Wong Chun is a Hong Kong film director and screenwriter who graduated in 2011 in film art from the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong. His short The Sixth of March (2011), made for the Fresh Wave competition, was nominated for Best Short Film at the 49th Golden Horse Awards. After graduating he worked in various behind-the-scenes roles, building up editing and production experience. In 2013 his screenplay Mad World, written with his partner Chan Chor-hang, was selected by Hong Kong's First Feature Film Initiative and received about HK$2 million in funding. In 2016 he directed his first feature, Mad World, starring Shawn Yue as a man with bipolar disorder who returns from hospital to share a tiny subdivided flat with his estranged father. Shot in only sixteen days, the film drew Eric Tsang and Elaine Jin to appear for very low or no fees and was filmed largely in cramped subdivided flats and public housing estates, using a near-documentary style to convey the protagonist's predicament. Wong won Best New Director at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards and Best Director from the 23rd Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, and in 2017 took the newcomer category at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards. The film also earned Eric Tsang and Elaine Jin the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress prizes at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Made on a modest budget, Mad World focuses on marginalised lives and family relationships, and marked Wong as one of the more closely watched directors of Hong Kong's new generation.
Shot in sixteen days for about HK$2 million, Mad World brought bipolar disorder and the lives of subdivided-flat families to mainstream cinemas and focused attention on mental health; it also showed that new directors could open fresh paths for Hong Kong cinema with small budgets and realist subjects, becoming a showcase of the First Feature Film Initiative.
Achievements
- 2013 · His screenplay Mad World was selected by Hong Kong's First Feature Film Initiative and received about HK$2 million in funding.
- 2016 · Won Best New Director at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards for Mad World.
- 2017 · Won Best New Director at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards for Mad World.