John Sham (Shum Kin-fun) was born in Hong Kong in 1952 to a family from Enping in Guangdong. As a young man he took part in social movements and played music professionally. In 1975 he studied literature in Britain and worked in documentary research for a local television station, later joining crime-documentary shoots in Canada. Returning to Hong Kong at the end of 1978 to research drug trafficking for a documentary, he met many local filmmakers and became editor-in-chief of the culture magazine City Magazine. In 1982 he founded the International City Newsweek and co-hosted the Commercial Radio show Three Hours in Time and Space with Lau Tin-lan and Philip Chan, voicing the Chaozhou hothead Lui King and building his comic screen persona of a curly-haired, accented character, which he carried into films such as Winners and Sinners (1983), Pom Pom (1984) and The Return of Pom Pom (1984). In the early 1980s he helped plan Sealed with a Kiss (1981) and promoted Boat People (1982). In January 1983 he joined Bo Ho Films as a planner, helping Johnny Mak produce Long Arm of the Law (1984). In the mid-1980s he, Dickson Poon and Sammo Hung founded D&B Films, and in November 1985 the company took over Shaw Brothers' leading cinemas to form the D&B circuit, one of the three main Hong Kong chains. Before leaving at the end of 1987 he headed production, releasing commercial hits such as Yes, Madam! (1985) and Royal Warriors (1986) alongside edgier works like Hong Kong 1941 (1984), The Lunatics (1986), Love Unto Waste (1986) and The Final Test (1987), and supporting An Autumn's Tale (1987), which won Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1985 he and Chan Koon-chung founded Screenplay Productions, whose satirical debut Welcome (1985) was followed by People's Hero (1987), My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1989), Seven Warriors (1989) and Eight Taels of Gold (1989). He never directed a film on his own, serving only as a member of a directing team, as on Magnificent Warriors (1987). He gradually withdrew from production in the late 1980s, founded City Kids Weekly in the 1990s and later developed cable channels in Taiwan. From 2004 he worked in mainland China, helping run the Dadi cinema circuit, which had over 1,170 digital screens by the end of 2020, and produced films such as Kung Fu Cyborg (2008) and Confucius (2010), also backing Echoes of the Rainbow (2010). Besides acting he appeared on television variety shows and joined the music scene, forming the band San Fan Fong with Lau Tin-lan, Chung Ting-yat and Chan Kwok-san. His daughter Yoyo Sham is a musician.
John Sham was a rare cross-media figure in 1980s Hong Kong cinema, linking magazines, radio and film production and bringing a middle-class and cultural perspective to local movies. At D&B and Screenplay Productions he balanced commercial and offbeat strands, helping films such as An Autumn's Tale and The Lunatics achieve both box-office and artistic success. He later moved into mainland cinema circuits and co-productions, becoming one of the early Hong Kong filmmakers to head north.
Achievements
- 1982 · Founded the International City Newsweek and hosted the Commercial Radio show Three Hours in Time and Space, creating the 'Chaozhou hothead' Lui King persona.
- 1984 · Co-founded D&B Films with Dickson Poon and Sammo Hung, heading production and forming the D&B cinema circuit.
- 2010 · Produced for Dadi and backed Echoes of the Rainbow, while helping run a mainland cinema circuit.