Ray Yeung () is a Hong Kong screenwriter and independent film director. After graduating with a law degree and practicing law for two years, Yeung found his job tedious and decided to switch career paths to become a director. Yeung's films frequently center around gay stories. He made his feature film debut with '' Cut Sleeve Boys'' (2006) in Britain and later shifted his focus back to Hong Kong, directing ''

Suk Suk ''Suk Suk'' () (the title means "Uncle" in Cantonese) is a 2019 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Ray Yeung. It presents the story of two secretly homosexual married men in their twilight years. The film was selected to compete in th ...

'' (2020) and '' All Shall Be Well'' (2024). Yeung is also the Chairman of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, the longest running LGBT film festival in Asia. He revived the festival in 2000.

Early life

Yeung grew up in Hong Kong. At the age 13, he was sent to an English

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

outside of London. He was the only Asian student at school and faced severe bullying. Upon his family's request, he went on to read law at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

. After graduating with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

, he began his career as a lawyer. He practiced law in the United Kingdom for two years before realizing that the profession was too tedious for him. He decided to switch career paths and become an advertising director. He enrolled at

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York (state), New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, ...

to study filmmaking in 2008, and obtained a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in 2013.

Career

Yeung wrote the plays ''Banana Skin'' and ''The Third Sex.'' He made several shorts prior to his feature film debut. Yeung made his feature film debut with '' Cut Sleeve Boys'', a gay love story between two Chinese-British men, in 2005 at the

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

. The film won Best Feature at the Outfest Fusion Festival in Los Angeles and Best Actor for Chowee Leow at the Madrid Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. His second feature film '' Front Cover'' premiered at the 2015

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

.'''' The story follows Ryan Fu, a gay Chinese American fashion stylist (

Jake Choi Jake Choi (born January 14, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Miggy on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC comedy ''Single Parents (TV series), Single Parents''. He previously starred in ''Front Cover'', an LGBTQ in ...

), who rejects his ethnic heritage, and is assigned to style Ning ( James Chen), an ostensibly heterosexual patriotic actor from Beijing. ''Front Cover'' won Best Screenplay at FilmOut San Diego, Jury Award for Best Domestic Feature at the Outflix Film Festival in Memphis and Audience Award at the Boston Asian American Film Festival. Yeung had expressed interest in doing a Cantonese-language film set in Hong Kong, having grown up there until age 13. ''Twilight's Kiss'', or ''Suk Suk,'' is a film about a gay relationship between two elderly men in Hong Kong and was inspired by the book “Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong” by

Hong Kong University The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

Professor Travis S.K. Kong. The film premiered at the

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held fro ...

in 2019. The film had its European Premiere at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

2020. ''Suk Suk'' is his first Chinese-language film. It was awarded Best Film at the 2019

Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award The Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award () is the annual award given by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in Hong Kong since 1994. The award is determined by votes cast in three rounds after a substantial discussion session between the members ...

and numerous other awards and nominations from 2019- 2022. He was also presented with the Artist of the Year for Film award from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2021. In 2024, Yeung directed another LGBT-themed drama film '' All Shall Be Well'', the film won a Teddy Award and Yeung was nominated for

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

in the 61st Golden Horse Awards.

Style and influences

Yeung cites directors

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese filmmaker. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. The most pr ...

and

Stanley Kwan Stanley Kwan (traditional Chinese: 關錦鵬; simplified Chinese: 关锦鹏); born 9 October 1957) is a Hong Kong film director and producer. He first landed a job at TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist Colle ...

as his influences.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeung, Ray Year of birth missing (living people) University of Canterbury alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Hong Kong film directors Hong Kong screenwriters Hong Kong LGBTQ screenwriters Hong Kong gay writers LGBTQ film directors Gay screenwriters British lawyers Living people University of Canterbury Faculty of Law alumni