Mak, Hei-yan Heiward (麥曦茵)

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Mak, Hei-yan Heiward – Critical Biography Top

Heiward Mak majored in design studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, but became interested in filmmaking after she graduated in 2003. She entered the creative media program at the City University of Hong Kong and began making short films. Her graduation short won an award at the IFVA Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards, attracting the attention of actor-producer Eric Tsang. She was promptly hired to work alongside veteran Aubrey Lam on the script to Men Suddenly in Black 2 (2006), the sequel to Pang Ho-cheung’s popular comedy.

At the time, Tsang was involved in the production of a trilogy of films about high school students, set in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China, respectively. The trilogy was entitled Winds of September, after the Taiwanese installment, and Tsang hired Mak to write and direct the Hong Kong episode. Mak was only in her early twenties at the time, and her film High Noon (2008) received critical accolades as an energetic and unhackneyed look at Hong Kong’s disaffected youth. It also won her a nomination as Best New Director at the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards.

Left: Ex (2010) Right: High Noon (2008)

Mak continued working regularly as a screenwriter, and she furthered her collaboration with director Pang Ho-cheung on the romance Love in a Puff (2010). Rich with colloquialisms, the script won Mak and Pang a Best Screenplay award at the 2011 Hong Kong Film Awards. In the same year, Mak adapted her own unpublished novel – about the love life of a young woman – into a film called Ex (2010), starring Gillian Chung. Mak also served as editor on writer-director Scud’s film, Amphetamine (2010). Although Ex was not as well-received as Mak’s earlier film, she began to work prolifically in various media from 2010 onward, including commercials, music videos, and columns for popular publications.

Diva (2012)

Mak’s third feature as a writer-director came in 2012. Diva (2012) was a drama set amid Hong Kong’s Cantopop industry and starred real-life singer Joey Yung as a pop idol dealing with various personal crises. For his role as a pop impresario in the film, Chapman To won a Best Supporting Actor nomination at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards. Mak’s latest work entitled Uncertain Relationships Society (2014) – a commissioned project for RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) – takes another look at the lives of Hong Kong teenagers. It premiered at the HKIFFS’s Cinefan Summer International Film Festival.

Uncertain Relationships Society (2014)

Filmography Top

Feature Films:

Role	Title (English)	Title (Chinese)	Year
Editor	Hand Rolled Cigarette	手捲煙	2021
Editor	Drifting	濁水漂流	2021
Director	Fagara	花椒之味	2019
Director	Uncertain Relationships Society (Trailer)	曖昧不明關係研究學會	2014
Story	I Love Hong Kong 2013 (Trailer)	2013 我愛HK恭囍發財	2013
Director Writer	Diva (Trailer)	DIVA華麗之後	2012
Story	I Love Hong Kong 2012 (Trailer)	2012我愛HK喜上加囍	2012
Writer	I Love Hong Kong (Trailer)	我愛HK開心萬歲	2011
Director Writer Story	Ex (Trailer)	前度	2010
Editor	Amphetamine (Trailer)	安非他命	2010
Writer	Love in a Puff (Trailer)	志明與春嬌	2010
Art Director	Dead Slowly (Trailer)	慢性中毒	2009
Director Editor Writer	High Noon (Trailer)	烈日當空	2008
Writer	Men Suddenly in Black 2 (Trailer)	大丈夫2	2006

Shorts:

Role	Title (English)	Title (Chinese)	Year
Director Writer	Youth (segment in Good Take Too 打開我天空)	青春	2016
Director Writer	—	It’s青春 (Full movie)	2013
Director	—	PopCorn微電影三部曲 – 然後 (Full movie) 曾經 (Full movie) 當下 (Full movie)	2012
Co-director with Lo Chun-yip	Love More Hong Kong (Full movie)	香港愛我 @ 你還可愛麼	2011
Director	Eleven to Seven (Full movie)	—	2011
Director	Beside(s) Happiness	幸褔的旁邊	2011
Co-director with Jessie Tsang Tsui-shan	Loving/Nothing to Hide	愛．發現	2010
Director Writer	We Might As Well Be Strangers	偏偏	2010
Director	HOPE	—	2009
Co-director with Hui, Nga-shu Rita	—	尋愛	2008
Director	—	Sweet 17	2007
Director	Lovers’ Lover	他．她	2006