Best Chinese Directors

Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters Degree in Film Production at New York University. At NYU, he served as Assistant Director on Spike Lee's student film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983). After Lee wrote a couple of screenplays, he eventually appeared on the film scene with Pushing Hands (1991), a dramatic-comedy reflecting on generational conflicts and cultural adaptation, centering on the metaphor of the grandfather's Tai-Chi technique of "Pushing Hands". The Wedding Banquet (1993) (aka The Wedding Banquet) was Lee's next film, an exploration of cultural and generational conflicts through a homosexual Taiwanese man who feigns a marriage in order to satisfy the traditional demands of his Taiwanese parents. It garnered Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, and won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The third movie in his trilogy of Taiwanese-Culture/Generation films, all of them featuring his patriarch figure Sihung Lung, was Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) (aka Eat Drink Man Woman), which received a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination. Lee followed this with Sense and Sensibility (1995), his first Hollywood-mainstream movie. It acquired a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and won Best Adapted Screenplay, for the film's screenwriter and lead actress, Emma Thompson. Lee was also voted the year's Best Director by the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Lee and frequent collaborator James Schamus next filmed The Ice Storm (1997), an adaptation of Rick Moody's novel involving 1970s New England suburbia. The movie acquired the 1997 Best Screenplay at Cannes for screenwriter James Schamus, among other accolades. The Civil War drama Ride with the Devil (1999) soon followed and received critical praise, but it was Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) (aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) that is considered one of his greatest works, a sprawling period film and martial-arts epic that dealt with love, loyalty and loss. It swept the Oscar nominations, eventually winning Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Director at the Golden Globes, and became the highest grossing foreign-language film ever released in America. Lee then filmed the comic-book adaptation, Hulk (2003) - an elegantly and skillfully made film with nice action scenes. Lee has also shot a short film - Chosen (2001) (aka Hire, The Chosen) - and most recently won the 2005 Best Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain (2005), a film based on a short story by Annie Proulx. In 2012 Lee directed Life of Pi which earned 11 Academy Award nominations and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director. In 2013 Ang Lee was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Wen Jiang was born on 5 January 1963 in Tangshan, China. He is an actor and director, known for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Devils on the Doorstep (2000) and Let the Bullets Fly (2010). He has been married to Yun Zhou since 2005. They have two children. He was previously married to Sandrine Chenivisse.

Yimou Zhang was born on 14 November 1951 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a director and writer, known for Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He has been married to Ting Chen since December 2011. They have three children. He was previously married to Hua Xiao and Hua Xie.

Kaige Chen was born on 12 August 1952 in Beijing, China. He is a producer and director, known for Farewell My Concubine (1993), The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) and Yellow Earth (1984). He has been married to Hong Chen since 1996. They have two children.

Xiaogang Feng was born on 18 March 1958 in Beijing, China. He is a writer and producer, known for Mr. Six (2015), A World Without Thieves (2004) and Assembly (2007).

Jia Zhang-ke was born on 24 May 1970 in Fenyang, Shanxi, China. He is a producer and director, known for Ash Is Purest White (2018), A Touch of Sin (2013) and Mountains May Depart (2015). He has been married to Tao Zhao since 7 January 2012.

Ye Lou was born (in 1965) and grew up in Shanghai, a city he would film beautifully in his Suzhou River (2000) (Suzhou River). After studying cinema at the Beijing Film Academy, the gifted young man debuted in the film career as an assistant director, a producer and a short subjects director. His second feature Weekend Lover (1993) (Weekend Lover) was both a public and critical success, crowned by the Fassbinder Prize. In 1997, he accepted to produce "Super City", a TV series for which he hired ten of the most promising names of the sixth-generation-directors. Three years later, he came to international prominence with Suzhou River (2000) (Suzhou River), an ambitious artistic meditation on love and the status of woman in the rapidly changing Chinese society as well as a moving ode to his home town Shanghai.

Wang Xiaoshuai (Director, Writer, Producer)

Wang Xiaoshuai is one of very few masters who remains true to his art in spite of rampant commercialism in the Chinese film market. Evoking the trauma of ordinary Chinese people caught in extraordinary times, his works span different eras, yet consistently reflect a strong social conscience.

