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Shu Kei

Shu Kei

Writing

Biography

Shu Kei, whose real name is Kenneth Ip, was born in Hong Kong in 1956 and started writing film criticism while still in secondary school. After graduating from University of Hong Kong, majoring in English, he joined Commercial Television as a scriptwriter. After that station went out of business, Shu started working for Golden Harvest as scriptwriter and assistant director. He also founded Film Biweekly Magazine (later renamed City Entertainment) and acted as chief editor. Shu made his directorial debut in 1981 with Sealed with a Kiss, about a romance between two mentally handicapped youngsters. The film was marked by a refreshing departure from the glut of police dramas, horror films and black-magic movies that were flooding the market. Between 1981 and 1984, Shu was a programmer for the Hong Kong International Film Festival and, from 1984 to 1986, promotion manager for D & B Films. He directed his second feature, Soul, in 1986, which won the Best Cinematography prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Chris Doyle. In 1990, he directed the documentary Sunless Days for the Japanese television station NHK, which was awarded the OCIC Award at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival and the Jury Award at the Rimini Film Festival in Italy. His other works include Hu-Du-Men (1996), which won Best Actress awards for star Josephine Siao at several film festivals, including the 41st Asia Pacific Film Festival, the 33rd Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan and the 2nd Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards. Shu became a director through writing criticism. While film schooleducated directors like Ann Hui and Tsui Hark are representative of the first generation of young filmmakers who took Hong Kong cinema on a new direction, Shu Kei is considered a key member of the second generation. In addition to directing, Shu also took up distribution, founding Shu Kei’s Creative Workshop, which had promoted and distributed over 200 art films and non-mainstream works, such as Blue Kite (1993), directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang; Farewell, My Concubine (1993), directed by Chen Kaige; Chungking Express and Ashes of Time, both directed by Wong Kar-wai. He had also produced a number of films, including Beijing Bastards (1993), directed by Zhang Yuan; Postman (1995), directed by He Jianjun; and First Love Unlimited (1997), directed by Joe Ma. In 1997, Shu opened P.O.V. Bookstore, a retailer devoted to film. He had been an Artist in Residence at Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shaw College, as well as guest lecturer at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong. In 2002, he worked as senior lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, later becoming dean of School of Film and Television. He is also the author and editor of various books, including Hong Kong Films of 1994 (editor); Hong Kong Films of 1995 (editor); Song of the Big Road, The Memoir of Sun Yu; A Comparative Study of Cantonese and Mandarin Films in Post-War Hong Kong--the Films of Zhu Shilin and Chun Kim; A Retrospective of 1960s Cantonese Cinema (editor); Ann Hui’s Vietnam Trilogy Screenplays (writer and editor) and Chinese Beauties (novel). His latest directorial work is The Dream, a segment of the omnibus film Beautiful 2014 (2014), adapted from a short story by author-director Evan Yang (Yi Wen).

Known For

Ashes of Time
7.1

Ouyang Feng is a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. Throughout five seasons in exile, Ouyang spins tales of his clients' unrequited loves and unusual acts of bravery.

Ashes of Time

1994
Tracey
6.2

Tai-hung, in his 50s, lives happily with his wife. Informed of the death of his high school friend, Tai-hung’s secret past resurfaces. The feature debut from promising new Hong Kong talent Jun Li.

Tracey

2018
The Island
7.4

John Shum leads an expedition to an supposedly deserted island only to find out that it's inhabited by a group of seriously demented characters, lead by Peter Chan Lung. This is a family that stays together, slays together and when the youngest one is refused in marriage to one of the young girls of the troupe they turn into savage maniacs.

The Island

1985
Made in Hong Kong
7.6

After his father abandons the family, Autumn Moon drops out of high school and becomes a debt collector for the Triads. On his rounds, he meets and falls in love with Ping, a daughter of one of the Triads' clients. She is suffering from a fatal kidney disease, and to pay for her medical expenses, Autumn Moon takes an assassination contract, but as he slips deeper into the criminal underworld, he's haunted by a figure from his past.

Made in Hong Kong

1997
Temptress Moon
6.7

Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues.

Temptress Moon

1996
Carry On Doctors and Nurses
6.5

This film is a Hong Kong version of the British Carry On films, this one specifically set in a hospital. The hospital is full of inept people, so Miss Kuk (Meg Lam) vows to the board that she will reform it. This involves the recruitment of student nurses, keeping in check some silly interns and dealing with Dr. Chen, whose wife just left him.

