Samson Chiu Liang-ching worked in several trades after secondary school before entering film as a continuity clerk on John Woo's Money Crazy (1980) and Michael Hui's Security Unlimited (1981). He studied film in Canada and returned to Hong Kong in 1983, serving as assistant director for directors such as Yonfan, Sylvia Chang and John Woo. He made his directing debut with The Set Up (1989), which won a Taiwanese government award for outstanding film. After briefly emigrating to Canada and returning, he shot White Rose (1992) and became known for the coming-of-age film Yesteryou, Yesterme, Yesterday (1993), starring Tang Yat-kwan, Eric Tsang and Petrina Fung, followed by Bad Boys' Club (1994); both centred on young protagonists. His The Moon Also Rises (2000) was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 37th Golden Horse Awards. In 2002 he wrote and directed Golden Chicken, starring Sandra Ng, a comedy that threads decades of Hong Kong social change through a single prostitute's life, from the economic boom to the financial crisis; it was nominated for Best Film at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards and won Sandra Ng her first Best Actress prize there. Golden Chicken 2 (2003) was named a recommended film by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society, and he later directed the live-action animation comedy McDull, the Alumni (2006) and Mr. Cinema (2007), which traces a projectionist's life across the handover. Rooted in local Hong Kong sentiment, his films dwell on ordinary people caught in a changing era, moving between comedy and drama. He is one of the few Hong Kong directors to have written the city's social shifts into genre pictures over the long term.
Chiu is one of the few Hong Kong directors who has consistently used comedy to chart social change. Golden Chicken uses the life of a sex worker to trace Hong Kong's fortunes from the 1970s through the post-handover years, becoming one of the most representative local films of the early 2000s. He was also the filmmaker behind Sandra Ng's Best Actress win.
Achievements
- 1989 · Made his directing debut with The Set Up, which won a Taiwanese government award for outstanding film.
- 1993 · Directed the coming-of-age film Yesteryou, Yesterme, Yesterday, starring Tang Yat-kwan, Eric Tsang and Petrina Fung.
- 2002 · Wrote and directed Golden Chicken, nominated for Best Film at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards and winning Sandra Ng the Best Actress prize.