Born in 1966, he was a graduate of Beijing Film Academy. At 27, he emerged as one of the key Sixth Generation directors with his debut feature The Days (1993) ,it was selected as one of the best 100 films of all time by the BBC in 1995. He followed up with Frozen (1996) and So Close to Paradise (1998), the later premiering in the Un certain regard section in Cannes. Wang's gritty depiction of listless youth in a time of bewildering social changes earned him international critical acclaim, but none of his early films could be officially released at home. Beijing Bicycle (2001) won the Grand Jury Silver Bear in Competition at the Berlinale, for a stunningly fresh image of Chinese teenagers negotiating the class gap in a new age of materialism.

Wang's works have competed in Cannes Film Festival four times, three times in the Berlinale, and also at Venice and San Sebastian film festivals. For his artistic accomplishments, he has received many distinguished honors notably the Grand Jury Prize for Shanghai Dreams (2005) in the Cannes Main Competition and the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for In Love We Trust (2008). His recent work Red Amnesia (2014) was selected in competition for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, and the latest title So Long, My Son (2019) won two Silver Bears for the Best Actor and Actress at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, both examine the far-reaching consequences of the past on the present.

Filmography The Days (1993) Frozen (1996) So Close to Paradise (1998) Suburban Dreams (2000) Beijing Bicycle (2001) Drifters (2003) Shanghai Dreams (2005) In Love We Trust (2008) Chongqing Blues (2010) 11 Flowers (2011) Red Amnesia (2014) So Long, My Son (2019) Documentary: Chinese Portrait (2018) Short film: After the War (2001) The Cornfield (2015) Reflection (2017)

Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong cha sit (1997), 2046 (2004) and My Blueberry Nights (2007), Yi dai zong shi (2013). His film Fa yeung nin wa (2000), starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, garnered widespread critical acclaim. Wong's films frequently feature protagonists who yearn for romance in the midst of a knowingly brief life and scenes that can often be described as sketchy, digressive, exhilarating, and containing vivid imagery. Wong was the first Chinese director to win the Best Director Award of Cannes Film Festival (for his work Chun gwong cha sit in 1997). Wong was the President of the Jury at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, which makes him the only Chinese person to preside over the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. He was also the President of the Jury at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013. In 2006, Wong accepted the National Order of the Legion of Honour: Knight (Highest Degree) from the French Government. In 2013, Wong accepted Order of Arts and Letters: Commander (Highest Degree) by the French Minister of Culture.

Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide variety of genres before A Better Tomorrow (1986) established his reputation as a master stylist specializing in ultra-violent gangster films and thrillers, with hugely elaborate action scenes shot with breathtaking panache. After gaining a cult reputation in the US with The Killer (1989), Woo was offered a Hollywood contract. He now works in the US.

Tsui Hark recently became the fourth Chinese film director to join the board of judges for the 57th Cannes Film Festival in the feature films category this year.

An internationally acclaimed visionary director, Tsui started making experimental movies with 8mm film when he was only 13. After graduating from the University of Texas in Austin, majoring in film, he returned to Hong Kong in 1977 and landed a job working in television. In 1979 he directed his film debut, The Butterfly Murders (1979). It raised a lot of attention, and was hailed by many as the start of a new wave in Hong Kong cinema. After making numerous critically and successful films, he co-founded his own production house, Film Workshop, with his wife, Nansun Shi, in 1984. Although the company was intended to be contemporary, it went on to become one of the most successful production companies in Hong Kong, having produced such classics of Hong Kong cinema as _Sinnui yauwan (1987)_ and A Better Tomorrow (1986), which was directed by John Woo and starred the amazing Chow Yun-Fat.

Considered the master of kung-fu action films, Tsui Hark's Swordsman (1990), _Xiao ao jiang hu zhi dong fang bu bai (1991)_, Dragon Inn (1992) and Once Upon a Time in China (1991) created a new era and standard for the "wuxia" genre that has now become a trend in filmmaking.

With over thirty directing and producing credits to his name, Johnnie To enjoyed international breakthroughs with Election (2005), Election 2 (2006) (aka "Triad Election") and Exiled (2006); those films enjoyed multiple international film festival appearances and were separately sold to more than 21 foreign territories (including theatrical distributions in France and USA).

Stretching from the height of the Hong Kong New Wave right up to today, über-filmmaker Johnnie To could be considered an institution in the former British colony. Johnnie To's Milky Way production company, which he formed in partnership with frequent collaborator Wai Ka-fai in 1996, has become the de facto hallmark of quality filmmaking in Hong Kong since the Handover in 1997. His filmography is an eclectic collection of films from almost every genre and featuring almost every major Hong Kong film star, including classic films from the late Eighties and early Nineties including Heroic Trio (1993) & All About Ah-Long (1989), some ultra-cool crime-noir productions during the late Nineties; The Longest Night, Expect the Unexpected, and The Mission. Romances; Loving You (1995) & Needing You (2000). As well as a number of crowd-pleasing comedies; Wu Yen (2001) and Love on a Diet (2001).

