Ann Hui On-wah, BBS MBE (Chinese: 許鞍華) is a film director, producer, screenwriter and actress from Hong Kong, who is one of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers of the Hong Kong New Wave. She is known for her films about social issues in Hong Kong and served as the president of the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild from 2004 to 2006. Hui has won numerous awards. She won Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards three times (1999, 2011, 2014); Best Film at the Asia Pacific Film Festival; and Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards six times (1983, 1996, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018). As one of the leading figures of Hong Kong's New Wave, Hui has continuously challenged herself and broadened her film career while bringing the audience surprises. This is highlighted in women's stories forming her artistic style. Hui has created female images using a film language which is unique in the Hong Kong film industry. In addition, Hui's works discuss the ideas of race and sex in Asian cultures in a critical tone. Her semi-autobiographical work "Song of the Exile" shows how a woman's identity has been strugglingly constructed in such a cultural context. Audrey Yue writes, "When it was released in 1990, the film's themes of cross-cultural alienation, inter-ethnic marriage, generational reconciliation and divided loyalties resonated with the British colony's 1997 transition to Chinese sovereignty." This "cunningly metaphoric" film is said to be one of the most important features of a Hong Kong director in the last few years. Hui's films reflect diverse female images. Firstly, she creates submissive women, for example, with Sum Ching in "The Story of Woo Viet" (1982), Cam Nuong in "Boat People" (1982), Mang Tit Lan in "Zodiac Killers" (1991), and Ling in "Night and Fog" (2009). Facing the injustice of life, these women will only passively accept the arrangement of fate, and silently endure the hardship of life. Hui gives more attention and sympathy to such women, and such films permeate her deep thinking on female destiny. However, Hui also creates female characters with strong sense of rebellion, such as Bai Liu-Su in "Love in a Fallen City" (1984), May Sun in "Summer Snow" (1995), Gu Manzhen in "Eighteen Springs" (1997), and Xiao Hong in "The Golden Era" (2014). In these films, women are no longer the submissive and cowardly appendages of traditional patriarchy. Instead, they become women who have the courage to fight for their rights. The 2021 documentary film Keep Rolling provides an insight into her life's work. It was directed by Hui's frequent collaborator Man Lim-chung in his directorial debut.

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