Carry On Doctors and Nurses

1985
A Queer Story
4.6

From an unhappy childhood experience, Law Ka Sing decisively hides his homosexual identity. Sing's partner of 8 years, young boyfriend Sunny is just the opposite, he has never minded publicly revealing his identity.

A Queer Story

1997
F***/Off
6.7

Two absolute strangers both desperately struggling to find themselves make a hilariously funny partnership for money. Their plan - a bank robbery! Meet Ah Lee, a well-educated middle-class professional who is deep in debt because of a so-called friend. Then there's PaPa, an inexperienced and very outdated crook who is heartbroken by the recent break-up with his girlfriend. When PaPa decides to teach Ah Lee the art of robbing a bank, the two men discover more than just a thing or two about themselves!

F***/Off

1998
The Happenings
8.0

A group of teenagers stop at a service station after a leaving a disco. In a fight resulting from their inability to pay, the staff on duty are killed by the group, which leads to a desperate night of cat and mouse with the police.

The Happenings

1980
Boundless
7.7

As Hong Kong's foremost filmmaker, Johnnie To himself becomes the protagonist of this painstaking documentary exploring him and his Boundless world of film. A film student from Beijing and avid Johnnie To fan, Ferris Lin boldly approached To with a proposal to document the master director for his graduation thesis. To agreed immediately and Lin's camera closely followed him for over two years, capturing the man behind the movies and the myths. The result is Boundless, a candid profile of one of Hong Kong's greatest directors and a heartfelt love letter to Hong Kong cinema.

Boundless

2013
A Complicated Story
4.8

Needing money for her brother’s medical treatment, Liu Yazi agrees to become a surrogate mother for a mysterious benefactor. But when the contract is suddenly terminated, she disappears in a whirlwind, taking the unborn child and leaving former acquaintances, spurned lovers and secret admirers seeking her desperately.

A Complicated Story

2013
First Love Unlimited
6.8

Only the lack of roses in every frame prevent this teen romance from being a live action Shojo Manga.

First Love Unlimited

1997
Ah Ying
6.5

Chronicles the growth of a young woman as she dabbles in Hong Kong’s independent film scene. Based in part on Hui’s real-life experiences.

Ah Ying

1983
Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema
7.2

With Taiwan remaining in the grip of martial law in 1982, a group of filmmakers from that country set out to establish a cultural identity through cinema and to share it with the world. This engaging documentary looks at the movement's legacy.

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema

2014
Hu-Du-Men
5.1

Cross the Hu-du-men - the demarcation between the back and front stage in Cantonese opera - and you leave yourself behind to totally absorb in your character. Lang Kim-sum is a charismatic Cantonese opera star who understands it's a point of no return once she crosses the Hu-du-men, on stage and in life. Respected by colleagues and friends, and about to retire, Lang has yet to face new, unexpected Hu-du-mens in domestic and professional life.

Hu-Du-Men

1996
When Night Falls
5.0

The mother of a murderer awaits and prepares to meet her son. The true story of a man who killed six Shanghai policemen after suffering police beatings as a punishment for riding an unlicensed bicycle. This film was produced as a part of the Jeonju Digital Project.

When Night Falls

2012
Love: Amoeba Style
5.3

May Ching has three roommates. Tung is the career minded account executive with a business minded girlfriend. Long is the slacker chasing a blind date over the Internet. And 'Brad Pitt' is the playboy who never sleeps with the same woman twice. When all four friends find themselves suddenly out of a job, they decide to open up a bar. In the course of setting up the business, the three boys reexamine their romantic life.

Love: Amoeba Style

1997
Beautiful 2014
N/A

The 2014 edition of an annual short film compilation. Zhang Yuan directs "I love you boss," about the relationship between a wealthy man and his driver. Kang Je-kyu directs "Awaiting," about a South Korean woman striving to reconnect with her husband in Pyongyang. Christopher Doyle does "Education for All," a documentary about the next generation in Hong Kong and Shu Kei's the dream focuses on a bored housewife who fixates on an attractive stranger at the next table.

Beautiful 2014

2014
The King of Wuxia Part 2
N/A

No description available.

The King of Wuxia Part 2

2022
The King of Wuxia Part 1
8.7

The life of the epoch-making master of martial arts cinema, King Hu.

The King of Wuxia Part 1

2022