Heiward Mak was born in Hong Kong on 21 August 1984 and works as a film director and screenwriter. She grew up in San Chui Estate in Tai Wai and studied at Sha Tin Government Primary and Secondary Schools; after Form Five she gave up her sixth-form place over a passion for children's illustration and studied design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, graduating from City University's School of Creative Media in 2006. Her graduation film 'She' won the open-category gold award at the Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards and a young director prize at the Hannover International Film Festival. In 2007, aged 23, she wrote and directed her first feature, 'High Noon', which the Hong Kong Film Critics Society named a recommended film of the year and which earned a Best New Director nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2010 she co-wrote 'Love in a Puff' with Pang Ho-cheung, winning Best Screenplay at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards, and her own 'Ex' was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 47th Golden Horse Awards. In 2009 she received the Hong Kong Arts Development Council's Award for Young Artist (Film and Media Arts). She later directed 'Diva' (2012) and several relationship dramas, and produced the 2016 'Mad World'. Her 2019 'Fagara', adapted from Amy Cheung's novel, examines family and relationships between women and received eleven Hong Kong Film Awards nominations. In 2012 she founded the management company Dumb Youth to support independent actors and creators. Her films often focus on the circumstances and feelings of young Hongkongers. She took a design diploma at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2003 before moving to City University, worked on 'Men Suddenly in Black 2' in 2005 at Eric Tsang's invitation, and directed the RTHK drama 'Beside Happiness', which won her Best Director in the Asian Feature Film competition at the 24th Singapore International Film Festival; she has directed five features and numerous shorts and written several features.
Heiward Mak is one of the few Hong Kong directors to write urban romance from a woman's perspective. Her screenplay for 'Love in a Puff' won a Hong Kong Film Award and set a new tone for city romances, while 'Fagara' earned multiple nominations for its focus on family and women. She also founded a company to support independent actors.
Achievements
- 2007 · Wrote and directed her first feature, 'High Noon', which earned a Best New Director nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
- 2011 · Won Best Screenplay at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards for 'Love in a Puff'.
- 2019 · Directed 'Fagara', which received eleven Hong Kong Film Awards nominations.