Johnnie To | |||||||||||
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杜琪峯 | |||||||||||
Born | |||||||||||
Occupations |
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Years active | 1972–present | ||||||||||
Notable work | Full list | ||||||||||
Spouse | Wong Po-ling (m. 1978) | ||||||||||
Awards | Full list | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 杜琪峯 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 杜琪峰 | ||||||||||
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Johnnie To Kei-fung (born 22 April 1955) is a Hong Kong filmmaker. Popular in his native Hong Kong, [1] To has also found acclaim overseas. Intensely prolific, To has made films in a variety of genres, though in the West he is best known for his action and crime movies, which have earned him critical respect [2] [3] and a cult following, which includes American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. [4]
To's biggest international successes include Breaking News , Election , Election 2 (a.k.a. Triad Election), Exiled , Mad Detective and Drug War ; these films have appeared in a number of international film festivals, been distributed theatrically in France and the United States, and been widely sold to foreign countries.
His films, often made in collaboration with the same group of actors, screenwriters and cinematographers, frequently explore themes of friendship, fate and the changing face of Hong Kong society. [5] [6] Sometimes described as "multifaceted and chameleonic" [3] due to his ability to switch tones and genres between movies, To is nonetheless seen as having a consistent style, which involves mixing subdued realism and social observation with highly stylised visual and acting elements. [5] To has cited King Hu as the director who has influenced his work the most. [7]
To heads the Hong Kong-based production company Milkyway Image with his frequent co-director Wai Ka-fai.
To began his career at age 17 as a messenger for the Hong Kong television studio TVB. [1] From there To moved up the ladder, working as an executive producer and director for TV shows starting in 1973. In 1978, he shot his first theatrical feature, but continued working in television. In 1983, he directed and screen-wrote the critically acclaimed The Legend of the Condor Heroes, a dramatised TV series base on the martial art novel of the same name by Jin Yong.
While working as an assistant TV director during the Shaw Studios era he directed All About Ah-Long (1989), starring Chow Yun-fat. The film became one of the biggest box office hits that year. In 1988, he co-directed The Big Heat , his first action movie. The film was produced by Tsui Hark. The end of the 1980s also saw some of To's biggest commercial successes, the vast majority of which were comedies. His 1988 film The Eighth Happiness was that year's highest-grossing movie. [8]
In 1996, To and frequent collaborator Wai Ka-fai formed Milkyway Image, a production house specialising in cost-efficient independent films made by To and Wai, as well as their frequent collaborators from Law Wing-cheung to scriptwriter Yau Nai-hoi.
To was appointed to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2004 and soon after chaired its Film and Media Arts Group. [9]
In May 2011, To served as a jury member at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. [10]
His film Life Without Principle (2011) was selected as the Hong Kong's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards, [11] but did not make the shortlist. [12]
In 2016, To served as the Jury President for the 10th Asian Film Awards. [13]
In June 2017, To was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [14]
In June 2019, To was announced as the Jury President for the 56th Golden Horse Awards, but resigned his position in September. [15] [16]
In February 2023, To served as a jury member at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. [17]
Commercially successful in his native Hong Kong, To's films have regularly appeared at international festivals, most notably in Europe and North America. Six of To's films have been featured at the Cannes Film Festival: Breaking News premiered as an Out-of-Competition midnight screening in 2004; [18] Election was shown in Competition in 2005; [19] its sequel, Election 2 (a.k.a. Triad Election) was screened in Out-of-Competition midnight screenings in 2006, and Triangle was screened in Out-of-Competition midnight screenings in 2007; Vengeance competed for the prestigious Palme d'Or in 2009; Blind Detective was screened in Out-of-Competition midnight screenings in 2013.
At the Berlin International Film Festival, Sparrow was shown in Competition in 2008.
At the Venice International Film Festival, Throw Down was screened Out-of-Competition in 2004; Exiled was shown in Competition at the festival in 2006; Mad Detective was shown in Competition in 2007; Life Without Principle was shown in Competition in 2011.
In North America, To's films have been consistently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Mission , Fulltime Killer , PTU , Breaking News, Throw Down and Mad Detective all screened between 1999 and 2007. In 2006, Election, Election 2, and Exiled were screened.
In 2005, To received the "Time Machine Career Achievement Award" at the Festival de Cine de Sitges, Europe's most prestigious film festival specializing in genre films. To was also honoured as a "Filmmaker in Focus" of the 2007 International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2009, while Vengeance competed at Cannes, To was made an officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture in recognition of his films. [20]
The annual Hong Kong International Film Festival held its 45th edition in April 2021 and To directed a segment of the 2020 anthology film Septet: The Story of Hong Kong . The other filmmakers who directed segments in the anthology are Sammo Hung, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Tsui Hark, Yuen Woo-ping and Ringo Lam. The short films were shot entirely on 35mm film, each of them touching on a nostalgic and moving story set across different time periods, with every one being an ode to the city. [21]
Ringo Lam Ling-Tung was a Hong Kong film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was known for his action and crime films produced during the Hong Kong New Wave, many of them comprising entries in the heroic bloodshed subgenre. He was nominated for six Hong Kong Film Awards, winning Best Director for his 1987 film City on Fire, which he followed with other similar films that shared a dark view of Hong Kong society, collectively known as the "On Fire" cycle.
