Clara Law
{{Short description|Hong Kong Second Wave film director}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Clara Law
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1957|5|29}}
| birth_place = Macau
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Film director
| known_for = Autumn Moon (1992)
Floating Life (1996)
The Goddess of 1967 (2000)
}}
Clara Law Cheuk-yiu ({{zh|first=t|t=羅卓瑤|s=罗卓瑶|j=lo4 coek3 jiu4|p=Luó Zhuóyáo}}; 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.Lee 2003{{better source|date=December 2024}} 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.Lee 2003, para. 2 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.Podvin 2010, para. 2
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.Lee 2003, para. 2
=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.Lee 2003, para. 3{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Edward L. |date=2004 |title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203645062 |pages=316–317 |doi=10.4324/9780203645062|isbn=9780203645062 }} She then started working with Eddie Fong on all of her projects.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
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.{{cn|date=December 2024}} 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.{{cn|date=December 2024}} She directed Fruit Punch in 1991, which was a commercial film produced by a large Hong Kong film studio.{{cn|date=December 2024}} 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.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
In 1993 she released Temptation of a Monk, an adaptation of a novella by Lillian Lee.{{cn|date=December 2024}} The film was shot entirely on location in the north and northwestern part of China.{{cn|date=December 2024}} 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.{{cn|date=December 2024}} 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.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
In 1994, Law finished a segment of the movie Erotique called "Wonton Soup". Later that year she and Eddie Fong moved to Australia.Podvin 2010{{Cite news |last=Lau |first=Joyce |date=2010-03-30 |title=Heady Days for Hong Kong Women |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/arts/31iht-hkfilm.html |access-date=2023-03-26 |issn=0362-4331}}"[https://web.archive.org/web/20140108150317/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/98917/Clara-Law/biography Clara Law]." (biography) The New York Times. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
=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.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
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.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
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.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
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.{{Cite web |last=Jennings |first=Sheri |date=2010-07-28 |title=Venice Horizons includes new works from Vincent Gallo, Guillermo Arriaga |url=https://www.screendaily.com/venice/venice-horizons-includes-new-works-from-vincent-gallo-guillermo-arriaga/5016452.article |access-date=2024-05-21 |website=Screen International |language=en}}
The Little Qipao Shop, directed by Law and Fong, and produced by Sue Maslin and Charlotte Seymour, was under development in 2023.{{cite web |last=Keast |first=Jackie |title='Why do something that someone has done before?': Clara Law eschews compromise |website=IF Magazine |date=16 February 2023 |url=https://if.com.au/why-do-something-someone-has-done-before-clara-law-eschews-compromise/ |access-date=14 December 2024}}{{cite interview|first= Sue| last=Maslin| interviewer-first=Christine | interviewer-last= Kirkwood|title=Sue Maslin: Championing a Positive Future for the Australian Screen Industry |website=Australian Film Television and Radio School |date=13 October 2021 |url=https://www.aftrs.edu.au/blog/sue-maslin-championing-a-positive-future-for-the-australian-screen-industry/ |access-date=14 December 2024}}{{cite web |last=Zhou |first=Debbie |title=‘It was strange and seductive’: film director Clara Law on finding home in Australia |website=the Guardian |date=3 November 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/nov/03/it-was-strange-and-seductive-film-director-clara-law-on-finding-home-in-australia |access-date=14 December 2024}}
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.{{Cite book |last=Felando |first=Cynthia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38862487 |title=Women filmmakers & their films |publisher=St. James Press |year=1998 |isbn=1-55862-357-4 |location=Detroit |pages=236 |chapter=Law, Clara |oclc=38862487}}
Filmography
Awards and nominations
See also
{{Portal|Australia|Hong Kong|Biography|Film}}
References
{{reflist}}
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
- {{IMDb name|id=0492309|name=Clara Law}}
- [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=212 Complete biography] on Hong Kong Cinemagic
- [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/page.asp?aid=337 Interview with Clara Law] on Hong Kong Cinemagic
- [http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/law/#bibl Biography] on Senses of Cinema
- [http://www.filmreference.com/film/66/Clara-Law.html List of films] on Film Reference
{{Clara Law}}
{{Golden Horse Award for Best Director}}
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Category:Hong Kong film directors
Category:Australian people of Chinese descent
Category:Hong Kong emigrants to Australia
Category:Australian film directors
Category:English-language film directors
Category:Australian women film directors
Category:Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Category:21st-century Macau people