Ray Yeung () is a Hong Kong screenwriter and independent film director. After graduating with a law degree and practicing law for two years, Yeung found his job tedious and decided to switch career paths to become a director. Yeung's films frequently center around gay stories. He made his feature film debut with Cut Sleeve Boys (2006) in Britain and later shifted his focus back to Hong Kong, directing Suk Suk (2020) and All Shall Be Well (2024). Yeung is also the Chairman of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, the longest running LGBT film festival in Asia. He revived the festival in 2000.
Early life Born in 1964, Yeung grew up in Hong Kong. At the age 13, he was sent to an English boarding school outside of London. He was the only Asian student at school and faced severe bullying. Upon his family's request, he went on to read law at the University of Canterbury. After graduating with a Bachelor of Laws, he began his career as a lawyer. He practiced law in the United Kingdom for two years before realizing that the profession was too tedious for him. He decided to switch career paths and become an advertising director. He enrolled at Columbia University School of the Arts to study filmmaking in 2008, and obtained a Master of Fine Arts in 2013.
Career Yeung wrote the plays Banana Skin and The Third Sex. He made several shorts prior to his feature film debut.
Yeung made his feature film debut with Cut Sleeve Boys, a gay love story between two Chinese-British men, in 2005 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film won Best Feature at the Outfest Fusion Festival in Los Angeles and Best Actor for Chowee Leow at the Madrid Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
His second feature film Front Cover premiered at the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival. The story follows Ryan Fu, a gay Chinese American fashion stylist (Jake Choi), who rejects his ethnic heritage, and is assigned to style Ning (James Chen), an ostensibly heterosexual patriotic actor from Beijing. Front Cover won Best Screenplay at FilmOut San Diego, Jury Award for Best Domestic Feature at the Outflix Film Festival in Memphis and Audience Award at the Boston Asian American Film Festival.
Yeung had expressed interest in doing a Cantonese-language film set in Hong Kong, having grown up there until age 13. Twilight's Kiss, or Suk Suk, is a film about a gay relationship between two elderly men in Hong Kong and was inspired by the book “Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong” by Hong Kong University Professor Travis S.K. Kong. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019. The film had its European Premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival 2020. Suk Suk is his first Chinese-language film. It was awarded Best Film at the 2019 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award and numerous other awards and nominations from 2019- 2022. He was also presented with the Artist of the Year for Film award from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2021.
In 2024, Yeung directed another LGBT-themed drama film All Shall Be Well, the film won a Teddy Award and Yeung was nominated for Best Director in the 61st Golden Horse Awards.
Style and influences Yeung cites directors Yasujirō Ozu and Stanley Kwan as his influences.
Filmography +YearTitleNotes1995A Chink in the Armour1996A Bridge to the Past1998Yellow Fever2006 Cut Sleeve Boys2008Doggy... Doggy...2010Derek and Lucas2011Entwine2012Paper Wrap Fire2015 Front Cover2019 Suk Suk (Twilight's Kiss) 2024 All Shall Be Well
Awards and nominations +YearAwardCategoryWorkResultNotes201956th Golden Horse AwardsBest Original ScreenplayTwilight's Kiss (Suk Suk)Best Feature Film 202070th Berlin International Film Festival Best Feature Film 39th Hong Kong Film AwardsBest DirectorBest ScreenplayHong Kong Screenwriters’ Guild AwardsBest ScreenplayBest DirectorHong Kong Film Critics Society AwardBest ScreenplayBest Director Best Film 39th Hong Kong Film Awards Best PictureBest ScreenplayBest DirectorRenaissance AwardsBest DramaKongest Film AwardsBest FilmTo Ten Chinese Films Festival Youth Film Handbook: Outstanding Film Out on Film: Atlanta's LGBT Film FestivalJury Award: Best International Film Audience Award: Best International Film Florence Queer Film Festival Best Long Feature Film Festival International du Film Independent de BordeauxSpecial Mention: Best International Feature Film GAZE Film Festival DublinAudience Award: Best FeatureSeoul International Pride Film FestivalBest Asian FeatureAsian American International Film FestivalAudience Choice Award: Best Narrative Film Tel Aviv International LGBT Film FestivalHonorable Mention: Best Feature Brussels International Film Festival Grand Prix du Festival AwardChicago International Film Festival Gold Q- Hugo Award2021Zinegoak Festival, Bilbao SpainSpecial Mention: Best Feature Film La Mostra Internacional de Cinema de Gai i Lesbià FIRE!!Audience Award: Best FeatureLGBT Film Fest of the Niemeyer Center, SpainJury Award: Best Feature Film Santo Domingo OutFest - Festival Internacional de Cine GLBTJury Award: Best Film Jury Award: Best Screenplay 2022Queerties Awards 2022Best Indie MovieGLAAD Media Awards 2022Outstanding Feature - Limited Release2024Teddy Award 2024Best Feature Film All Shall Be WellBerlinale Panorama Audience Award 61st Golden Horse Awards Best Director
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