Tsui is Asian Filmmaker of the Year

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Festival News

The Busan International Film Festival 부산국제영화제 (6-14 Oct 2011) has announced TSUI Hark 徐克 as the recipient of this year's Asian Filmmaker of the Year award.

Tsui is the fifth Chinese film-maker to receive the award in its nine year history. The other Chinese recipients were HOU Hsiao-hsien 侯孝賢 (2004), Andy LAU 劉德華 (2006), Edward YANG 楊德昌 (2007) and TSAI Ming-liang 蔡明亮 (2010).

Busan's announcement states, "For more than 30 years, Tsui Hark established Hong Kong film in the global market and rewrote the history of Hong Kong films." It predicts that Tsui's upcoming 3-D Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 龍門飛甲 (2011) will "mark a new epoch in Hong Kong martial arts films".

Tsui began his exploration of the martial arts genre with his debut feature, The Butterfly Murders 蝶變 (1979). Last year, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame 狄仁杰之通天帝國 (2010) revived his career; it grossed more than US$3 million for South Korean distributor Lotte Entertainment 롯데엔터테인먼트.

The festival has chosen Tsui not only for his work as a film director, but also for his influential role as a producer in Hong Hong cinema, including classics A Better Tomorrow 英雄本色 (1986) and A Chinese Ghost Story 倩女幽魂 (1987).

In July, Tsui received the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award at the New York Asian Film Festival.

 
Photo, © 2011 Julie Cunnah

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