Po-Chih Leong (; born 31 December 1939) is a British and Hong Kong filmmaker. He was a figure in the Hong Kong New Wave, and was nominated for a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director for the war drama film Hong Kong 1941 (1984). He has also directed films in Britain and the United States. He began his career as a trainee film editor at the BBC before joining TVB in 1967, where he set up its film unit in British Hong Kong.
Early life and education On 31 December 1939, Leong was born in Northampton to parents from Taishan, Guangdong. His father was a seaman who opened a Chinese restaurant in London's West End. Leong has two siblings; his younger brother is sculptor Po Shun Leong, and his nephew is photographer Sze Tsung Leong.
Leong attended Leighton Park School. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Exeter and studied at the London Film School.
Career Leong began his career as a trainee film editor at the BBC. Leong worked on a variety of productions, including the long-running series Panorama. In 1967, Leong joined TVB and set up its film unit in British Hong Kong. As an executive producer he also directed a number of entertainment programmes, including The Star Show. He left TVB in 1969 to form Adpower, one of the first commercial production companies in Hong Kong.
In 1976, Leong co-directed his first Hong Kong film Jumping Ash, an action film set in a drug underworld, where he also appeared in this film as Tiger's man. It was one of the two top-grossing films of the season. At the 23rd Hong Kong Film Festival, it was described as "the advance guard of the (Hong Kong) New Wave". He went on to direct a range of genres from drama to action movies, comedies, horror and satire, in both English and Chinese. Banana Cop (1984) was the story of a British–Chinese policeman who returns to Hong Kong to seek help with a case. It was the genesis for his first British film Ping Pong (1986), made for UK's Channel 4, the first English feature film set in Soho's Chinatown.
After Banana Cop, Leong turned to history for inspiration and made the award-winning movie Hong Kong 1941 (1984), starring Chow Yun Fat, set in Hong Kong during the early days of the Japanese invasion. Hong Kong 1941 was an oblique comment on the 1984 deal between Britain and China about Hong Kong's future. Leong and his film maker daughter, Sze Wing Leong,http://www.documentary.org/users/cuckoohk directed and filmed the effect of this deal up to and beyond the handover in Riding the Tiger (1997-1998), an eight part, observational documentary series for the UK's Channel 4.
Further pursuing his interest in history, Leong made a Hong Kong English-language movie, Shanghai 1920 (HK, 1990), set in Shanghai and starring John Lone, about the rise of the legendary Shanghai gangster Big-Eared Du.
His second British feature film, was the award-winning 1998 movie, The Wisdom of Crocodiles, starring Jude Law, Timothy Spall, and Kerry Fox, with notable references to Akira Kurosawas opus, especially Rashomon, and to Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï. In recent years Leong has made action films starring Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes, Judd Nelson, Joe Mantegna, and Oscar-winning Marcia Gay Harden. He has directed films for US network television and AMC. In 2012, he reunited with Hong Kong producer Raymond Wong Bak Ming to direct the 3D movie, Baby Blues.
Personal life Leong is married to Mary Leong. His son James Leong is also a filmmaker.
Filmography Film YearTitleFunctioned asNotesDirectorWriter 1976 Jumping Ash () Co-director with Josephine Siao 1977 Foxbat () 1979 Itchy Fingers () 1980 No Big Deal () 1981 Super Fool () 1982 He Lives by Night () 1984 Hong Kong 1941 () Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award Best Director Banana Cop () 1985 The Island () 1986 Welcome () Ping Pong () 1988 Keep On Dancing () Fatal Love () 1991 Shanghai 1920 () Nominated – Chicago International Film Festival Best Feature 1998 The Wisdom of Crocodiles Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in SilverGérardmer Film Festival Special Jury PrizeValenciennes International Festival of Action and Adventure Films Audience AwardNominated – Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Gold 2004 Out of Reach 2006 2013 Baby Blues 2014 Bounty Hunter () 2017 The Jade Pendant ()
Acting roles +YearTitleRoleNotes1976Jumping AshTiger's man1980Dangerous Encounters of the First KindHead Interpol Officer1985The IslandTang San1986Peking Opera BluesMr. Kam2014Camera Ming's father2015Already Tomorrow in Hong KongCab driver
Television YearTitle Notes1997-98Riding the TigerDocumentary series; 4 episodes2000Cabin by the LakeTV movieThe DarklingTV movie2001Return to Cabin by the LakeTV movie 2001 Wolf Lake Episode: "Excitable Boy" 2001 Night Visions Episode: "If a Tree Falls..." 2001Spenser: Walking ShadowTV movie
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