Ann Hui
Ann Hui (born 1947) is one of the most celebrated directors in Hong Kong cinema and a leading figure of the Hong Kong New Wave. Born in Anshan, China, to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother, she moved to Hong Kong at five and later studied at the University of Hong Kong and the London Film School. After returning, she worked as an assistant to King Hu and made TV dramas for TVB and the Independent Commission Against Corruption before her debut feature, The Secret (1979), helped launch the Hong Kong New Wave. Her work ranges across literary adaptations, women's stories, and political subjects; her Vietnam trilogy — culminating in Boat People (1982) — and the semi-autobiographical Song of the Exile are among her best-known films. She has won Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards six times and received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, the first Chinese woman so honoured.