Clara Law Cheuk-yiu (, born 29 May 1957 in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

) is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director. Law currently resides in Australia.

Early life

Clara Law was born on 29 May 1957 in Macau. At the age of 10 she moved to Hong Kong. Law studied at the University of Hong Kong and graduated with a degree in English Literature. In 1978 she joined Radio Television Hong Kong as an assistant producer and director. During her time there she tried many aspects of television from screenwriting to directing. Between 1978 and 1981 she directed twelve drama programs for the television channel. In 1982 she began studying film direction and writing at the

National Film and Television School The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2021 ranking by ''The Hollywood Rep ...

in England. She won the Silver Plaque Award at the Chicago Film Festival in 1985 for her graduation film '' They Say the Moon is Fuller Here''.

Career

1985–1994

In 1985 she returned to Hong Kong and began development on her first long feature film '' The Other Half and the Other Half'', which was released in 1988. Since her return to Hong Kong she has worked with

Eddie Fong Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle *Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Linu ...

on all of her projects. In 1989 she created her second film ''

The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus ''The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus'' (Chinese: 潘金蓮之前世今生) is a 1989 Hong Kong film directed by Clara Law and produced by Teddy Robin, and written by Lilian Lee. The film stars Joey Wong, Eric Tsang, Wilson Lam, Pal Sinn, and Ku ...

''. The film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival and was released commercially in the US. A year later she created '' Farewell China''. It won the Special Jury Award at the

Torino Film Festival The Torino Film Festival (also called the Turin Film Festival, TFF) is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival. It was f ...

. She was also nominated for best director at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the film. She directed ''

Fruit Punch The term punch refers to a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruits or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from the Indian subcontinent to England by employees of the East India Company in the ...

'' in 1991, which was a commercial film produced by a large Hong Kong film studio. In 1992 she directed and produced '' Autumn Moon''. The film was a hit in the film festival circuit. It won the Golden Leopard Award at the

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

in 1992, as well as the European Art Theatres Association Best Picture Award and the Youth Special Jury Award in Switzerland and the Best Screenplay in Valencia (1994). It was also awarded at the Belgium and Portugal film festivals. Autumn Moon was selected for official screenings at the New York Film Festival as well as in Sundance, Toronto, London, Rotterdam, Gothenburg, Thessaloniki, Nantes, San Francisco, Créteil, Dublin, Puerto Rico, Seattle, Jerusalem, New Delhi, Wellington, Midnight Sun Finland, Rio de Janeiro, Reykjavik, Ghent, Munich, Ankara, Sydney and Melbourne. In 1993 she released ''

Temptation of a Monk ''Temptation of a Monk'' () is a 1993 Hong Kong period drama film directed by Clara Law based on Pik Wah Lee's novel of the same name. The film had Joan Chen and Hsing-Kuo Wu in the lead roles. The film is about a monk named Jing-yi and his ...

''. The film is an adaptation of a novella by Lillian Lee. The film was shot entirely on location in the north and northwestern part of China. The film was selected for competition at the Venice Film Festival in 1993. It won the Grand Prix at the Créteil International Film Festival in France (1994). The film was also selected for official screenings at the Toronto, Sundance, Rotterdam and Brisbane film festivals, and as the closing film at the L.A. Film Festival. In 1994, Law finished a segment of the movie '' Erotique'' called Wonton Soup. Later that year she and Eddie Fong moved to Australia.

1994 – present

She moved to Australia with Eddie Fong in 1994. The pair's first film after their move to Australia is ''

Floating Life ''Floating Life'' is a 1996 Australian drama film directed by Clara Law about a Hong Kong family who move to Australia. The film was selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards, but was not accep ...

'', which was completed in 1996. It won the Silver Leopard Award at the Locarno Film Festival in 1996, and two other awards including Best Film, it was selected by Prix FICC and the "Ambiente salute: Qualita di vita" award. It also won the Best Film and Best Director Awards at the Gijon International Film Festival in Spain, and the Grand Prix at the Créteil International Film Festival in France. It was nominated for three awards at the Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Director and Best Screenplay, and it received nine nominations at the Golden Horse International Film Festival in Taiwan, including the awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. ''

'' was also Australia's official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 69th Academy Awards (1997). The film was also screened at the Sydney, Melbourne, London, Rotterdam, Hof, Stockholm, Toronto and Hawaii film festivals. ''

The Goddess of 1967 ''The Goddess of 1967'' is a 2000 Australian film directed by Macau-born Australian Clara Law, who wrote the script with her husband (and previous script collaborator) Eddie Ling-Ching Fong. The film is about a rich young Japanese man (Rikiya K ...

