TOPIC

/ people

Wong Kar-wai

Wong Kar-wai is an internationally renowned Hong Kong film director.

Born

17 Jul 1958

Industry

Entertainment, Film

Job Title

Filmmaker

Visitors pose for a picture at a movie scene from In The Mood for Love at a Hong Kong pop culture festival at Victoria Park, on April 6, 2024. The aesthetic appeal of storytellers such as Wong Kar-wai is founded on a tasteful east-meets-west visual culture. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Hong Kong culture

Opinion | Why securing Hong Kong’s economic future is a cultural question

One-off events are not enough for a city in dire need of a cultural revival that nurtures its subcultures and lets future creators thrive.

12 Apr 2026 - 9:30AMvideocam

Art Basel

How Wong Kar-wai’s noir films inspire Nicole Eisenman’s Hong Kong view

1 Apr 2026 - 3:15PM

Art

Painter Eunnam Hong explores identity through haunting self-portraits

28 Mar 2026 - 6:00AM

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | How Leslie Cheung broke all the rules to become a Hong Kong superstar

The music and cinema legend’s artistry, vulnerability and defiance in a conservative Asian society forever reshaped Hong Kong pop culture.

1 Apr 2026 - 10:17AMvideocam

Hong Kong pop icon Leslie Cheung on the set of director Wong Kar-wai’s Days of Being Wild in 1990. Cheung was a trailblazing Cantopop icon who reshaped Hong Kong’s entertainment scene. Photo: SCMP

On Our Radar

Hong Kong International Film Festival brings out the big guns for its 50th year

The city’s flagship cinema event marks its Golden Jubilee with a global slate, major auteurs and a spotlight on Asian storytelling.

20 Mar 2026 - 8:00AM

Art

In their words: Wing Shya recalls 20 years of style highs in Hong Kong

The Wong Kar-wai collaborator reflects on the city’s evolving style, memorable fashion shoots and local trendsetters like Vivienne Tam and Yat Pit.

15 Mar 2026 - 7:00PM

Interiors

This refurbished home is a love letter to old Shanghai

A Hong Kong designer transforms his late aunt’s flat with 1930s East-meets-West glamour.

21 Jan 2026 - 1:00PM

An old Shanghai-style flat. Photo: courtesy hoo

European cinema

Why this French film star just had to visit Hong Kong’s Chungking Mansions

In town for the Hong Kong French Film Festival, Garance Marillier discusses her ‘must visit’ list and acting with Angelina Jolie in Couture.

25 Nov 2025 - 5:15PM

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

3 Hong Kong romance films that pushed the boundaries

Sci-fi story Saviour of the Soul, fantasy tale Anna Magdalena and the provocative Isabella went outside the norm for Hong Kong romances.

16 Nov 2025 - 4:15PMvideocam

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | How Shirley Kwan, Cantopop’s complex ‘queen of cool’, is a star like no other

Kwan experienced a meteoric rise followed by an artistic metamorphosis in the 1990s, before personal struggles began to take the spotlight.

24 Oct 2025 - 7:15AMvideocam

Shirley Kwan (left) sings at the JVC Hits Award presentation ceremony at the Hong Kong Coliseum in January 1996. Photo: SCMP

From our archives

On This Day | Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love opens in Hong Kong in 2000 – SCMP archive

On September 29, 2000, the Hong Kong director’s celebrated cinematic love story was screened in theatres across the city for the first time.

29 Sep 2025 - 1:15PM

Maggie Cheung Man-yuk and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in the film “In The Mood For Love”. Photo: Jet Tone Production

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Carina Lau became a top film star and her best movies

Despite her many supporting parts, Lau’s ability to put her mark on her work means she’s always great to watch. We look back at her career.

14 Sep 2025 - 12:15PM

Trending in China

Profile | Xin Zhilei, Venice Film Festival best actress, from poverty to Donnie Yen protégé

Ex-schoolgirl waitress from poverty-stricken background who climbed ladder of celebrity says she is driven by ‘desire and ambition’.

10 Sep 2025 - 6:00PM

Asian cinema: Chinese films

Profile | How Chinese star Xin Zhilei, best actress winner at Venice, rose to the top

Xin Zhilei discusses her acting journey, her historic win for The Sun Rises on Us All and what it was like working with Wong Kar-wai.

8 Sep 2025 - 1:44PMvideocam

Chinese actress Xin Zhilei on the red carpet for The Sun Rises on Us All at the 82nd International Venice Film Festival. Photo: AFP

Asian cinema: Chinese films

China’s Xin Zhilei creates history with Venice Film Festival best actress gong

Award for role in The Sun Rises on Us All makes 39-year-old the first Chinese woman to win the honour in 14 years.

8 Sep 2025 - 1:59PMvideocam

Xin Zhilei poses with her award at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

In Good Taste

What inspires this auctioneer and modern art expert off the clock

Formerly Sotheby’s head of modern art, auctioneer Felix Kwok talks about his favourite painting, the power of positivity – and more.

