Stanley Kwan

Who is Stanley Kwan?

Stanley Kwan is a Hong Kong Second Wave Hong Kong film director and producer.

Kwan landed a job at the TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College. Kwan's first film was Women, which starred Chow Yun-fat, and was a big box-office success.

Kwan's films often deal sympathetically with the plight of women and their struggles with romantic affairs of the heart. Rouge, Full Moon in New York, Centre Stage, a biopic on silent film star Ruan Lingyu and Everlasting Regret, are all such typical Kwan films. Red Rose White Rose is an adaptation of an Eileen Chang novel. The film was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival. His 1998 film Hold You Tight won the Alfred Bauer Prize and Teddy Award at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.

Kwan came out as a gay man in 1996 in Yang ± Yin, his documentary looking at the history of Chinese-language film through the prism of gender roles and sexuality. He is one of the few openly gay directors in Asia and one of the very few to have worked on these themes. His Lan Yu adapts a gay love story originally published on the Internet.