# Ray Yeung

Ray Yeung (Chinese: 楊曜愷) 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

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

| Year | Title |
| 1995 | A Chink in the Armour |
| 1996 | A Bridge to the Past |
| 1998 | Yellow Fever |
| 2006 | Cut Sleeve Boys |
| 2008 | Doggy... Doggy... |
| 2010 | Derek and Lucas |
| 2011 | Entwine |
| 2012 | Paper Wrap Fire |
| 2015 | Front Cover |
| 2019 | Suk Suk (Twilight's Kiss) |
| 2024 | All Shall Be Well |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2019 | 56th Golden Horse Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2019 | 56th Golden Horse Awards | Best Feature Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | 70th Berlin International Film Festival | Best Feature Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | 39th Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Director | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | 39th Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Screenplay | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | Hong Kong Screenwriters’ Guild Awards | Best Screenplay | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Hong Kong Screenwriters’ Guild Awards | Best Director | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award | Best Screenplay | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award | Best Director | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award | Best Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | 39th Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Picture | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | 39th Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Screenplay | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | 39th Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Director | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | Renaissance Awards | Best Drama | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Kongest Film Awards | Best Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | To Ten Chinese Films Festival | Youth Film Handbook: Outstanding Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Out on Film: Atlanta's LGBT Film Festival | Jury Award: Best International Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Out on Film: Atlanta's LGBT Film Festival | Audience Award: Best International Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Florence Queer Film Festival | Best Long Feature Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Festival International du Film Independent de Bordeaux | Special Mention: Best International Feature Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | GAZE Film Festival Dublin | Audience Award: Best Feature | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Seoul International Pride Film Festival | Best Asian Feature | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Asian American International Film Festival | Audience Choice Award: Best Narrative Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival | Honorable Mention: Best Feature | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2020 | Brussels International Film Festival | Grand Prix du Festival Award | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2020 | Chicago International Film Festival | Gold Q- Hugo Award | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2021 | Zinegoak Festival, Bilbao Spain | Special Mention: Best Feature Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2021 | La Mostra Internacional de Cinema de Gai i Lesbià FIRE!! | Audience Award: Best Feature | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2021 | LGBT Film Fest of the Niemeyer Center, Spain | Jury Award: Best Feature Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2021 | Santo Domingo OutFest - Festival Internacional de Cine GLBT | Jury Award: Best Film | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2021 | Santo Domingo OutFest - Festival Internacional de Cine GLBT | Jury Award: Best Screenplay | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Won |
| 2022 | Queerties Awards 2022 | Best Indie Movie | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2022 | GLAAD Media Awards 2022 | Outstanding Feature - Limited Release | Twilight's Kiss (Suk Suk) | Nominated |
| 2024 | Teddy Award 2024 | Best Feature Film | All Shall BeWell | Won |
| 2024 | Berlinale Panorama | Audience Award | All Shall BeWell | Won |
| 2024 | 61st Golden Horse Awards | Best Director | All Shall BeWell | Pending |