Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director

Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
Awarded for	Achievement in cinematic direction
Country	Hong Kong
Presented by	Hong Kong Film Awards
First awarded	1982
Currently held by	Soi Cheang (2024)

The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director is an award presented annually at the Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA). It is given to honour the best director of a Hong Kong film.^{[Note 1]} The 1st Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony was held in 1982, with no formal nomination procedure established; the award was given to Allen Fong for his direction of Father and Son. After the first award ceremony, a nomination system was put in place whereby no more than five nominations are made for each category and each entry is selected through two rounds of voting. Firstly, prospective nominees are marked with a weight of 50% each from HKFA voters and a hundred professional adjudicators, contributing towards a final score with which the top five nominees advance to the second round of voting. The winner is then selected via a scoring process where 55% of the vote comes from 55 professional adjudicators, 25% from representatives of the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild and 20% from all other HKFA Executive Committee Members.

From the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards (1983), there are five, sometimes 6, nominations for the category of Best Director from which one director is chosen the winner of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director. The most recent recipient of the award was Soi Cheang, who was honoured at the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards (2024), for his film Mad Fate. The directors with most awards in this category is Ann Hui with six wins, followed by Allen Fong, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark and Wong Kar-wai with 3 times each.

Winners and nominees

Ann Hui has won the award 6 times with 13 nominations.

John Woo won in 1990 for The Killer.

Wong Kar-wai won in 1991 for Days of Being Wild, 1995 for Chungking Express and 2014 for The Grandmaster.

Tsui Hark won for his films Shanghai Blues, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame and The Taking of Tiger Mountain.

Peter Chan won in 2008 for The Warlords.

Fruit Chan won in 1998 for crime drama Made in Hong Kong.

Dante Lam and Gordon Chan won jointly in 1999 for crime-drama Beast Cops.

Johnnie To has won 3 times with 18 nominations.

Ang Lee won in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Stephen Chow won in 2002 for martial arts comedy Shaolin Soccer.

Sammo Hung received nominations for The Prodigal Son and Heart of Dragon.

Jackie Chan was nominated in 1986 for Police Story.

Jiang Wen was nominated in 2012 for Let the Bullets Fly.

Wilson Yip was nominated six times.

Stanley Kwan was nominated six times.

Teddy Robin was nominated once in 1984.

Derek Tsang won in 2020 for Better Days.

Benny Chan won in 2022 for Raging Fire.

