Wu Sau-yee (1935–2009), a native of Zhongshan, Guangdong, was a Hong Kong cartoonist, animation producer, film director and investor who also wrote under pen names such as Butterfly Dream and Pepper. He fell for cinema as a child in the countryside, studied fine art in Guangzhou and stayed on in Hong Kong, drawing serial comics in the neighbourhood of Western Market; from 1949 he worked in comics in Hong Kong and founded his own comic-book publisher at twenty. Moving into advertising in the 1960s he set up a production company making commercials, and his television spot for a green-orange drink became a familiar image of the decade. In 1973 he formed Po Ting Film with Law Hoi-muk and James Wong, producing Wong's Heaven (1974) and the film he co-directed with Wong, Everybody's Song (1975), and backing King Hu's Raining in the Mountain (1979). In 1979 he and Law, together with Leung Shuk-yee and Sylvia Chang, founded Bo Ho Film, whose first production was Ann Hui's debut feature The Secret, followed in 1980 by another picture. In 1981 the animated Old Master Q, adapted from Wong Chak's comic and co-directed with Tso Chin-tu and Tsai Chih-chung, became Hong Kong's first colour commercial animated feature and won Best Animation at the 18th Golden Horse Awards; he went on to produce further Old Master Q animated features in 1982 and 1983. In 1987 he moved to Taiwan to set up an advertising film company, training many local talents, and in 1997 turned to the mainland. At the end of 2000 he wound up his Taiwan business and shifted focus back to Hong Kong and the mainland. He died in Hong Kong on 7 June 2009.
From comic-book artist and advertising animator to film producer, Wu Sau-yee made Old Master Q, Hong Kong's first colour commercial animated feature, taking a first step for the local animation industry; his early backing of young directors such as Ann Hui and King Hu also makes him one of the quiet forces behind the Hong Kong New Wave.
Achievements
- 1973 · Formed Po Ting Film with Law Hoi-muk and James Wong, producing two features and backing King Hu's Raining in the Mountain.
- 1979 · Co-founded Bo Ho Film with Law Hoi-muk, Leung Shuk-yee and Sylvia Chang, producing Ann Hui's debut feature The Secret.
- 1981 · Co-directed the animated Old Master Q, Hong Kong's first colour commercial animated feature, which won Best Animation at the 18th Golden Horse Awards.