Unfortunately, the 'Jerry Bruckheimer of Hong Kong' has been in a creative and financial lull since 2001. In addition to facing diminishing box office returns stemming from the overall decline of the Hong Kong film industry, some of To's recent efforts have performed disappointingly, such as Fat Choi Spirit (2002), Full-Time Killer (2001), and Running Out of Time 2 (2001).

However, in 2003, the veteran filmmaker was back in fine form with the release of PTU (2003), a crime-noir thriller, and Running on Karma (2003), about a body builder/exotic dancer with special visions that helps a cop track a vicious killer. These were both award winners at the Hong Kong Film Awards that year. These were followed closely by Breaking News (2004) & Throw Down (2004), then Election (2005) and follow-up Election 2 (2006), the award nominated companion piece.

Born in China in 1947, Ann Hui moved to Hong Kong when she was still in her youth. After graduating in English and Comparative Literature from Hong Kong University, she spent two years at the London Film School. Returning to Hong Kong, she worked as an assistant to director King Hu before joining TVB to direct drama series and short documentaries. In 1978, she directed three episodes for the RTHK series Below the Lion Rock (1972). After that, she directed her debut feature The Secret (1979).

Stephen Chow was the only boy of his family, and has grown up as a Bruce Lee fan and a martial arts addict. His career started on TV, where he presented a children show ( "430 Space Shuttle" (1983)) and started becoming popular. He got some supporting roles, after that, and won the Taiwanese Golden Horse award for best supporting actor.

He had his first starring role in 1990 in a 'Chow Yun-Fat' spoof: All for the Winner (1990) - "All for the Winner" and started excelling in the comedy genre. In Hong-Kong, his particular nonsense style is called "Mo Lei Tau". It's also on the set of this movie that he encountered his fellow sidekick Man-Tat Ng.

One of the last HK biggest star which have not been bought by Hollywood, even if Miramax (who'll surely release Shaolin Soccer (2001) - "Shaolin Soccer" this year in the USA - after remastering it, ouch.) has probably planned something for him...

Derek Tung-Sing Yee was born on 28 December 1957 in Hong Kong. He is an actor and director, known for One Nite in Mongkok (2004), Shinjuku Incident (2009) and C'est la vie, mon chéri (1993). He was previously married to Mandy Huang Law.

Peter Ho-Sun Chan is a Chinese film director, producer and screenwriter. Regarded as one of the most accomplished and successful Hong Kong filmmakers, Chan has directed 18 films, including the critically acclaimed Comrades, Almost a Love Story, Perhaps Love, The Warlords, and American Dreams in China.

Chan is the son of Hong Kong film director turned newspaper columnist Chan Tung Man and mother Lam Man Ying. He spent his childhood years in the Tsim Sha Tsui section of Hong Kong, his teen years in Bangkok, Thailand, and studied film in Los Angeles during the early 1980s.

After working on several films as assistant director, Chan made his directorial debut with the award-winning Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye in 1991. Chan followed Alan and Eric with a string of popular box office successes, including He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father (1993), Tom, Dick and Hairy (1993), and He's a Woman, She's a Man (1994).

In 1996, Chan received international acclaim for Tian Mi Mi (1997 international release: Comrades, Almost a Love Story), a film about two mainland Chinese immigrants who fall in love and drift apart in pre-handover Hong Kong. Tian Mi Mi was not only a box office success, but also swept the 16th annual Hong Kong Film Awards, winning an unprecedented nine awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress for Maggie Cheung. Time Magazine named Comrades one of the top ten films of 1997.

After Tian Mi Mi, Chan directed his first American production in coordination with DreamWorks SKG, 1999's The Love Letter starring Kate Capshaw, Tom Selleck and Ellen DeGeneres.

Chan's films of the nineties tend toward bittersweet romantic comedies that concern the hopes and struggles of Hong Kong Chinese couples on the cusp of the 21st century. At the advent of the 2000s, Chan expanded the scope of his creative projects to include both directing and producing a variety of films in new genres, including horror, war and a musical.

