Yim Ho (born 1952) was born in Hong Kong with ancestral roots in Wu county, Jiangsu, the son of the writer Yim Hing-seui, who wrote the celebrated novel A Dream of Golden Splendour under the pen name Tang Jen; Yim began writing at a young age. After finishing secondary school he worked at a bank for three years before going to the London Film School in 1973, and on graduating in 1975 he returned to Hong Kong to join TVB as a drama writer and director. In 1978 he made his debut feature The Extras, one of the earliest films of the Hong Kong New Wave, followed in 1980 by the realist drama The Happening. His 1984 Homecoming, starring Josephine Koo as a Hong Kong woman returning to her home village for a funeral and shot on location in Chaoshan, contrasted rural life with the changing city and echoed the question of identity raised by the Sino-British negotiations; it took six prizes at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1985, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best New Performer and Best Art Direction. His 1990 Red Dust, written by Sanmao and produced by Hsu Feng, starred Brigitte Lin, Chin Han and Maggie Cheung and swept eight prizes at the 27th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature and Best Director. In 1991 he adapted Ah Cheng's novel into King of Chess. In 1994 The Day the Sun Turned Cold won both Best Film and Best Director at the 7th Tokyo International Film Festival, and in 1996 The Sun Has Ears earned the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 46th Berlin Film Festival. In 2001 he directed Pavilion of Women from Pearl S. Buck's novel, starring Willem Dafoe and Luo Yan, which won Best International Film at the New York International Independent Film Festival, and in 2012 he returned with The Floating City, starring Aaron Kwok and drawn from a true story of a century of Hong Kong change. Yim's films dwell on rural life, history and human nature, filmed with a quiet camera.
Yim Ho placed Chaoshan rural life alongside Hong Kong's urban change in Homecoming, echoing the identity and belonging questions of 1980s Hong Kong, and his Red Dust triumphed at the Golden Horse Awards. He is among the few Hong Kong New Wave directors to keep writing history and human nature in a lyrical, literary way, with films repeatedly selected for Berlin and Tokyo.
Achievements
- 1978 · Directed his debut feature The Extras, an early Hong Kong New Wave film
- 1985 · Homecoming won six prizes at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director
- 1990 · Red Dust swept eight prizes at the 27th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature and Best Director
- 1996 · The Sun Has Ears won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 46th Berlin Film Festival