Discovered by director Wong Jing in the 1980s, Sharla Cheung appeared in over 50 films and was a frequent collaborator of another Hong Kong director, Stephen Chow.

Lonely Eighteen, partly based on the life and career of its co-star, Hong Kong actress Irene Wan, charts the contrasting fortunes of a pair of actresses. While the film is sincere, it ultimately has no emotional pay-off.

Based on classic 16th-century Chinese novel The Investiture of the Gods, Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms – the first instalment in a trilogy – is a visually impressive fantasy epic full of breathtaking action.

Jimmy Wang Yu directed 1973 action epic Beach of the War Gods. One of his most underrated movies and an underperformer at the box office, it is based on Akira Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai.

Chinese blockbuster No More Bets focuses on the very real issue of phone scammers tricking people into working in illegal Southeast Asian call centres – but is almost laughably bad.

Hong Kong film directors such as John Woo, Benny Chan and Wong Kar-wai have revealed down the years how they make an action move, from developing storylines to working with martial arts choreographers.

Anson Kong of Cantopop group Mirror stars in Back Home, a supernatural horror that is chilling enough, but will probably be more appreciated as a thinly veiled critique of Hong Kong’s sociopolitical environment.

A young man (Ng Siu-hin) who wants to become a stand-up comic lives with his father (Ben Suen), who has a mild intellectual disability. They learn to savour their time together while enduring life’s hardships.

Hong Kong cinema had to reinvent itself in the late ’90s to combat flagging ticket sales. Gen-X Cops led the way, with new young stars Nicholas Tse and Stephen Fung, computerised special effects and a faster pace.

Despite a good turn from Chrissie Chau as a jailed businesswoman, Prison Flowers is so badly scripted it makes nothing of the friction between inmates and guards and resorts to desperate plot devices.

Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden’s posthumous film about a herder and a captive snow leopard explores the good and bad in people. Visually impressive, it is a reminder of a filmmaking talent lost too young.

Award makes screen legend, 68, second local actor in week to earn global acclaim.

Stanley Kwan’s early films during the 1980s and 1990s centred on women, giving the actresses who played them roles focused on their characters and not just their looks. We take a closer look at four of those films.

In 1971, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, Beijing sent a film of Chinese ballet The Red Detachment of Women to the Venice International Film Festival, from where it became a hit with Western movie-goers.

Josie Ho plays a property investor in Japan in a tale of kidnapping, rape, murder and incest that makes no sense and lacks any atmosphere. Even by the standards of low-budget exploitation films, this is awful.

Born in mainland China, Carina Lau grew up thinking she’d be a factory worker, but moved to Hong Kong and, through hard work, built an acting career despite a kidnap ordeal. She met and wed fellow actor Tony Leung.

In The Mood For Love, Hard Boiled, Marvel’s Shang-Chi – Tony Leung has shown his versatility in a career spanning nearly 100 movies. He’s about to receive a Venice Film Festival lifetime achievement award.

Hong Kong film stars Francis Ng and Anthony Wong are well known now, but in the early 1990s when they began appearing in movies they were mainly character actors and still looking for recognition.

Cantopop boy band member Lo plays a grief-stricken waiter who goes camping with friends on a spooky island. Initially derivative, Kelvin Shum’s film hits its stride in a chilling stream of hallucinatory sequences.

Chinese animation has grown in ambition and quality, producing domestic blockbusters such as Nezha and Chang An. How long before it challenges the global domination of Hollywood and Japanese anime?

Giddens Ko’s adaptation of his novel Precisely Out of Control, starring Daniel Hong, Vivian Sung and Kai Ko, is a romcom with a clever plot that is let down by puerile and lecherous toilet humour.

Director Shen Ao puts a fast-paced spin on a topical issue to create cinematic success.

Fashion brands like Dior have been quick to sense the star power of Taiwanese actress Gingle Wang, who has appeared in hit films like Marry My Dead Body and Wave Makers

Johnnie To’s ‘Lifeline’ and ‘The Mission’ show the Hong Kong action director’s two contrasting approaches to making movies: going for box-office glory, and just doing what he wants.

Known today as a leading Hong Kong actor, Aaron Kwok started his career as a backup dancer, before being anointed one of the ‘Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop’. He’s also a husband and proud father.

Three Hong Kong friends getting together for a reunion dinner after 25 years each have some drama involving their mobile phones on the way in indie filmmaker Amos Why’s laid-back comedy.

Herman Yau directs Louis Koo, Julian Cheung and Francis Ng in murder mystery Death Notice, which sees a police task force hot on the heels of a serial killer who re-emerges after disappearing for a decade.

The differences between Hong Kong directors Patrick Tam and Ann Hui’s early films Nomad and The Story of Woo Viet exemplify the breadth of style and range of themes of Hong Kong New Wave cinema.

Su Daji first appeared in the classic 16th century Chinese fantasy novel and has been portrayed by an array of stars in adaptations … Naran is the latest in line, so what do we know about her?