, Li Guosong and You Qingfeng) have different choices for life. Some people are selling their own body and quick money, hoping to obtain the right of abode in the United States and start a new life in different places. Some people face reality in the gallery and just try to solve the problem of three meals and one night. Some people still cherish their dreams and hope to go to France Learn to draw. Unfortunately, refugees can not help but their own lives can only drift in the waves of destiny, the only certainty is that they are carrying a cruel past.
The Bridge
Director
One of Ann Hui's most admired works for the small screen, The Bridge examines a complex web of bureaucracy, vested interests, disillusionment and grass-roots campaigning. The title refers to a footbridge closed for demolition by the government, effectively cutting the main route to and from a roadside shantytown and triggering further local issues.
無憾
A Simple Life (2012) Making-of