Eric Tsang is one of the most ubiquitous faces in Hong Kong cinema, with over 200 acting credits to his name. Yet his most vital contribution to the film world has been as a producer. Whenever the local industry was at a low ebb, Tsang was there to assist a new generation of directors. It was soccer and not movies that was in his blood. Following in his father's footsteps, he played for Hong Kong at the Asian Youth Games in 1970. It was kung-fu movie legend Lau Kar-leung that persuaded Tsang to become a stuntman. He then graduated to screenwriting, directing, and producing. Tsang was in the 'Gang of Seven' that ran Cinema City in the 1980s, directing the first two Aces Go Places films, breakout action-comedies that defined the first half of the decade before the studio invented the "heroic bloodshed" genre with John Woo's A Better Tomorrow. Cinema City's success is in part attributed to its philosophy of supporting new directors. In 1990, Tsang co-founded United Filmmakers Organization with Peter Chan, Claudie Chung, Jacob Cheung and Lee Chi-ngai to nurture first-time directors, with the intent of making an alternative cinema to the action and comedy films dominating local screens. Its first production was Chan's Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye starring Tsang, Alan Tam and Maggie Cheung. In 2003, Hong Kong cinema was in dire straits. Just 40 films were produced; it was the year of SARS, and Leslie Cheung's suicide. Tsang stepped in again, turning to independent directors for fresh ideas. He produced the debut films of Adam Wong (When Beckham Met Owen, 2004), Derek Kwok (The Pye-Dog, 2007) and Heiward Mak (High Noon, 2008). As we focus on new filmmakers this year with our Young Blood Hong Kong sidebar, it's perfect timing to recognize Eric Tsang's contribution to local film culture not as its funny man but as its heart and soul. We present Eric Tsang with the 2017 NYAFF Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award for shining bright both in front of and behind the camera.

Wong Chun graduated from the School of Creative Media at Hong Kong City University in 2011, majoring in Cinematic Arts. His 30-minute film 6th March, based on a screenplay co-written with fellow HKCU graduate Florence Chan, was nominated for Best Short Film at the 2012 Golden Horse Awards. In late 2014, Chan's screenplay for Mad World was one of three films selected into the First Feature Film Initiative by Create Hong Kong and the Film Development Fund of Hong Kong. For his directorial debut, Wong secured career-best performances from stars Shawn Yue, Eric Tsang, Elaine Jin and Charmaine Fong. The candid exploration of mental illness, including how its victims face discrimination at every turn, reinvents Hong Kong's tenement drama genre for the modern era. For his first feature, Wong Chun won Best New Director at both the 2016 Golden Horse Awards and the 2017 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards.

Heiward Mak graduated in graphics design before studying at Hong Kong City University's School of Creative Media. Her 30-minute graduation short Lovers' Lover caught the attention of Eric Tsang who hired her to co-wrote the screenplay of Pang Ho-cheung's Men Suddenly in Black 2 (2006). Two years later, Tsang commissioned her first feature film as director, High Noon (2008, NYAFF 2009), the Hong Kong episode in a series of films about youth. Focused on nine teenagers, the depiction of vulgar and sexually-active Hong Kong youth was given a restricted Category III censorship rating in Hong Kong. She has continued to work as a screenwriter, co-writing Pang's Love in a Puff (2010), which won Best Screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Her subsequent features as a director are Ex (2011) starring Gillian Chung, Diva (2012) starring Joey Yung, and television movie Uncertain Relationships Society (2014). She recently produced Mad World.

Florence Chan secured her Cinematic Arts degree from Hong Kong City University in 2011, followed by a master’s in Literary Arts and Cultural Studies from the University of Hong Kong. She wrote and produced the 30-minute film 6th March, which was amongst four nominatees at the 2012 Golden Horse Awards for Best Short Film. Directed by Wong Chun, whom she studied with at HKCU, it focuses on three generations of police officers and their testy conversation with three young political protesters arrested for unlawful assembly. In late 2014, her screenplay for Mad World was one of three projects selected into the First Feature Film Initiative by Create Hong Kong and the Film Development Fund of Hong Kong. The candid exploration of mental illness that reinvents Hong Kong's tenement drama genre won Best New Director for Wong Chun, and Best Supporting Actress for Elaine Jin at the 2016 Golden Horse Awards.