Tsui Hark, born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong filmmaker. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983), the Once Upon a Time in China film series (1991–1997) and The Blade (1995). Tsui also has been a prolific writer and producer; his productions include A Better Tomorrow (1986), A Better Tomorrow II (1987), A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), The Killer (1989), The Legend of the Swordsman (1992), The Wicked City (1992), Iron Monkey (1993) and Black Mask (1996). He is viewed as a major figure in the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema and is regarded by critics as "one of the masters of Asian cinematography".
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Louis Koo Tin-lok is a Hong Kong actor, singer and film producer. He began his professional career as an actor in local television series, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 and 2001. After 2001, he fully focused on film career and became one of the stalwarts of the Hong Kong film industry. In 2018, Koo was awarded the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor, Asian Film Award for Best Actor and the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild Award for Best Actor for his performance in the 2017 film Paradox.
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Election 2, also known as Triad Election in the United States, is a 2006 Category III Hong Kong crime film directed by Johnnie To with a large ensemble cast including Louis Koo, Simon Yam and Nick Cheung. A sequel to the 2005 film Election, the film concludes the events of the first film centring on triad boss Lok, who struggles to get re-elected as his two-year term approaches its end. He faces competition from Jimmy, who wants to retire from the triad to be a legitimate businessman, but gets drawn into the conflict surrounding the election.
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Soi Cheang, also known as Bob Cheng or by his birth name Cheang Pou-soi, is a Macau-born Hong Kong filmmaker. Known for his big blockbuster action crime films, his works Motorway (2012), Limbo (2021) and Mad Fate (2023) earned him three Best Director nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards, which he won for the latter.
Yau Nai-hoi is a Hong Kong filmmaker. He is best known as a frequent screenwriter for films produced by the independent Hong Kong production company Milkyway Image, notably films directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai. Yau often collaborates with fellow Milkyway Image writers Wai Ka-Fai, Szeto Kam-Yuen, Au Kin-Yee and Yip Tin-Shing. His directorial debut arrived with the 2007 film Eye in the Sky.
Triangle is a 2007 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, and Johnnie To. The film's title refers to both the acclaimed trio of filmmakers and to the uneasy brotherhood of the film's three protagonists. Triangle tells one story which is told in three thirty-minute segments, independently helmed by the three directors. It stars Louis Koo, Simon Yam and Sun Honglei as a group of friends who uncover a hidden treasure that quickly draws attention among others. The film's tagline is "Temptation. Jealousy. Destiny." Each word is often associated with the segments that appear in chronological order.
Vengeance is a 2009 action thriller film co-produced and directed by Johnnie To, and written by Wai Ka-Fai. It stars Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Gordon Lam, Lam Suet, Simon Yam, Michelle Ye and Sylvie Testud. The film tells the story of Francis Costello, a French chef and former assassin whose daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are attacked by a gang of Triads. Costello travels to Macau to embark on a quest for revenge, enlisting the aid of three hitmen. The film explores the themes of assassination, violence and the influence of Triads in modern society. Produced by Milkyway Image, the film was released by ARP Sélection in France, and Media Asia Films in Hong Kong.
The 63rd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the festival; films screened in competition compete for the Palme d'Or award. The award in 2010 was won by Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, a Thai film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. This was determined by the festival's jury members who reviewed films screened in competition. American film director Tim Burton was the president of the jury for the international competition, and other members of the jury for that competition included actors, screenwriters and composers, such as Kate Beckinsale, Emmanuel Carrère, Benicio del Toro, and Alexandre Desplat. Other categories for films screened in competition that have their own separate juries for other awards are for Short Films and the Un Certain Regard category.
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Milkyway Image Ltd. is a film production company based in Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The company was established in 1996 by director Johnnie To in partnership with frequent collaborator Wai Ka-Fai. The company is known best for producing dark crime films inspired by the works of French director Jean-Pierre Melville and the film noir genre. Milkyway Image's productions have been repeatedly praised as a bold move against the commercialism found in post-handover Hong Kong cinema, and have also attracted a significant international fan base.
Blind Detective is a 2013 Cantonese-language action crime romantic comedy film directed by Johnnie To and starring Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng.
The Osaka Asian Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan in March. The festival began in 2005 and currently introduces Asian films.