Yonfan (born 14 October 1947) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

Biography

He was born in

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. As the Yang family emigrated from mainland China, they lived first in Hong Kong for 3 years, and then moved to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

when Yonfan was 5 years old. He spent most of his childhood and adolescence in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

, Taiwan, and returned to Hong Kong in 1964 as a 17-year-old man to work as a photographer, but left for the United States in 1968 to study film. After a couple of years travelling through the United States, France and Britain, he returned to Hong Kong in 1973, and became a photographer noted for his celebrity portraits. In 1984, he made his box office debut as a director with '' A Certain Romance''. Two years later, Yonfan adapted the much-loved romantic novel '' The Story of Rose'' by

Yi Shu Yi Shu or Isabel Nee Yeh-su (born 25 September 1946) is a popular Hong Kong writer. She is the younger sister of Ni Kuang. She has used other pen names, including Rose (玫瑰), Mui Fon (梅峰), Lok Hon (駱絳), and Luk Kwok (陸國). Chil ...

. Starring an up-and-coming

Maggie Cheung Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (; born 20 September 1964) is a Hong Kong actress. She is one of the most successful and internationally acclaimed actresses in Asia, renowned for her diverse and versatile performances as well as her natural acting skills ...

, the passionate '' Lost Romance'' was a huge commercial success starring a young

Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility, encompassing action to melodrama and comedy and historical drama, his accolades include three Hong Kong Film Awar ...

. After '' In Between'' (1994), Yonfan started to steer away from the mainstream market and began to introduced characters from the marginalised section of the society. With 1998 came another milestone, '' Bishonen'', best known for its romantic cinematography and explicit portrayal of homosexual onscreen passion. Inspired by a real-life scandal in which a Hong Kong playboy was found to possess more than a thousand nude photographs of local police officers, this melodramatic tale of redemption polarized film critics in Hong Kong, but was very well received at film festivals around the globe. It also launched the acting career of heartthrob

Daniel Wu Daniel Wu Neh-Tsu (; born September 30, 1974) is an American actor. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has been featured in over 60 films. A three- ...

. His 2001 film '' Peony Pavilion'' was entered into the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival. In 2010, Yonfan was head of the jury at Hong Kong's

Asian Film Awards The Asian Film Awards are presented annually by the Asian Film Awards Academy to recognise the excellence of the film professionals in the film industries of Asian cinema. History On January 29, 2007, Wilfred Wong, the Chairman of Hong Kon ...

in March and was part of the jury of the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. , the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

in May. In 2011, Yonfan headed the New Currents jury at the 16th

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 October. The Festival also hosted a retrospective of the director's films, featuring seven of his restored and re-mastered films from the 1980s through 2000s.

Filmography

* '' A Certain Romance'' (, 1984) starring Anthony Tang, Mei-Chi Ng * ''Lost Romance'' (, 1986) starring

* '' Immortal Story'' (, 1986) starring

Sylvia Chang Sylvia Chang (born 21 July 1953) is a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese actress, singer, director, screenwriter, and producer. Early life Chang was born in Chiayi County, Chiayi, Taiwan. She dropped out of school when she was 16 and started her career ...

* '' Double Fixation'' (, 1987) starring

Cherie Chung Cherie Chung Chor-hung (; born 16 February 1960) is a retired Hong Kong film actress. Of Hakka ancestry, she was one of the top actresses in Hong Kong film during the 1980s. Background Chung participated in the 1979 Miss Hong Kong competition ...

Jacky Cheung Jacky Cheung Hok-yau (born 10 July 1961) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential artists in the Greater China region, Cheung is widely regarded as a Heavenly King of Cantopop music and an icon of Hong Kong popular culture. He ...

* '' Last Romance'' (, 1988) starring

* '' Promising Miss Bowie'' (, 1990) starring Dodo Cheng, Kenneth Tsang * '' In Between'' (, 1994) starring

Nicky Wu Nicky Wu (born 31 October 1970) is a Taiwanese singer, actor and producer. He found fame in 1988 as a member of boyband Little Tigers. He later embarked on a solo career, known for his roles in TV series '' At the Threshold of an Era'' (1999)'','' ...

* '' Bugis Street'' (, 1995) starring Michael Lam, Hiep Thi Le * '' Bishonen'' (, 1998) starring

Shu Qi Lin Li-hui (born 16 April 1976) ( zh, c=林立慧), better known by her stage name Shu Qi ( zh, c=舒淇), is a Hong Kong–Taiwanese actress and model. Widely regarded as one of the most successful Taiwanese actresses of all time, Shu has receive ...

Brigitte Lin Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (; born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress. Regarded as a screen icon, Lin played a key role in boosting Taiwan’s film production with her romantic heroine roles in the 1970s before transitioning to Hong Kong, where ...

* '' Peony Pavilion'' (, 2001) starring

, Rie Miyazawa, Joey Wong * '' Breaking the Willow'' (, 2003) * '' Colour Blossoms'' (, 2004), starring Teresa Cheung, Keiko Matsuzaka * '' Prince of Tears'' (, 2009) starring Joseph Chang, Fan Chih-Wei, Terri Kwan, Zhu Xuan * ''

No.7 Cherry Lane ''No.7 Cherry Lane'' () is a 2019 adult animated film directed by Yonfan, with animation by Zhang Gang. A Hong Kong-Chinese co-production, the film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. It ...

'' (, 2019)

References

External links

*
Yonfan Studio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yonfan 1947 births Taiwanese film directors Taiwanese photographers Hong Kong photographers Living people Taiwanese people from Hubei People from Taichung

Biography

Filmography

See also

Chinese LGBT film directors

References

External links