Shu Kei

Writing

Shu Kei

Born 1956-04-15 · Hong Kong, British Crown Colony

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).

Acting credits

Boundless poster
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

Sunless Days poster
7.0

Director Shu Kei travelled to Venice, Canada, London and Hong Kong, collecting accounts of the Tiananmen impact. Among his interviewees are: award-winning Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien; Hong Kong director Alfred Cheung, a witness to the massacre; actress Deanne Ip, whose national consciousness is fired by the event; as well as his own brothers, one who soon migrates from Hong Kong, and the other, already an Australian emigre. Their personal testimonies are pieced together into a mural of the Chinese people united in their horror and outrage.

Sunless Days

1990

Carry On Doctors and Nurses poster
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

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema poster
7.1

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

The King of Wuxia Part 1 poster
8.7

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

The King of Wuxia Part 1

2022

Ah Ying poster
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

The King of Wuxia Part 2 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The King of Wuxia Part 2

2022

Landscape On the Other Side: Hong Kong Cinematographer Bill Wong poster
NR

Bill Wong works on a wide variety of films, some of modern setting, some with historical backgrounds; some are award winners, some lesser known. As a cinematographer, he does not strive for personal style. Instead, he concentrates on fulfilling the potential of the film and realizing his director’s designs. He is a consummate team player. This documentary features interviews with Wong and five directors with whom he has worked – Patrick Tam, Ann Hui, Tony Au, Lee Chi-ngai and Shu Kei, tracing the paths on which they have travelled together.

Landscape On the Other Side: Hong Kong Cinematographer Bill Wong

2010

Behind the camera

Temptress Moon poster
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

Boundless poster
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

The Island poster
6.6

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

Hu-Du-Men poster
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

A Queer Story poster
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

A Queer Story poster
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

For Love We Can poster
4.0

Jun is a reckless, rebellious young man. His coming out enraged his father, with his mother (Han) stuck in the middle. Even after his father's death they are still unable to reconcile and the two barely communicate. Knowing that being gay is not accepted by his mother, there is a wall between the two even though they live under the same roof.

For Love We Can

2014

First Love Unlimited poster
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

Love: Amoeba Style poster
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

Love: Amoeba Style poster
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

Soul poster
5.0

Ip Cheung and her husband, a senior police inspector, had been happily married for 18 years. One day, Ip runs into her neighbour, a Taiwanese woman. As they are talking, three men suddenly appeared and tried to kill them. The Taiwanese woman is killed but Ip and the kid, Yen, managed to escape. At the same time, Ip's husband commits suicide. His superior suspected him of corruption. Ip finds out that the Taiwanese woman was her husband's mistress and Yen, his illegitimate son. Ip is given custody of Yen but they are unable to get along. However she will save his live when the gang go after him.

Soul

1986

Soul poster
5.0

Ip Cheung and her husband, a senior police inspector, had been happily married for 18 years. One day, Ip runs into her neighbour, a Taiwanese woman. As they are talking, three men suddenly appeared and tried to kill them. The Taiwanese woman is killed but Ip and the kid, Yen, managed to escape. At the same time, Ip's husband commits suicide. His superior suspected him of corruption. Ip finds out that the Taiwanese woman was her husband's mistress and Yen, his illegitimate son. Ip is given custody of Yen but they are unable to get along. However she will save his live when the gang go after him.

Soul

1986

Sunless Days poster
7.0

Director Shu Kei travelled to Venice, Canada, London and Hong Kong, collecting accounts of the Tiananmen impact. Among his interviewees are: award-winning Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien; Hong Kong director Alfred Cheung, a witness to the massacre; actress Deanne Ip, whose national consciousness is fired by the event; as well as his own brothers, one who soon migrates from Hong Kong, and the other, already an Australian emigre. Their personal testimonies are pieced together into a mural of the Chinese people united in their horror and outrage.

Sunless Days

1990

Sunless Days poster
7.0

Director Shu Kei travelled to Venice, Canada, London and Hong Kong, collecting accounts of the Tiananmen impact. Among his interviewees are: award-winning Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien; Hong Kong director Alfred Cheung, a witness to the massacre; actress Deanne Ip, whose national consciousness is fired by the event; as well as his own brothers, one who soon migrates from Hong Kong, and the other, already an Australian emigre. Their personal testimonies are pieced together into a mural of the Chinese people united in their horror and outrage.

Sunless Days

1990

A Complicated Story poster
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

A Complicated Story poster
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

Social Worker: The Runaway Girl poster
NR

The first episode of the Hong Kong reclaimed “Social Worker” series (1976)

Social Worker: The Runaway Girl

1976

Beijing Bastards poster
6.5

A rock musician looks for his girl-friend who left while pregnant, trying to decide whether to keep the baby.

Beijing Bastards

1993

No artwork available
NR

A brief, gentle film, centered on a pair of dancers at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts,

Ten Years

2007

Thin Dream Bay poster
NR

Thin Dream Bay is about a Shanghai émigré in Hong Kong, an intellectual woman who experiences her sexual awakening and identity reconfiguration as someone who occupies the in-between-space between the local, the colonial, and the national.

Thin Dream Bay

2014

No artwork available
NR

32th HKIFF Closing Film by Shu Kei and his students from HKAPA. Claimed to be released publicly after HKIFF yet disappeared ever since.

Coffee or Tea

2008

Tracey poster
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

Tracey poster
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

Beautiful 2014 poster
NR

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