Mabel Cheung
Mabel Cheung is one of the most prominent female directors in Hong Kong. Since forming a creative team with longtime boyfriend Alex Law in the 1980s, the pair have juggled directing, scriptwriting and producing, creating classics such as “An Autumn’s Tale,” “City of Glass” and “Echoes of the Rainbow.” She talks to Grace Tsoi about moviemaking, the future of Hong Kong cinema and what to do when Daniel Wu tells you he got dumped.
I am used to getting rejected [by investors]. Nine out of ten proposals are turned down.
I insist on filming something I want, so I traipse around the island, Kowloon and the New Territories in search of investors. Most of the time, I can’t find anyone interested.
Many mainland investors do not really understand creativity—even less than their Hong Kong counterparts. They treat movie-making as a business, and they have a lot of other concerns. They might want to cast their girlfriends.
We should expand the definition of Hong Kong movies. They should not be just about things in Hong Kong. Hong Kong movies can have a cast of Hong Kong actors, they can be produced by a Hong Kong crew, and directed with creativity of Hong Kong. But they can be made on the mainland.
There seems to be a revival of Hong Kong movies, and I think there is an audience. They think that production values are higher, and the movies have a variety of themes. All of a sudden, a lot of people are making Hong Kong movies with low budgets.
I hope moviemakers will not follow the trend of making “vulgar” movies. I am not saying vulgarity is bad, but you should not keep making the same movie just because one is profitable. We have to stand firm and keep our diversity and creativity flowing.