Lifetime Achievement
Ann Hui
The Lifetime Achievement Award of the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will be presented to renowned Hong Kong filmmaker, scriptwriter, producer, and actress Ann Hui. The award comprises Rs 10 lakh, a sculpture, and a citation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will present the award during the festival’s opening ceremony at 6 PM on December 13 at Nishagandhi Auditorium.
The festival, organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, will be held from December 13 to 20 in Thiruvananthapuram, Ann Hui is described as a key figure in the Hong Kong New Wave movement. In 2020, she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Her accolades include the Berlinale Camera Award at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival in 1997, the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 19th Busan Film Festival in 2014, and the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award at the New York Asian Film Festival, among others. At 77, Ann Hui has been documenting powerful portrayals of ordinary lives in Hong Kong over five decades. Her films focused on the marginalised. Themes central to her work include ethnicity, gender discrimination, societal situation related to Hong Kong’s transition from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty, migration, and cultural alienation.
Born in 1947 in Anshan, Liaoning Province, China, Ann Hui moved to Hong Kong in 1952. She holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Hong Kong and completed her film studies at the London Film School in 1975. She began her career as a director at Television Broadcasts Limited. Her debut film, The Secret (1979), marked the beginning of a celebrated journey. Hui has directed 26 feature films, two documentaries, and numerous short films. Her films received wide accolades at major international film festivals. Notable works include Boat People (1982) and Song of the Exile (1990), which were screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Summer Snow (1995) and Ordinary Heroes (1999), which were featured at the Berlin Film Festival, and A Simple Life (2011) and The Golden Era (2014), which were showcased at the Venice Film Festival. She remains the only filmmaker to have won the Best Director Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards six times. Five films by Ann Hui will be screened at the 29th IFFK: Boat People, Eighteen Springs, July Rhapsody, The Postmodern Life of My Aunt, and A Simple Life.
The Lifetime Achievement Award at the IFFK was introduced in 2009. Recipients of the top honour include legendary filmmakers such as Mrinal Sen, German director Werner Herzog, Spanish director Carlos Saura, Italian director Marco Bellocchio, Iranian directors Dariush Mehrjui and Majid Majidi, Czech director Jiri Menzel, Russian director Alexander Sokurov, Argentine director Fernando Solanas, French director Jean-Luc Godard, Hungarian director Bela Tarr, and Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi.
