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Clara Law Cheuk-yiu (traditional Chinese: 羅卓瑤; simplified Chinese: 罗卓瑶; pinyin: Luó Zhuóyáo; Jyutping: lo4 coek3 jiu4; born 29 May 1957) is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director who moved to Australia with her partner and fellow filmmaker Eddie Fong. She is known for such films as Floating Life and Autumn Moon.

Early life and education

Clara Law was born on 29 May 1957 in Macau. At the age of 10 she moved to Hong Kong.

Law studied at the University of Hong Kong and graduated with a degree in English Literature.

After a period of working in television in Hong Kong, in 1982 Law began studying film direction and writing at the National Film and Television School in England. She won the Silver Plaque Award at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1985 for her graduation film They Say the Moon is Fuller Here.

Career

Early career

In 1978 Law joined Radio Television Hong Kong as an assistant producer and director. During her time there she tried many aspects of television, from screenwriting to directing. Between 1978 and 1981 she directed 12 drama programs for the television channel.

1985–1994

In 1985 she returned to Hong Kong and began development on her first long feature film The Other Half and the Other Half, which was released in 1988. She then started working with Eddie Fong on all of her projects.

In 1989 she created her second film, The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus. The film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival and was released commercially in the US. A year later, she created Farewell China and was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Director and the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director. She directed Fruit Punch in 1991, which was a commercial film produced by a large Hong Kong film studio. In 1992 she directed and produced Autumn Moon, which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 1992, as well as the European Art Theatres Association Best Picture Award and the Youth Special Jury Award in Switzerland and the Best Screenplay in Valencia (1994). It was also awarded at the Belgium and Portugal film festivals.

In 1993 she released Temptation of a Monk, an adaptation of a novella by Lillian Lee. The film was shot entirely on location in the north and northwestern part of China. It was selected for competition at the 50th Venice International Film Festival, and the Grand Prix at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival in France in 1994. The film was also selected for official screenings at the Toronto, Sundance, Rotterdam, and Brisbane film festivals, and as the closing film at the L.A. Film Festival.

In 1994, Law finished a segment of the movie Erotique called "Wonton Soup". Later that year she and Eddie Fong moved to Australia.

1994 – present

Law moved to Australia with her partner Eddie Fong in 1994. The couple's first film after their move to Australia is Floating Life, which was completed in 1996. The film won the Silver Leopard Award at the Locarno Film Festival in 1996. It also won the Grand Prix Asturias and Best Director at the Gijón International Film Festival in Spain, and the Grand Prix at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival in France. It received three nominations at the Australian Film Institute Awards, including Best Achievement in Direction and Best Original Screenplay, as well as nine nominations at the Taipei Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Floating Life was also Australia's official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards (1997). The film was also screened at the Sydney, Melbourne, London, Rotterdam, Hof, Stockholm, Toronto, and Hawaii film festivals.

The Goddess of 1967, shot on location in the outback of Australia and Tokyo, Japan, was completed in 2000. It was in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2000, where Rose Byrne won the Best Actress Award and Law nominated for the Golden Lion, the highest award at the festival. It won Best Director Awards at the Chicago International Film Festival and Teplice Art Film Festival in Slovakia, and the FIPRESCI Critics' Award for Best Film at the Tromsø Film Festival in Norway. The film was also selected for official screenings at many other film festivals.

She directed her first digital documentary in 2004 called Letters to Ali with Eddie Fong, who co-produced, edited, and shot the film. The film was selected for competition at the Venice Film Festival and for official screenings at the Toronto, Pusan, Gothenburg, and Melbourne film festivals.

She completed Like a Dream in 2009, which marked her return to Asia. The film received nine nominations at the 46th Golden Horse Awards. It also opened the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival.

In 2010, Law made a short film, Red Earth, commissioned by the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The short was selected in the Orizzonti section at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.

The Little Qipao Shop, directed by Law and Fong, and produced by Sue Maslin and Charlotte Seymour, was under development in 2023.

Themes

Law's films explore themes surrounding migration and exile, including loyalty, family, love, and nostalgia. She has used a variety of visual and narrative styles throughout her oeuvre to interrogate cultural dislocation and its effect on individuals and communities.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

