Happy 63rd Birthday, Stanley Kwan! Born today in 1957 as Jinpang Guan, this Hong Kong producer and film director is one of the most prominent directors of Hong Kong's Second Wave.
Kwan landed a job at the Hong Kong television broadcasting company (TVB) after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College. Eventually, Kwan had graduated from TVB Actors course.
In the mid-1980s, Kwan's directed his first film. This was the 1985 Hong Kong drama film 'Nu ten xin' ('Women'), featuring Chow Yun-fat., Upon release, the film was a big box-office success.
Later on, Kwan was the top director in Hong Kong before Wong Kar-wai ('Chunking Express', 'Happy Together', 'In the Mood for Love').
Kwan had worked with all of the Hong Kong stars of the 1980s, including Leslie Cheung and Hong Kong singer and actress Anita Mui. Kwan has proven that male directors can create delicate female characters.
In a national cinema known more for martial arts films than art films, Kwan has created some of Asia's most inventive and complex films of the 1980s and 1990s.
In the early 1900s, Kwan directed the first film of which he is best known. This was the 1991 Hong Kong drama/romance film 'Center Stage' (also known as 'The Actress').
The original title for the film was 'Ruǎn Língyù', and Jackie Chan is credited as presenter.
'The Actress' is based on a true story: the tragic life of China's first prima donna of the silent era, Ruan Ling-yu. (Maggie Cheung). The film chronicles her rise to fame as an actress in Shanghai during the 1930s.
Nicknamed the "Chinese Garbo," Ruan Lingyu began her acting career when she was sixteen years old and committed suicide at age twenty-four.
The film alternates between present scenes (production talks between Kwan, Cheung, and co-star Hong Kong actress and singer Carina Lau, interviews of witnesses who knew Ruan), re-creation scenes with Cheung (as Ruan, acting inside this feature, and extracts from Ruan's original films including her final two films.
These were the 1934 Chinese silent black and white drama film 'Shénnǚ' ('The Goddess') and the 1935 Chinese silent black and white drama film 'Xīn nǚxìng' ('New Women').
The following year, Cheung won the Best Actress award for her delicate portraiture of the silent film star. This occurred at the at 42nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 1992.
Four years later, Kwan came out as a gay man. This was in his 1996 Hong Kong documentary 'Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema'. His documentary looked at the history of Chinese-language film through the prism of gender roles and sexuality.
Kwan is one of the few openly gay directors in Asia and one of the very few to have worked on these themes.
His gay-themed 2001 Hong Kong romance/drama film 'Lan Yu' adapts a gay love story originally published on the Internet.
In the summer of 2005, Kwan graced the Paris International Film Festival with Hong Kong screenwriter Jimmy Ngai.
In August of that same year, Kwan's 2005 Hong Kong drama/romance film 'Chang hen ge' ('Everlasting Regret') was entered into the the 62nd Venice Film Festival. It had been co-produced by Chan.
Among his credits, Kwan is also known for directing 'Yānzhī kòu' ('Rouge') (1987), 'Yù kuàilè yù duòluò ' ('Hold You Tight') (1998), and 'Lan Yu' (2001).
His film was the only Chinese-language competitor for the Golden Lion. His film won warm applause when it premiered, despite mixed reviews from an earlier press screening.
Kwan has been active from 1985–present.
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