21 Aug 2025 - 2:37PM

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Wong Kar-wai’s The Hand made the 2004 anthology Eros worth watching

The Hong Kong director’s segment from the three-part erotic anthology Eros outshone those by Steven Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni.

8 Aug 2025 - 5:15PMvideocam

Hong Kong society

Discover Hong Kong’s Wan Chai: free literature-themed tour on write track

Participants can explore district’s historic buildings and other landmarks through the eyes of local writers during six sessions in August.

29 Jul 2025 - 7:31PM

A tour guide leads a group around historic sites in Wan Chai. Photo: Handout

Celebrity style

Style according to … designer Chet Lo, famous for his spiky knitwear

Lo wears a mix of Byredo Mumbai Noise and Gabar 02 Ground perfumes, and lists The Standard hotel and the Tate Modern among his favourite hangs in his hometown of London.

23 Jul 2025 - 6:00PM

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

3 Andy Lau movies that show Hong Kong actor’s action chops

In the 2000s, Lau added action star to his CV with roles involving martial arts, guns and gangsters. Three films show his versatility.

18 May 2025 - 11:15AMvideocam

Hong Kong culture

Opinion | Why seeing Hong Kong through Wong Kar-wai’s lens matters

Hong Kong doesn’t need to chase the sameness of Coldplay concerts and viral trends. It needs to be assured in its own taste.

26 Apr 2025 - 11:38AM

A view of a food stall in Central in 2020. Whether it’s incense coils, plastic stools or the beauty of a Wong Kar-wai film, Hong Kong is capable of absorbing global aesthetic influences and expressing them in a vocabulary that feels local and lived in. Photo: Dickson Lee

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Recap | Hong Kong cinema legends and greats open up about their careers

What’s it like working with Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan, Dwayne Johnson, John Woo and Wong Kar-wai? These film and TV legends tell all.

22 Apr 2025 - 7:00AM

Tim Yip in his studio in Beijing, China. The art director, who got his start on John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow and won an Oscar for his art direction on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is focused more on art than movies nowadays. Photo: Simon Song

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

What’s ‘extended’ in new In the Mood for Love 4K special cinema edition?

Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 masterpiece returns to Hong Kong cinemas this week for the film’s 25th anniversary with nine minutes of new footage.

10 Apr 2025 - 6:45PMvideocam

Art

It’s showtime for 4 must-see art exhibitions this week

This week’s thought-provoking shows from the queer cosmos of ‘How to be Happy Together?’ to exploring human destiny in ‘Veering’ and more.

15 Mar 2025 - 4:15PM

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | Faye Wong, actress, Cantopop diva and twice divorced mum

A ‘natural-born actress’, Wong Kar-wai said. The bestselling female Cantopop artist. Yet Faye Wong left it all behind to be a wife and mum.

14 Feb 2025 - 7:15AM

Hong Kong singer-actress Faye Wong, wearing a high heel hat, performs in Hong Kong in 2003. Twice married and twice divorced, Wong walked away from her career in 2005, and has appeared only sporadically on stage since then. Photo: Reuters

Fame and celebrity

How the qipao found favour as a film mood-setter and red-carpet favourite

The traditional Chinese dress, which had its heyday in the glamorous 20s and 30s, is now a symbol of Chinese style that has lit up films like In the Mood for Love – and red carpets aplenty

29 Jan 2025 - 2:00PM

Rita Ora, Fan Binging and Taylor Swift have all worn qipaos or qipao inspired dresses over the years. Photos: Getty Images; @bingbing_fan/Instagram; Getty Images

Art

Hong Kong art show homage to Wong Kar-wai asks: can we be happy together?

In How to Be Happy Together, artists consider the human connections economic migrants make and the sense of homelessness engendered by exile.

24 Dec 2024 - 11:15AM

What to do in Hong Kong

5 of the best things to do in Hong Kong this weekend, December 20-22

A dance workout to get in shape for the holidays, a charity roast goose feast and a celebration of a Japanese pop duo are among our picks.

20 Dec 2024 - 4:16PMvideocam

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Wong Kar-wai

.css-1pcrwvc{color:#2aa191;}Opinion | Why securing Hong Kong’s economic future is a cultural question

One-off events are not enough for a city in dire need of a cultural revival that nurtures its subcultures and lets future creators thrive.

How Wong Kar-wai’s noir films inspire Nicole Eisenman’s Hong Kong view

Painter Eunnam Hong explores identity through haunting self-portraits

.css-19im5qg{color:#c79a00;}Profile | How Leslie Cheung broke all the rules to become a Hong Kong superstar

The music and cinema legend’s artistry, vulnerability and defiance in a conservative Asian society forever reshaped Hong Kong pop culture.

Hong Kong International Film Festival brings out the big guns for its 50th year

The city’s flagship cinema event marks its Golden Jubilee with a global slate, major auteurs and a spotlight on Asian storytelling.