In 2000, Chan established Applause Pictures, a company dedicated to producing high quality Pan-Asian films intended primarily for Asian audiences. Films produced by Applause Pictures include Jan Dara (2001), One Fine Spring Day (2001), The Eye series (2002, 2004, 2005), Three (2002), Three...Extremes (2004), Golden Chicken (2002), Golden Chicken 2 (2003) and the animated McDull, The Alumni (2006).

In 2002, Chan directed Going Home, a segment of Three, a horror anthology showcasing three short features by prominent Asian directors. Notable directors featured in the Three anthologies include South Korea's Kim Jee-woon and Park Chan-wook, and Japan's Takashi Miike. Chan also produced the 2002 thriller The Eye, directed by Danny and Oxide Pang, a film later remade as an American production starring Jessica Alba.

Chan followed his exploration of the macabre with a turn in the opposite direction with 2005's Perhaps Love, a musical love story set in Shanghai and Beijing starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Jacky Cheung and Zhou Xun. The film closed the 2005 Venice Film Festival, and was Hong Kong's official entry for the 2006 Academy Awards.

After Perhaps Love came the historical war epic The Warlords (2007), starring Jet Li, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau. The gritty tale brotherhood and betrayal set during the Taiping Rebellion in 1860s China garnered 8 Hong Kong Film awards and 3 Golden Horse awards.

In contrast to the lavish production and epic scope of films like Perhaps Love and The Warlords, Chan's recent films are stories of hope, friendship and matters of the human heart, themes characteristic of his early work. With American Dreams in China (2013), a rags-to-riches story of three Chinese friends who achieve success teaching English to aspiring Chinese immigrants, and Dearest (2014), based on the true story of a divorced Chinese couple dealing with the abduction of their son, Chan demonstrates an ability to create socially-conscious, humanistic films that are also widely appealing to Chinese audiences.

Chan is one of the few Chinese filmmakers working today who can create popular entertainment that explores issues of social concern common to the ordinary Chinese citizen.

Of the ten films that Hsiao-Hsien Hou directed between 1980 and 1989, seven received best film or best director awards from prestigious international films festivals in Venice, Berlin, Hawaii, and the Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes. In a 1988 worldwide critics' poll, Hou was championed as "one of the three directors most crucial to the future of cinema."

Hou's birthplace, a county in Kuangtung Province, had been well-known as an intellectual center in China. In 1948, his family moved to Taiwan and, like all children raised there, he went through an extremely demanding educational system. In 1969, he studied film at the National Taiwan Arts Academy. After graduation in 1972, he worked briefly as a salesman. Later he began his film career as a scriptwriter and assistant director.

Hou's films are often concerned with his experiences of growing up in rural Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s. The 1950s marked a time in which refugee families from the mainland were struggling painfully for survival, while the 1960s saw the beginning of the most significant social change in modern Taiwan. The economic boom of that period meant the beginning of Western-style industrialization and urbanization. The normal frustrations of growing up were aggravated by these complicated changes, and Hou's films are intimate expressions of those experiences.

His emotionally charged work is replete with highly nostalgic images and beautiful compositions; their power lies in his total identification with the past and the fate of families who suffered through difficult times. His stories, often written in collaboration with scriptwriters T'ien-wen Chu and Nien-Jen Wu, depict the complex intertwining of the different strands that shape the lives of individuals. In a poetic yet relaxed style, they reflect a deep sympathy and a profound humanism.