Table key

‡	Indicates the winner

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
1981 (1st)	Allen Fong	Father and Son
1982 (2nd)	Ann Hui	Boat People
	David Lai	Lonely Fifteen
	Sammo Hung	The Prodigal Son
	Choi Gai-Kwong	Teenage Dreamers
	Patrick Tam	Nomad
1983 (3rd)	Allen Fong	Ah Ying
	Li Han-hsiang	The Burning of Imperial Palace
	Wu Ma	The Dead and the Deadly
	Teddy Robin	All the Wrong Spies
	Kirk Wong	Health Warning
1984 (4th)	Yim Ho	Homecoming
	Tsui Hark	Shanghai Blues
	Johnny Mak	Long Arm of the Law
	Po-Chih Leong	Hong Kong 1941
	Danny Lee Sau-Yin	Law with Two Phases
1985 (5th)	Mabel Cheung	The Illegal Immigrant
	Stanley Kwan	Women
	Ricky Lau	Mr. Vampire
	Sammo Hung	Heart of Dragon
	Jackie Chan	Police Story
1986 (6th)	Allen Fong	Just Like Weather
	Stephen Shin	Brotherhood
	John Woo	A Better Tomorrow
	Derek Yee	The Lunatics
	Li Han-Xiang	The Last Emperor
	Stanley Kwan	Love Unto Waste
1987 (7th)	Ringo Lam	City on Fire
	Ching Siu-tung	A Chinese Ghost Story
	Mabel Cheung	An Autumn's Tale
	Ringo Lam	Prison on Fire
	Ann Hui	The Romance of Book & Sword
	Patrick Tam	Final Victory
1988 (8th)	Stanley Kwan	Rouge
	Lawrence Ah Mon	Gangs
	Alex Law	Painted Faces
	Wong Kar-wai	As Tears Go By
	Jacob Cheung	Last Eunuch in China
1989 (9th)	John Woo	The Killer
	Johnnie To	All About Ah-Long
	Jacob Cheung	Beyond the Sunset
	Anthony Chan Yau	A Fishy Story
	Mabel Cheung	Eight Taels of Gold
1990 (10th)	Wong Kar-wai	Days of Being Wild
	John Woo	Bullet in the Head
	Ann Hui	Song of the Exile
	Yim Ho	Red Dust
	Clara Law	Farewell China
1991 (11th)	Tsui Hark	Once Upon a Time in China
	John Woo	Once a Thief
	Gordon Chan	Fight Back to School
	Lawrence Ah Mon	Lee Rock
	Poon Man-Kit	To Be Number One
1992 (12th)	Jacob Cheung	Cageman
	Jeffrey Lau	92 Legendary La Rose Noire
	Gordon Chan	King of Beggars
	Tsui Hark	Once Upon a Time in China II
	Stanley Kwan	Center Stage
1993 (13th)	Derek Yee	C'est la vie, mon chéri
	Kirk Wong	Crime Story
	Cha Yuen-Yee	Legal Innocence
	Peter Chan and Lee Chi-Ngai	Tom, Dick and Hairy
	Clara Law	Temptation of a Monk
1994 (14th)	Wong Kar-wai	Chungking Express
	Wong Kar-wai	Ashes of Time
	Peter Chan	He's a Woman, She's a Man
	Tsui Hark	The Lovers
	Gordon Chan	The Final Option
1995 (15th)	Ann Hui	Summer Snow
	Derek Yee	Full Throttle
	Wong Kar-wai	Fallen Angels
	Yim Ho	The Day the Sun Turned Cold
	Johnnie To	Loving You
1996 (16th)	Peter Chan	Comrades: Almost a Love Story
	Derek Chiu	The Log
	Derek Yee and Lau Chi-Leung	Viva Erotica
	Shu Kei	Hu-Du-Men
	Benny Chan	Big Bullet
1997 (17th)	Fruit Chan	Made in Hong Kong
	Wong Kar-wai	Happy Together
	Ringo Lam	Full Alert
	Mabel Cheung	The Soong Sisters
	Johnnie To	Lifeline
1998 (18th)	Gordon Chan and Dante Lam	Beast Cops
	Stanley Kwan	Hold You Tight
	Fruit Chan	The Longest Summer
	Mabel Cheung	City of Glass
	Patrick Yau	The Longest Nite
1999 (19th)	Johnnie To	The Mission
	Sylvia Chang	Tempting Heart
	Ann Hui	Ordinary Heroes
	Ringo Lam	Victim
	Johnnie To	Running Out of Time
2000 (20th)	Ang Lee	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
	Wong Kar-wai	In the Mood for Love
	Fruit Chan	Durian Durian
	Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai	Needing You...
	Wilson Yip	Juliet in Love
2001 (21st)	Stephen Chow	Shaolin Soccer
	Ann Hui	July Rhapsody
	Stanley Kwan	Lan Yu
	Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai	Love on a Diet
	Ann Hui	Visible Secret
2002 (22nd)	Andrew Lau and Alan Mak	Infernal Affairs
	Law Chi-Leung	Inner Senses
	Peter Chan	Three: Going Home
	Fruit Chan	Hollywood Hong Kong
	Zhang Yimou	Hero
2003 (23rd)	Johnnie To	PTU
	Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai	Running on Karma
	Derek Yee	Lost in Time
	Andrew Lau and Alan Mak	Infernal Affairs II
	Benny Chan Muk-Sing	Heroic Duo
2004 (24th)	Derek Yee	One Nite in Mongkok
	Wong Kar-wai	2046
	Stephen Chow	Kung Fu Hustle
	Benny Chan Muk-Sing	New Police Story
	Johnnie To	Breaking News
2005 (25th)	Johnnie To	Election
	Derek Yee	2 Young
	Andrew Lau and Alan Mak	Initial D
	Peter Chan	Perhaps Love
	Tsui Hark	Seven Swords
2006 (26th)	Patrick Tam	After This Our Exile
	Jacob Cheung	A Battle of Wits
	Johnnie To	Election 2
	Johnnie To	Exiled
	Zhang Yimou	Curse of the Golden Flower
2007 (27th)	Peter Chan	The Warlords
	Ann Hui	The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
	Yau Nai-Hoi	Eye in the Sky
	Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai	Mad Detective
	Derek Yee	Protégé
2008 (28th)	Ann Hui	The Way We Are
	Benny Chan	Connected
	John Woo	Red Cliff
	Johnnie To	Sparrow
	Wilson Yip	Ip Man
2009 (29th)	Teddy Chan	Bodyguards and Assassins
	Ann Hui	Night and Fog
	John Woo	Red Cliff II
	Derek Yee	Shinjuku Incident
	Alan Mak and Felix Chong	Overheard
2010 (30th)	Tsui Hark	Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
	Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng	Gallants
	Wilson Yip	Ip Man 2
	Su Chao-pin	Reign of Assassins
	Dante Lam	The Stool Pigeon
2011 (31st)	Ann Hui	A Simple Life
	Johnnie To	Life without Principle
	Tsui Hark	Flying Swords of Dragon Gate
	Alan Mak and Felix Chong	Overheard 2
	Jiang Wen	Let the Bullets Fly
2012 (32nd)	Longman Leung and Sunny Luk Kim Ching	Cold War
	Soi Cheang	Motorway
	Pang Ho-cheung	Love in the Buff
	Lo Chi Leung	The Bullet Vanishes
	Dante Lam	The Viral Factor
2013 (33rd)	Wong Kar Wai	The Grandmaster
	Johnnie To	Drug War
	Benny Chan	The White Storm
	Derek Kwok	As the Light Goes Out
	Dante Lam	Unbeatable
2014 (34th)	Ann Hui	The Golden Era
	Fruit Chan	The Midnight After
	Peter Chan	Dearest
	Dante Lam	That Demon Within
	Alan Mak and Felix Chong	Overheard 3
2015 (35th)	Tsui Hark	The Taking Of Tiger Mountain
	Adrian Kwan Shun Fai	Little Big Master
	Derek Yee	I Am Somebody
	Wilson Yip	Ip Man 3
	Philip Yung Tsz Kwong	Port of Call
2016 (36th)	Frank Hui, Jevons Au and Vicky Wong	Trivisa
	Wong Chun	Mad World
	Derek Tsang	Soul Mate
	Johnnie To	Three
	Stephen Chow	The Mermaid
2017 (37th)	Ann Hui	Our Time Will Come
	Kearen Pang	29+1
	Herman Yau	Shock Wave
	Sylvia Chang	Love Education
	Wilson Yip	Paradox
2018 (38th)	Felix Chong	Project Gutenberg
	Fruit Chan	Three Husbands
	Dante Lam	Operation Red Sea
	Sunny Chan	Men On The Dragon
	Oliver Chan Siu Kuen	Still Human
2019 (39th)	Derek Tsang	Better Days
	Kiwi Chow	Beyond the Dream
	Ray Yeung	Suk Suk
	Heiward Mak	Fagara
	Wilson Yip	Ip Man 4: The Finale
2020 and 2021 (40th)	Benny Chan	Raging Fire
	Peter Chan	Leap
	Soi Cheang	Limbo
	Longman Leung	Anita
	Man Lim-chung	Keep Rolling
2022 (41st)	Wai Ka-fai	Detective vs Sleuths
	Ho Cheuk Tin	The Sparring Partner
	Lam Sum	The Narrow Road
	Mabel Cheung and William Kwok	To My Nineteen Year Old Self
	Sunny Chan	Table for Six
2023 (42nd)	Soi Cheang	Mad Fate
	Nick Cheuk	Time Still Turns the Pages
	Felix Chong	The Goldfinger
	Jack Ng	A Guilty Conscience
	Lawrence Kan	In Broad Daylight

