Lawrence Ah Mon (born 1949) is a Hong Kong film director and screenwriter of Shunde, Guangdong ancestry, born in Pretoria, South Africa. He studied in the United States, earning a master's degree in film at the University of Southern California, and after returning to Hong Kong worked as an assistant director on The Butterfly Murders before joining Radio Television Hong Kong's drama unit, where he developed a sharp eye for social subjects. In 1988 he made his feature debut with Gangs, a hard-hitting portrait of marginalised youth that earned him nominations for Best Director and Best Film Editing at the 8th Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1990 he directed Queen of Temple Street, starring Sylvia Chang, and in 1991 the two-part Lee Rock, the life of a legendary police detective, for which he was again nominated for Best Director at the 11th Hong Kong Film Awards. Ah Mon's films are known for their realism and attention to society's underclass, making him a key figure in Hong Kong's realist cinema.
Achievements
- 1988 · Nominated for Best Director at the 8th Hong Kong Film Awards for Gangs.