Born on November 6, 1947 in Shanghai, China, Edward Yang has become one of the most talented international filmmakers of his generation. Along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming-Liang, Yang ranks among the leading artists of the Taiwanese New Wave, and one of the world's most brilliant auteurs. Growing up in Taipei, Taiwan, he was very interested in Japanese Manga/Comic Books, which led to the writing of his own screenplays. After studying engineering in Taiwan, he enrolled in the Electrical Engineering program at The University of Florida, receiving his Masters degree in 1974 while doing work with The Center for Informatics Research. Yang did not pursue a PhD and instead attended USC Film School briefly, but dropped out after feeling disenchanted by the program's commerce-and-business focus and his own misgivings of pursuing a Film Career. Upon working in Seattle with microcomputers and Defense software, an encounter with a piece by Werner Herzog (Aguirre, Wrath of God) gave him inspiration to observe classics in world cinema and reignited his interest in Film. He eventually wrote the script and served as a production aide on the Hong Kong TV movie, The Winter of 1905 (1981). Although he returned to Taiwan to direct a number of television shows, his break came in 1982 with the direction and writing of the film short, Desires (1982), in the seminal Taiwanese New Wave collaboration In Our Time(1982). While Hou Hsiao-Hsien's movies dealt primarily with history or Taiwan's countryside, Yang created films analyzing and revealing the many themes of city and urban life. His first major piece was That Day On The Beach (1983), a modernist narrative reflecting on couples and family. He followed with the urban films Taipei Story (1984), a reflection on urban-Taiwan through a couple - where he cast fellow auteur Hou Hsiao Hsien as the lead - and The Terrorizer (1986), a complex multi-narrative tale. In Yang's brilliant A Brighter Summer Day (1991), a sprawling examination of teen gangs, societal clashes, the influence of American pop-culture and youth, his first authentic masterpiece was crafted. He has followed with the satires A Confucian Confusion (1995), and Mahjong (1996), films that looked at the struggle between the modern and the traditional, the relationship between business and art, and how capitalistic greed may corrupt, influence, or effect art. It is, however, his most recent film, Yi Yi (2000), that is considered his magnum opus, an epic story about the Jian family seen through their different perspectives. The three-hour masterwork begins with a wedding, ends with a funeral, and examines all areas of human life in a variety of interesting, artistic ways. He has also collaborated with fellow auteur, novelist, and screenwriter Nien-Jen Wu on the piece, casting him as one of the leads, NJ. Yang's filmmaking style looks at the uncertain future of modernizing Taiwan in an enlightening manner, and his vision is one of the most original operating in world cinema today.

Sylvia Chang was born on 22 July 1953 in Chiayi, Taiwan. She is an actress and writer, known for Love Education (2017), 20:30:40 (2004) and Passion (1986).

Born in Kuching, Malaysia, he graduated from the Drama and Cinema Department of the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan and worked as a theatrical producer and TV director. His second feature film, Vive L'Amour (1994), won the Golden Lion (best picture) at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. His idiosyncratic oeuvre continues to enthrall audiences worldwide.

Ning Hao (Born in Shanxi, China) is a commercial filmmaker from China who has a great track record of quality films with success at the box-office. Ning studied at the Taiyuan Film School, where he majored in scenic design. He later transferred to the Art Department of Peking University. Ning eventually graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 2003 with a degree from the Photography Department.

In the past decade, he has completed 8 films, achieving a total of over 620 million USD at the box-office. In terms of investment-to-return ratio, he tops all directors in China. From international acclaim to local commercial hits, he has become a legendary figure in the China film industry. All of his movies have garnered high profits, while retaining a resolutely personal style of expression. Ning Hao has become the hottest director in China.

He made his debut during his student days with "Incense" and his second full-length feature was "Mongolian Ping Pong." Both films were selected for the Berlin, Locarno and Hong Kong film festivals, eventually making it to fifty international film festivals while winning numerous grand prizes, such as the most popular award of Shanghai Film Festival in Asia. Ning Hao's talent has been affirmed by juries worldwide with accolades in the global film industry.

In 2006 at 29, Ning Hao wrote and directed a small budget movie "Crazy Stone." The shoot took 46 days and cost only 400k USD). It rocked Chinese audiences across the world, and smashed box-office records for the first half of 2006, clocking 4.5 million USD. It went on to be the most profitable film for that year.

Along the way, it took home the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Original Screenplay and many other awards. "Crazy Stone" has been greatly praised by the media and the general audience, becoming a milestone event for China film history. The main actors in the the movie, eventually nicknamed Stone Clan, went on to become influential forces in the Chinese movie scene for the next decade.

In 2009, Ning Hao wrote and directed "Crazy Racer." The shoot took 56 days and cost 1.5 million USD. The movie made 20 million USD at the box-office and launched Ning Hao into the same bracket of box-office success as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Feng Xiaogang, making him the fourth distinguished member of the Hundred-Million-Club-Auteur (In Chinese currency) and surpassing the veterans mentioned above. He is the youngest director in China to achieve this grand honor.

In 2013, Ning Hao directed and wrote China's first western road movie "No Man's Land." It was allowed to be released after four years of censorship delays. "No Man's Land" was shot in the harsh western region of China in 77 days, costing 2.5 million USD. It eventually made 45 million USD at the box-office. Its film-critics' score has stayed at the top of Chinese movie charts, and it received the "Annual Hundred Film Media Prize."It was also nominated at the 64th Berlin Film Festival main competition.