In their words: Wing Shya recalls 20 years of style highs in Hong Kong

The Wong Kar-wai collaborator reflects on the city’s evolving style, memorable fashion shoots and local trendsetters like Vivienne Tam and Yat Pit.

This refurbished home is a love letter to old Shanghai

A Hong Kong designer transforms his late aunt’s flat with 1930s East-meets-West glamour.

Why this French film star just had to visit Hong Kong’s Chungking Mansions

In town for the Hong Kong French Film Festival, Garance Marillier discusses her ‘must visit’ list and acting with Angelina Jolie in Couture.

3 Hong Kong romance films that pushed the boundaries

Sci-fi story Saviour of the Soul, fantasy tale Anna Magdalena and the provocative Isabella went outside the norm for Hong Kong romances.

Profile | How Shirley Kwan, Cantopop’s complex ‘queen of cool’, is a star like no other

Kwan experienced a meteoric rise followed by an artistic metamorphosis in the 1990s, before personal struggles began to take the spotlight.

On This Day | Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love opens in Hong Kong in 2000 – SCMP archive

On September 29, 2000, the Hong Kong director’s celebrated cinematic love story was screened in theatres across the city for the first time.

How Carina Lau became a top film star and her best movies

Despite her many supporting parts, Lau’s ability to put her mark on her work means she’s always great to watch. We look back at her career.

Profile | Xin Zhilei, Venice Film Festival best actress, from poverty to Donnie Yen protégé

Ex-schoolgirl waitress from poverty-stricken background who climbed ladder of celebrity says she is driven by ‘desire and ambition’.

Profile | How Chinese star Xin Zhilei, best actress winner at Venice, rose to the top

Xin Zhilei discusses her acting journey, her historic win for The Sun Rises on Us All and what it was like working with Wong Kar-wai.

China’s Xin Zhilei creates history with Venice Film Festival best actress gong

Award for role in The Sun Rises on Us All makes 39-year-old the first Chinese woman to win the honour in 14 years.

What inspires this auctioneer and modern art expert off the clock

Formerly Sotheby’s head of modern art, auctioneer Felix Kwok talks about his favourite painting, the power of positivity – and more.

How Wong Kar-wai’s The Hand made the 2004 anthology Eros worth watching

The Hong Kong director’s segment from the three-part erotic anthology Eros outshone those by Steven Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni.

Discover Hong Kong’s Wan Chai: free literature-themed tour on write track

Participants can explore district’s historic buildings and other landmarks through the eyes of local writers during six sessions in August.

Style according to … designer Chet Lo, famous for his spiky knitwear

Lo wears a mix of Byredo Mumbai Noise and Gabar 02 Ground perfumes, and lists The Standard hotel and the Tate Modern among his favourite hangs in his hometown of London.

3 Andy Lau movies that show Hong Kong actor’s action chops

In the 2000s, Lau added action star to his CV with roles involving martial arts, guns and gangsters. Three films show his versatility.

Opinion | Why seeing Hong Kong through Wong Kar-wai’s lens matters

Hong Kong doesn’t need to chase the sameness of Coldplay concerts and viral trends. It needs to be assured in its own taste.

.css-blnnrq{color:#4585FF;}Recap | Hong Kong cinema legends and greats open up about their careers

What’s it like working with Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan, Dwayne Johnson, John Woo and Wong Kar-wai? These film and TV legends tell all.

What’s ‘extended’ in new In the Mood for Love 4K special cinema edition?

Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 masterpiece returns to Hong Kong cinemas this week for the film’s 25th anniversary with nine minutes of new footage.

It’s showtime for 4 must-see art exhibitions this week

This week’s thought-provoking shows from the queer cosmos of ‘How to be Happy Together?’ to exploring human destiny in ‘Veering’ and more.

Profile | Faye Wong, actress, Cantopop diva and twice divorced mum

A ‘natural-born actress’, Wong Kar-wai said. The bestselling female Cantopop artist. Yet Faye Wong left it all behind to be a wife and mum.

How the qipao found favour as a film mood-setter and red-carpet favourite

The traditional Chinese dress, which had its heyday in the glamorous 20s and 30s, is now a symbol of Chinese style that has lit up films like In the Mood for Love – and red carpets aplenty

Hong Kong art show homage to Wong Kar-wai asks: can we be happy together?

In How to Be Happy Together, artists consider the human connections economic migrants make and the sense of homelessness engendered by exile.

5 of the best things to do in Hong Kong this weekend, December 20-22

A dance workout to get in shape for the holidays, a charity roast goose feast and a celebration of a Japanese pop duo are among our picks.

Opinion | Why securing Hong Kong’s economic future is a cultural question

Profile | How Leslie Cheung broke all the rules to become a Hong Kong superstar

Recap | Hong Kong cinema legends and greats open up about their careers