Ann Hui, the director who spent nearly five decades chronicling Hong Kong’s overlooked lives on screen, will receive the 2026 Camellia Award at the Busan International Film Festival, organizers announced Tuesday. The honor, created in partnership with Chanel, goes to filmmakers who have raised the profile of women within the industry. Hui, 79, will accept it at the festival’s opening ceremony on October 6 at the Busan Cinema Center.
Hui made her directing debut in 1979 with “The Secret” and became a defining voice of the Hong Kong New Wave, a movement that reshaped the territory’s cinema through gritty, socially grounded storytelling. She has since directed 27 features and two documentaries, many built around female protagonists and working-class characters navigating shifting political and social ground. “Boat People” screened at Cannes in 1982. “Summer Snow” and “A Simple Life,” released sixteen years apart, remain the only two films to sweep best picture, director, actor and actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Her honors span continents. She won the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at Venice in 2020, took best director six times at the Hong Kong Film Awards and three times at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, and earned Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year prize back in 2014.
In a statement, Hui reflected on why she is accepting the award now, after declining similar recognitions earlier in her career. “In my previous years I felt unwilling to receive such taking-stock prizes because I wished to continue making movies,” she said. “Now that I’m nearly eighty and find it difficult to make a film, I think the prize comes just in time for me to appreciate it more.” She added that she looks forward to reconnecting with Busan audiences, calling them among the most cinematically literate anywhere.
The Camellia Award launched in 2024, honoring Korean production designer Ryu Seong-hie before going to Taiwanese actress and director Sylvia Chang last year. This year Hui shares the spotlight with Michelle Yeoh, who receives the festival’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year honor. Actress Kim Minha, known for “Pachinko,” will host the ceremony. The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs October 6 through 15 across venues in the city.
