The signature look of 65-year-old Hong Kong director Ann Hui is short hair, attire from Japanese designer brand Comme des Garcons and brightly colored Converse sneakers.

She rents an apartment in Hong Kong, takes the subway to work and lives with her mother, who is older than 80 years.

Hui is president of the Hong Kong Directors' Guild. She doesn't drive and can't use computers well.

The director has won the most film awards among Chinese women directors, including three best director awards from the Hong Kong Film Festival and two best director awards from the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards.

She is known for portraying women, especially middle-aged and elderly ones.

Two veteran actresses won top international acting awards by leading her films. Josephine Siao won the best actress award at the Berlin International Film Festival when she was 48 for her performance in Woman Forty. Deanie Ip, 65, was honored as the best actress at last year's Venice International Film Festival for her role in A Simple Life.

She is the only director to have adapted writer Eileen Chang's novels into films twice. Chang's novels are widely believed to be very challenging to adapt because of her unique language style and huge fan base.

Hui's adaptation of Love in a Fallen City didn't receive praise from critics but that of Eighteen Springs is beloved by many of Chang's fans.

Hui was born to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother. She did not know her mother is Japanese until she was 16 years old.

The search for identity is a frequent subject in her films.

She was a leading figure in the groundbreaking New Wave Movement in Hong Kong cinema in the late 1970s. She explored the anxieties surrounding identity, social problems and family issues in Hong Kong with daring cinematography, casting and narratives.