Chui Hin-wai, born in 1957 and also known as Chui Hung-kai, was born in Hong Kong and spent his whole career in cinema management and film distribution. From a poor childhood he helped support his family from primary school, and at fourteen took a summer job at the Pearl Theatre, forming a lasting bond with cinemas. After finishing secondary school at Wah Ying College in 1975 and a brief spell in a factory, he was invited back by his former employer and returned to the Pearl Theatre as a full-time employee, starting as an usher. Energetic and proactive, he gradually took on booking, ticketing, billboard painting, the design of stills cabinets and projection-room work, rising to become deputy manager, manager and house manager. In October 1988 he moved to the circuit-management department of Sil-Metropole, overseeing many cinemas across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, including their opening and closing, and witnessing more than three decades of change in the film trade. He served as Sil-Metropole's deputy general manager, director and asset director, and additionally as head of the Clear Water Bay film studio, a director of Southern Film and a director and general manager of a property company, retiring in 2019. Active in the Hong Kong Theatres Association from the early 1980s, he held the posts of supervisor, council member, vice-chairman and chairman, becoming a non-executive council member after retirement; from 2012 he was a council member of the South China Film Workers' Association, mainly handling property and leasing matters. Having risen from the bottom, he knows every front-of-house and backstage post in a cinema, and has seen Hong Kong's cinemas evolve from single-block houses into multiplexes inside shopping malls.
Rising from usher at the Pearl Theatre to the management of Sil-Metropole, Chui witnessed decades of change in Hong Kong's cinema trade and long took part in the theatres association, making him a veteran of local cinema management and distribution.
Achievements
- 1975 · Returned to the Pearl Theatre as a full-time employee, starting as an usher
- 1988 · Moved to Sil-Metropole's cinema-management department, overseeing many cinemas across Hong Kong
- 2019 · Retired from Sil-Metropole after decades in cinema management