Wong Kar-wai

Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer.

His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours.

Wong Kar-wai was born on 17 July 1958 in Shanghai, the youngest of three siblings.

His father was a sailor and his mother was a housewife.

By the time Wong was five years old, the seeds of the Cultural Revolution were beginning to take effect in China and his parents decided to relocate to Hong Kong.

The two older children were meant to join them later, but the borders closed before they had a chance and Wong did not see his brother or sister again for ten years.

In Hong Kong, the family settled in Tsim Sha Tsui, and his father got work managing a night club.

Being an only child in a new city, Wong has said he felt isolated during his childhood; he struggled to learn Cantonese and English, only becoming fluent in these new languages when he was a teenager.

As a youth, Wong was frequently taken to the cinema by his mother and exposed to a variety of films.

He later said: "The only hobby I had as a child was watching movies".

At school he was interested in graphic design, and earned a diploma in the subject from Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1980.

After graduating, Wong was accepted onto a training course with the TVB television network, where he learned the processes of media production.

Wong had little enthusiasm for these early projects, described by the film scholar Gary Bettinson as "occasionally diverting and mostly disposable", but continued to write throughout the 1980s on films including Just for Fun (1983), Rosa (1986), and The Haunted Cop Shop of Horrors (1987).

He soon began a screenwriting career, firstly with TV series and soap operas, such as Don't Look Now (1981), before progressing to film scripts.

He worked as part of a team, contributing to a variety of genres including romance, comedy, thriller, and crime.

He is credited with ten screenplays between 1982 and 1987, but claims to have worked on about fifty more without official credit.

Gangster films were popular at the time, in the wake of John Woo's highly-successful A Better Tomorrow (1986), and Wong decided to follow suit.

Specifically, unlike Hong Kong's other crime films, he chose to focus on young gangsters.

The film, named As Tears Go By, tells the story of a conflicted youth who has to watch over his hot-headed friend.

Because he was well acquainted with the producer, Alan Tang, Wong was given considerable freedom in the making of As Tears Go By.

His cast included what he considered some of "the hottest young idols in Hong Kong": singer Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, and Jacky Cheung.

Wong spent two years writing the screenplay for Patrick Tam's action film Final Victory (1987), for which he was nominated at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards.

By 1987 the Hong Kong film industry was at a peak, enjoying a considerable level of prosperity and productivity.

New directors were needed to maintain this success, and – through his links in the industry – Wong was invited to become a partner on a new independent company, In-Gear, and given the opportunity to direct his own picture.

He began a career as a screenwriter for soap operas before transitioning to directing with his debut, the crime drama As Tears Go By (1988).

While As Tears Go By was fairly successful in Hong Kong, Wong moved away from the contemporary trend of crime and action movies to embark on more personal filmmaking styles.

As Tears Go By was released in June 1988 and was popular with audiences.

Days of Being Wild (1990), his first venture in such a direction, did not perform well at the box office.

It however received critical acclaim, and won Best Film and Best Director at the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards.

His next film, Ashes of Time (1994), met with a mixed reception because of its vague plot and atypical take on the genre.

Exhausted by the time-consuming filming and post-production of Ashes of Time, Wong directed Chungking Express (1994), a smaller film that he hoped would rekindle his love of cinema.

The film, expressing a more lighthearted atmosphere, catapulted Wong to international prominence, and won Best Film and Best Director at the 1995 Hong Kong Film Awards.

Wong followed up with the crime thriller Fallen Angels in 1995.

Although it was initially tepidly received by critics, Fallen Angels has since come to be considered a cult classic of the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema, being especially representative of Wong's style.

Wong would go on to consolidate his worldwide reputation with the 1997 drama Happy Together, for which he won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival.

The 2000 drama In the Mood for Love, revered for its lush visuals and subtle storytelling, concretely established Wong's trademark filmmaking styles.

Among his other work are 2046 (2004) and The Grandmaster (2013), both of which received awards and nominations worldwide.

A pivotal figure of Hong Kong cinema, Wong is considered a contemporary auteur, and ranks third on Sight & Sound's 2002 poll of the greatest filmmakers of the previous 25 years.

His films frequently appear on best-of lists domestically and internationally.

Born in Shanghai, Wong emigrated to Hong Kong as a child with his family.