Heiward Mak Hei-Yan

Heiward Mak majored in design studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University but became interested in filmmaking after she graduated in 2003 She entered the creative media program at the City University of Hong Kong and began making short films Her graduation short won an award at the IFVA Hong Kong Independent Short Film Video Awards attracting the attention of actorproducer Eric Tsang She was promptly hired to work alongside veteran Aubrey Lam on the script to Men Suddenly in Black 2 2006 the sequel to Pang Hocheungs popular comedy At the time Tsang was involved in the production of a trilogy of films about high school students set in Hong Kong Taiwan and mainland China respectively The trilogy was entitled Winds of September after the Taiwanese installment and Tsang hired Mak to write and direct the Hong Kong episode Mak was only in her early twenties at the time and her film High Noon 2008 received critical accolades as an energetic and unhackneyed look at Hong Kongs disaffected youth It also won her a nomination as Best New Director at the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards