Ray Yeung | |||
---|---|---|---|
Born | Raymond Yeung Yaw-kae | ||
Alma mater | Columbia University School of the Arts (MFA) | ||
Known for | Suk Suk (2019),
"Front Cover" (2015), "Cut Sleeve Boys" (2007) | ||
Chinese name | |||
Traditional Chinese | 楊曜愷 | ||
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Ray Yeung[1] (Chinese: 楊曜愷) is a screenwriter and independent film director. His films often center on gay stories.
In 2021, he was presented with the Artist of the Year for Film award from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.[2] Yeung is also the Chairman of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, the longest running LGBT film festival in Asia. He revived the festival in 2000.[3]
Yeung grew up in Hong Kong. At the age 13, he was sent to an English boarding school outside of London.[1][4]
Prior to his career in entertainment, Yeung was a lawyer.[1] He graduated from Columbia University School of the Arts in 2013.[5]
Yeung wrote the plays Banana Skin and The Third Sex.[5][6] He made several shorts prior to his feature film debut.[1]
Yeung made his feature film debut with Cut Sleeve Boys, a gay love story between two Chinese-British men,[1] in 2005 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.[5] The film won Best Feature at the Outfest Fusion Festival in Los Angeles and Best Actor for Chowee Leow at the Madrid Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
His second feature film Front Cover premiered at the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival.[5] The story follows Ryan Fu, a gay Chinese American fashion stylist (Jake Choi), who rejects his ethnic heritage, and is assigned to style Ning (James Chen), an ostensibly heterosexual patriotic actor from Beijing. Front Cover won Best Screenplay at the FilmOut San Diego LGBT Film Festival, Jury Award for Best Domestic Feature at the Outflix Film Festival in Memphis and Audience Award at the Boston Asian American Film Festival.
Yeung had expressed interest in doing a Cantonese-language film set in Hong Kong, having grown up there until age 13.[7] Twilight's Kiss, or Suk Suk, is a film about a gay relationship between two elderly men in Hong Kong and was inspired by the book “Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong” by Hong Kong University Professor Travis S.K. Kong.[7][8] The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019.[5] The film had its European Premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival 2020.[9] Suk Suk is his first Chinese-language film. It was awarded Best Film at the 2019 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award[10] and numerous other awards and nominations from 2019- 2022.
Yeung cites directors Yasujirō Ozu and Stanley Kwan as his influences.[11]
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1995 | A Chink in the Armour | [12] |
1996 | A Bridge to the Past | [13] |
1998 | Yellow Fever | [14] |
2006 | Cut Sleeve Boys | [15] |
2008 | Doggy... Doggy... | [16] |
2010 | Derek and Lucas | [17] |
2011 | Entwine | [18] |
2012 | Paper Wrap Fire | [19] |
2015 | Front Cover | [20] |
2019 | Suk Suk (Twilight's Kiss) | [21] |
2024 | All Shall Be Well | [22] |
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 56th Golden Horse Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated | [23] |
Best Feature Film | Nominated | [23] | |||
2020 | 70th Berlin International Film Festival | Best Feature Film | Nominated | [24] | |
39th Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Director | Nominated | [25] | ||
Best Screenplay | Nominated | [25] | |||
Hong Kong Screenwriters’ Guild Awards | Best Screenplay | Won | [26] | ||
Best Director | Nominated | [26] | |||
Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award | Best Screenplay | Nominated | [27] | ||
Best Director | Nominated | [27] | |||
Best Film | Won | [28] | |||
39th Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Picture | Nominated | [25] | ||
Best Screenplay | Nominated | [25] | |||
Best Director | Nominated | [25] | |||
Renaissance Awards | Best Drama | Won | [29] | ||
Kongest Film Awards | Best Film | Won | |||
To Ten Chinese Films Festival | Youth Film Handbook: Outstanding Film | Won | [30] | ||
Out on Film: Atlanta's LGBT Film Festival | Jury Award: Best International Film | Won | [31] | ||
Audience Award: Best International Film | Won | [31] | |||
Florence Queer Film Festival | Best Long Feature Film | Won | [32] | ||
Festival International du Film Independent de Bordeaux | Special Mention: Best International Feature Film | Won | [32] | ||
GAZE Film Festival Dublin | Audience Award: Best Feature | Won | [32] | ||
Seoul International Pride Film Festival | Best Asian Feature | Won | |||
Asian American International Film Festival | Audience Choice Award: Best Narrative Film | Won | [32] | ||
Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival | Honorable Mention: Best Feature | Won | [32] | ||
Brussels International Film Festival | Grand Prix du Festival Award | Nominated | [32] | ||
Chicago International Film Festival | Gold Q- Hugo Award | Nominated | [32] | ||
2021 | Zinegoak Festival, Bilbao Spain | Special Mention: Best Feature Film | Won | [33] | |
La Mostra Internacional de Cinema de Gai i Lesbià FIRE!! | Audience Award: Best Feature | Won | |||
LGBT Film Fest of the Niemeyer Center, Spain | Jury Award: Best Feature Film | Won | |||
Santo Domingo OutFest - Festival Internacional de Cine GLBT | Jury Award: Best Film | Won | [34] | ||
Jury Award: Best Screenplay | Won | [34] | |||
2022 | Queerties Awards 2022 | Best Indie Movie | Nominated | [32] | |
GLAAD Media Awards 2022 | Outstanding Feature - Limited Release | Nominated | [35] |