Clara Law, born in Macau on 29 May 1957 and a graduate of the English department of the University of Hong Kong, is a director, screenwriter and producer long based in Australia, her work shaped by literature and the theatre. From 1982 to 1985 she studied film at Britain's National Film and Television School, its first ethnic Chinese student, and her graduation film won a silver medal at the Chicago International Film Festival. In 1988 she co-directed The Other Half and the Other Half with Eddie Fong. Farewell China (1990) brought nominations for Best Film and Best Director at both the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards and the 27th Golden Horse Awards. Autumn Moon (1992) won the Golden Leopard at Locarno, Temptation of a Monk (1993) competed for the Golden Lion in Venice, Floating Life (1996) took Locarno's Silver Leopard and was chosen as Australia's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and The Goddess of 1967 (2000) won Best Director at the Chicago festival. In 2021 she won Best Director at the 58th Golden Horse Awards for Drifting Petals. Moving to Australia in the 1990s, she has kept working independently, her films often tracing Chinese diaspora experience across cultures. A leading figure of Hong Kong's second wave, she is a frequent nominee at the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards, one of the few women directors to sustain a long creative career in the field; she is married to the writer-director Eddie Fong, her long-time collaborator.
Clara Law is one of the few Hong Kong directors recognised both by Europe's major festivals and by the Chinese-language film world. Taking migration, diaspora and women's lives as her themes, she brought Hong Kong's sense of displacement to international screens, capping her career with the 2021 Golden Horse Best Director award for Drifting Petals.
Achievements
- 1985 · Graduated from the National Film and Television School, her graduation film winning a silver medal at the Chicago International Film Festival
- 1992 · Won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival with Autumn Moon
- 2021 · Won Best Director at the 58th Golden Horse Awards for Drifting Petals