In pictures: Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong’s pre-eminent art-house filmmaker, turns 60

Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai in 1995 during promotion of his crime drama ‘Fallen Angels’. Photo: SCMP

The fluidity of time and the transience of memories are both recurrent motifs in the films of Wong Kar-wai, the Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-raised filmmaker behind such timeless classics as Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love.

Every Wong Kar-wai feature film ranked, from As Tears Go By to The Grandmaster

In celebration of his 60th birthday tomorrow on July 17, we take a trip down memory lane and revisit some rarely seen images from the Post’s archive that follow Wong’s meteoric rise to becoming one of the world’s pre-eminent art-house directors.

Wong (left) and cinematographer Christopher Doyle at a press conference in 1990 for Wong’s film ‘The Days of Being Wild’. Photo: SCMP

Actor Jacky Cheung (sitting) and Wong in a scene from the 1990 film ‘The Days of Being Wild’. Photo: SCMP

(From right) Wong in 1990 with Doyle; Alan Tang, head of film producer In-Gear Production; and Hans Lodders, managing director of film equipment company Agfa-Gevaert (HK) after In-Gear Production and Agfa-Gevaert (HK) signed a cooperation agreement on Wong’s film ‘The Days of Being Wild’. Photo: SCMP

Wong speaking at the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony in 1995 after his film ‘Chungking Express’ won him the best director and best movie awards. Photo: SCMP

Wong in his office in Kowloon City in 1997. Photo: SCMP

(From left) Fox Asia VP Bob Girard, Wong and his wife Esther Wong, actor Tony Leung, actress Carina Lau and actor Chang Chen at the film premiere of Wong’s film ‘2046’ at Cyberport Broadway in Hong Kong in 2004. Photo: Ricky Chung

Wong in a 2007 interview for his first English-language production ‘My Blueberry Nights’. Photo: Ricky Chung

Wong (centre) with Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi at the premiere of Wong’s 2013 film ‘The Grandmaster’ at iSquare in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Wong and his wife Esther at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards in 2014 at the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Wong at the 8th Asian Film Awards in Macau in 2014 after winning the best film and best director awards for ‘The Grandmaster’. Photo: Nora Tam

Filmmaker Wong Kar-wai becomes first Hong Kong director to win Lumière Award

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