Derek Kwok Chi-kin was born in British Hong Kong on 17 October 1976, grew up in On Ting Estate in Tuen Mun, and studied at S.T.F.A. Leung Kau Kui College before taking a design diploma at what is now Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He entered the industry in 1998 after working in film art, and later as a screenwriter and assistant director, one of the few Hong Kong filmmakers to move from technical roles into directing. He wrote scripts for several Wilson Yip productions, including Gen-Y Cops (2000), 2002, The Irresistible Piggies (2002), Dry Wood Fierce Fire (2002) and Leaving Me, Loving You (2004), and worked as an assistant director on Dry Wood Fierce Fire, Leaving Me, Loving You and Dragon Tiger Gate (2006). In 2006 he was backed by Eric Tsang and Teddy Robin to make his feature debut, The Pye-Dog, released in 2007 with Eason Chan and Lin Yuan in the leads, a story of triads and father-son ties that played at several international festivals and brought him a Best New Director nomination at the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards. The Moss (2008), led by Shawn Yue, continued his interest in the marginal lives around Sham Shui Po and won him Best New Director at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards and a newcomer award from the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild. In 2010 he co-wrote and co-directed Gallants with Clement Cheng, a nostalgic martial-arts drama starring Teddy Robin, Bruce Leung and Chan Koon-tai that took Best Film at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards and Best Film from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society, his breakthrough. He co-directed Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons with Stephen Chow in 2013, a box-office hit nominated for Best Film at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards. He then directed the firefighter drama As the Light Goes Out (2014), for which he was nominated for Best Director, the badminton comedy Full Strike (2015), and Wu Kong (2017), adapted from an online novel and showing his command of visual effects. In 2021 he directed Schemes in Antiques, adapted from Ma Boyong's novel and starring Lei Jiayin and Li Xian. Kwok's characters are often stubborn small people, and his work ranges across the supernatural, sports and fantasy.
Derek Kwok is one of the few Hong Kong directors of his generation able to balance personal concern with commercial scale. Gallants brought a nostalgic warmth to the old martial-arts school genre, and his collaboration with Stephen Chow on Journey to the West proved his command of a large production, while Wu Kong showed his grasp of visual effects and online source material.
Achievements
- 2007 · Directed his feature debut, The Pye-Dog, nominated for Best New Director at the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards
- 2009 · Won Best New Director at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards for The Moss
- 2011 · Co-directed Gallants, which won Best Film at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards
- 2013 · Co-directed Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons with Stephen Chow, nominated for Best Film at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards