Leung Ming-kai

Biography

As a cinematographer, Kai has shot numerous features in Hong Kong and other parts of the world. He won Best Cinematography at the 2025 Taipei Golden Horse Awards for the Malaysian film Mother Bhumi, and is nominated for Best Cinematography in the upcoming 2026 Hong Kong Film Awards for Ciao UFO. Also in 2025, two of the Best Film nominees at the Hong Kong Film Awards were shot by Kai. They are Berlin Teddy-Award winner All Shall Be Well and NYAFF Audience Award winner The Way We Talk. He also shot the opening film of the 2025 Hong Kong International Film Festival, Pavane for an Infant. Kai’s other feature works include The Sunny Side of the Street; Drifting; Krabi, 2562; Suk Suk; Old Stone; Ek Hazarachi Note; Murmur of the Hearts; By the Time It Gets Dark; and Mundane History. Festivals including Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam, and New Directors/New Films have selected features he shot. Kai has previously been nominated for national awards for Best Cinematography in Thailand, Canada, and at the Taipei Golden Horse Awards, and at festivals in Malaysia, India, and the Philippines. As a director, Kai’s short film “Three Boys” represented the Philippines in competition at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and won the top-prize Gold Award at the Hong Kong Independent Film & Video Awards. It also screened at Sao Paulo, Austin, and Jecheon. “Lock” was in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival. Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down was his feature debut as co-director and co-writer. Memories premiered internationally at Rotterdam and won the Best Screenplay Award from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society.

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