In 2014, Ning Hao wrote and directed "Breakup Buddies." It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and won acclaim internationally. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter gave great coverage to the movie. This movie took 90 days to shot, cost 13 million USD and made 200 million USD at the box-office. It was the most profitable domestic film of China in 2014 and recorded the greatest audience attendance numbers.

In 2018, Ning Hao directed his the last film of his "Crazy" Trilogy, "Crazy Alien". It made over 320 million USD at the box office during the 2019 Chinese New Year holiday season.

Andrew Lau Wai-Keung was born in Hong Kong in 1960, and has been fond of photography as a child. He joined Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. after secondary school graduation. The first film he participated in as a semi-skilled worker in cinematography was Legendary Weapons of China directed by Chia-Liang Liu.

His position rose throughout the years with film such as City on Fire, Where's Officer Tuba?, As Tears Go By, Curry and Pepper, Lee Rock and Lee Rock II. His work as a cinematographer has also garnered him several nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Lau had later gotten recognition for his loose style in capturing natural light and dynamic camera movements.

His directorial debut arrived in 1990 with Against All, but he didn't give up his career as a cinematographer. He also co-directed the films To Live and Die in Tsimshatsui and Modern Romance, alongside director Jing Wong. In 1995, he took up the position of director and cinematographer once again for the films Love of the Last Emperor and The Mean Street Story.

Lau founded B.O.B. & Partners Co. Ltd. jointly with Manfred Wong and Jing Wong. The first film of this company was Young and Dangerous which was released in 1996 and became a box office hit. In the same year, the 'B.O.B. trio' produced the film's first two sequels.

From 1996 to 1998, he continued to direct films including the Young and Dangerous Saga--and "The Storm Riders." Having been involved in the Young and Dangerous films including its four sequels, Lau finished his involvement with the franchise with "Young and Dangerous: The Prequel" in 1998, and "Born to Be King" in 2000.

Lau has also made a name for himself for combining martial arts with computer-animated special effects on the movie screen in such acclaimed films as The Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero. Other films such as Sausalito and Dance of a Dream have lightened Andrew's film career.

In 2002, Lau established Basic Pictures, a company that started out with the blockbuster movie Infernal Affairs, in which he co-directed alongside co-writer Alan Mak (Alan Mak). It would be the first of many collaborations involving the directing duo.

The film starred the four top actors of its year--Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Eric Tsang and Anthony Chau-Sang Wong-- along with the year's two top actresses--Kelly Chen and Sammi Cheng.

Infernal Affairs was the number one box-office hit in Hong Kong that year, breaking several box office records alone. Furthermore, the film won many Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Directors (Lau and Mak), Best Screenplay (Mak and co-writer Chong), and Best Supporting Actor (Wong). Infernal Affairs also went on win awards at the 40th Golden Horse Awards and the Golden Bauhinia Awards.

Not only was the film successful worldwide, but it later became the inspiration for Martin Scorsese's 2006 film, The Departed (2006).

In 2003, Lau and Mak had completed the trilogy with the prequel Infernal Affairs II, and the sequel/prequel Infernal Affairs III. Later that year, the directing duo won the "Leaders of the Year 2003" Award in the Sports/Culture/Entertainment Category.

In 2004, Lau and Mak worked on another blockbuster, Initial D, which was shot in Japan and released in Hong Kong during the summer. Once again, it was also another successful film for Lau and Mak, winning multiple awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, winning for Best New Performer (Jay Chou), Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong), and Best Visual Effects.

In 2006, Lau, Mak and scriptwriter Felix Chong re-teamed to make the 2005 film, Moonlight in Tokyo. They re-teamed again for the 2006 film Confessions of Pain, once again re-teaming with Infernal Affairs star Tony Leung Chiu-wai.

With his difference in style and aspiration, Andrew Lau, as a prolific director/cinematographer continues to make good quality films that will appeal to a mass audience.

Jeffrey Lau is known for A Chinese Odyssey: Part 2 - Cinderella (1995), A Chinese Odyssey: Part One - Pandora's Box (1995) and Kung Fu Hustle (2004).

Mong-Hong Chung was born in 1965 in Pingtung, Taiwan. He is a cinematographer and writer, known for A Sun (2019), Soul (2013) and Parking (2008).

Zhuangzhuang Tian was born in April 1952 in Beijing, China. He is a director and actor, known for Delamu (2004), Springtime in a Small Town (2002) and The Blue Kite (1993).