'', shot on location in the outback of Australia and Tokyo, was completed in 2000. It was in competition at the Venice film festival in 2000 where Rose Byrne won the Best Actress Award. What's more, Clara Law was nominated for the Golden Lion in Venice. The film also pocketed the Best Director Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, the Best Director Award at the Teplice Art Film Festival in Slovakia and the FIPRESCI Critics' Award for Best Film at the Tromsø Film Festival in Norway. The film was also selected for official screenings at the Toronto, London, Pusan, Hof, Vancouver, Hawaii, Taipei, Rotterdam, Jerusalem, Karlovy Vary and Oslo film festivals. She directed her first digital documentary in 2004 called '' Letters to Ali'' with Eddie Fong who co-produced, edited, and shot the film. The film was selected for competition at the Venice Film Festival and for official screenings at the Toronto, Pusan, Gothenburg and Melbourne film festivals. She completed '' Like a Dream'' in 2009. This film marked her return to Asia. The film was nominated in nine categories at the 2009 Golden Horse Awards. It also opened the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival. In 2010, Law made a short film, '' Red Earth'', commissioned by the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The short was selected in the Horizon category at the 2010 Venice film festival.Podvin 2010

Filmography

* ''Drifting Petals'' – 2020 *''

The Unbearable Lightness of Inspector Fan ''The Unbearable Lightness of Inspector Fan'' (), also known as ''Shanghai Noir'', is a 2015 comedy action romance suspense film directed by Clara Law. The film is a Chinese-Hong Kong co-production. The film was lensed by noted director of photog ...

'' (also known as ''Shanghai Noir'') – 2015 * '' Red Earth'' – 2010 – Short * '' Like a Dream'' – 2009 * '' Letters to Ali'' – 2004 – Documentary * ''

'' – 2000 * ''

'' – 1996 * ''

Wonton Soup A wonton () is a type of Chinese dumpling commonly found across regional styles of Chinese cuisine. It is also spelled wantan or wuntun in transliteration from Cantonese () and wenden from Shanghainese (). There are many different styles o ...

'' – 1994 * ''

'' – 1993 * '' Autumn Moon'' – 1992 * ''

'' – 1991 * '' Farewell China'' – 1990 * ''

The Reincarnation of the Golden Lotus ''The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus'' (Chinese: 潘金蓮之前世今生) is a 1989 Hong Kong film directed by Clara Law and produced by Teddy Robin, and written by Lilian Lee. The film stars Joey Wong, Eric Tsang, Wilson Lam, Pal Sinn, and ...

'' – 1989 * '' The Other Half and the Other Half'' – 1988 * ''

Faces and Places The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may a ...

'' – 1981 * ''Police Drama'' – 1980 * ''

Below the Lion Rock ''Below the Lion Rock'' () is a TV show about the lives of Hong Kong citizens. It was broadcast five times, each forming its own series, from 1972 to 1979, 1984 to 1988, 1990, 1992 to 1995, 2006, 2014 to 2020. Each series was a collection of unrel ...

'' – 1977

Awards and nominations

They Say the Moon Is Fuller Here 1985 *The Silver Plaque Award, Chicago Film Festival Farewell China 1991 *Best Director Nominee, Hong Kong Film Awards *Special Jury Award, Torino Film Festival. Autumn Moon 1992 *Golden Leopard Winner, Locarno International Film Festival *Best Picture Award, European Art Theatres Association. Temptation of a Monk 1994 *Best Director Nominee, Hong Kong Film Awards *Grand Prix, Gréteil International Film Festival. Floating Life 1996 *Silver Leopard Winner, Locarno International Film Festival *Best Director Nominee, AFI Award, Australian Film Institute *Best Director and Grand Prix Asturias Winners, Gijón International Film Festival, Spain. *Best Director and Best Screenplay Nominee, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan 1997 *Grand Prix Winner, Grétail International Women's Film Festival, France. The Goddess of 1967 2000 *Silver Hugo Winner (Best Director), Chicago International Film Festival *Golden Lion Nominee, Venice Film Festival. 2001 *Golden Key Winner (Best Direction), Art Film Festival, Slovak Republic *FIPRESCI Award Winner, Tromsø International Film Festival, Norway. Like a Dream 2009 *Nominated in nine categories, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan Drifting Petals 2020 *Best Director Winner, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan

Notes

References

*Podvin, Thomas, ''Hong Kong Cinemagic'', 2010. *Lee, Dian, ''Senses of Cinema'', 2003. *Tong, Nancy, "From the Chinese Diaspora to a Global Dream: A Discussion With Filmmakers Clara Law and Eddie Fong", ''Hong Kong Cinemagic'', 2010.

External links

*
Complete biography
on

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual (French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The websit ...

Interview with Clara Law
on

Biography
on

Senses of Cinema ''Senses of Cinema'' is a quarterly online film magazine founded in 1999 by filmmaker Bill Mousoulis. Based in Melbourne, Australia, ''Senses of Cinema'' publishes work by film critics from all over the world, including critical essays, career ...

List of films
on

Film Reference A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Law, Clara 1957 births Living people Hong Kong film directors Australian people of Chinese descent Hong Kong emigrants to Australia Australian film directors English-language film directors Australian women film directors Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Macau people Hong Kong artists Hong Kong women artists