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two or more Best Director awards:

Wins	Director	Years
6	Ann Hui	1982, 1997, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017
3	Allen Fong	1981, 1983, 1986
	Johnnie To	1999, 2003, 2005
	Tsui Hark	1991, 2010, 2015
	Wong Kar-wai	1990, 1994, 2013
2	Derek Yee	1993, 2004
	Peter Chan	1996, 2007

The following individuals received three or more Best Director nominations:

Nominations	Director
18	Johnnie To
13	Ann Hui
10	Derek Yee
9	Wong Kar-wai
8	Peter Chan
	Tsui Hark
6	Alan Mak
	Benny Chan
	Dante Lam
	Fruit Chan
	John Woo
	Mabel Cheung
	Stanley Kwan
	Wilson Yip
5	Felix Chong
	Wai Ka-Fai
4	Gordon Chan
	Jacob Cheung
	Ringo Lam
3	Allen Fong
	Andrew Lau
	Patrick Tam
	Soi Cheang
	Stephen Chow
	Yim Ho

Records

Items	Name	Statistics	Notes
Most wins	Ann Hui	6 wins	13 nominations
Most nominations	Johnnie To	18 nominations	3 wins
Oldest winner	Ann Hui	Age 70 years, 327 days	For Our Time Will Come
Oldest nominee	Mabel Cheung	Age 72 years, 150 days	For To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self
Youngest winner	Stanley Kwan	Age 31 years, 182 days	For Rouge
Youngest nominee		Age 31 years
Most nominations without a win	Wilson Yip	6 nominations

See also

• Hong Kong Film Award
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Cinematography
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer

Notes

^{^} A film is considered to be a "Hong Kong film" by meeting at least 2 of the following criteria:

1. The film's director is a Hong Kong resident that holds a Hong Kong Identity Card
2. At least one of the film's production companies are legally registered in Hong Kong SAR.
3. At least one person involved in the film's production from any six separate award categories who are Hong Kong resident holding a Hong Kong Identity Card.

External links

• Hong Kong Film Awards Official Site