See also

• List of graduates of University of Hong Kong

References

1. Lee 2003
2. Lee 2003, para. 2
3. Podvin 2010, para. 2
4. Lee 2003, para. 2
5. Lee 2003, para. 3
6. Davis, Edward L. (2004). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture. pp. 316–317. doi:10.4324/9780203645062. ISBN 9780203645062.
7. Podvin 2010
8. ^ Zhou, Debbie (3 November 2021). "'It was strange and seductive': film director Clara Law on finding home in Australia". the Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
9. Lau, Joyce (30 March 2010). "Heady Days for Hong Kong Women". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
10. "Clara Law." (biography) The New York Times. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
11. Jennings, Sheri (28 July 2010). "Venice Horizons includes new works from Vincent Gallo, Guillermo Arriaga". Screen International. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
12. Keast, Jackie (16 February 2023). "'Why do something that someone has done before?': Clara Law eschews compromise". IF Magazine. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
13. Maslin, Sue (13 October 2021). "Sue Maslin: Championing a Positive Future for the Australian Screen Industry". Australian Film Television and Radio School (Interview). Interviewed by Kirkwood, Christine. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
14. Felando, Cynthia (1998). "Law, Clara". Women filmmakers & their films. Detroit: St. James Press. p. 236. ISBN 1-55862-357-4. OCLC 38862487.
15. "Return to sender". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 September 2004. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
16. "THE GODDESS OF 1967 Film australien de Clara Law". Le Monde (in French). 18 July 2001. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
17. Morris, Roderick Conway; Tribune, International Herald (6 September 2000). "Seeking a Goddess in the Outback". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
18. "Quotes of the Day". Time. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
19. "Australian Films by Women, at Museum of the Moving Image". The New Yorker. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
20. Thomas, Kevin (10 June 1999). "The Witty and the Gritty". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
21. Holden, Stephen (16 December 1994). "FILM REVIEW; Battles and Orgies, Observed by a Zen Eye". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
22. Holden, Stephen (26 September 1992). "Review/Film Festival; World-Weary Youths Adrift in Hong Kong". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
23. "FILM REVIEW; Young People Adrift In Beautiful Hong Kong". The New York Times. 26 August 1994. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
24. Smith, Mark Chalon (25 February 1994). "MOVIE REVIEW In 'Golden Lotus,' Life Is Rough--All Over Again : Clara Law's reincarnated heroine finds herself in a world that's still inhospitable to women, even centuries later". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
25. Thomas, Kevin (4 May 1990). "MOVIE REVIEW : Feminist Flavor in 'Lotus'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
26. "Drifting Petals | IFFR". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
27. "第58屆金馬獎 入圍得獎". 台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 26 March 2023.
28. "第46屆金馬獎 入圍得獎". 台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 26 March 2023.
29. "9th Tromsø International Film Festival". FIPRESCI. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
30. "Ročník 2001 • IFF Art Film". IFF Art Film (in Slovak). Retrieved 21 May 2024.
31. Marshall, Lee (13 September 2000). "The Goddess Of 1967". Screen International. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
32. Nesselson, Lisa (18 October 2000). "'Amores' conquers Chicago Intl. Fest". Variety. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
33. "Édition 1997". Festival International de Films de Femmes. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
34. "第33屆金馬獎 入圍得獎". 台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 26 March 2023.
35. "Gijon fest fetes 'Flies,' 'Floating,' 'Portland'". Variety. 3 December 1996. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
36. "AACTA AWARDS 1996". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
37. "1996". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
38. "第13屆香港電影金像獎提名及得獎名單 List of Nominees and Awardees of The 13th Hong Kong Film Awards". 香港電影金像獎. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
39. "Édition 1994". Festival International de Films de Femmes. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
40. Stratton, David (27 September 1993). "You Seng". Variety. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
41. "第30屆金馬獎 入圍得獎". 台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 21 May 2024.
42. "1992". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
43. "第10屆香港電影金像獎提名及得獎名單 List of Nominees and Awardees of The 10th Hong Kong Film Awards". 香港電影金像獎. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
44. "第27屆金馬獎 入圍得獎". 台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 21 May 2024.
45. Chen, Serena (5 May 1990). "Chinese Filmmaker Looks Back to Future : Movies: Director examines the plight of women in China in 'Golden Lotus.'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 May 2024.

Further reading

• Shen, Shiao-ying. "Filming One's Way Home: Clara Law's Letters to Oz." In: Wang, Lingzhen. Chinese Women's Cinema: Transnational Contexts. Columbia University Press, 13 August 2013. Start page 16. ISBN 0231527446, 9780231527446.
• Podvin, Thomas, Hong Kong Cinemagic, 2010.
• Lee, Dian, Senses of Cinema, 2003.
• Tong, Nancy, "From the Chinese Diaspora to a Global Dream: A Discussion With Filmmakers Clara Law and Eddie Fong", Hong Kong Cinemagic, 2010.

External links

• Clara Law at IMDb
• Complete biography on Hong Kong Cinemagic
• Interview with Clara Law on Hong Kong Cinemagic
• Biography on Senses of Cinema
• List of films on Film Reference

• 1957 births
• Living people
• Hong Kong film directors
• Australian people of Chinese descent
• Hong Kong emigrants to Australia
• Australian film directors
• English-language film directors
• Australian women film directors
• Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
• 21st-century Macau people
• Hong Kong artists
• Hong Kong women artists
• Hong Kong women film directors