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Nick Cheuk

Hong Kong director (born 1987)

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Nick Cheuk Yick-him (Chinese: 卓亦謙; born 1987) is a Hong Kong director and screenwriter best known for his directorial debut Time Still Turns the Pages (2023), which earned him Best New Director in the 60th Golden Horse Awards and Best New Director in the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards.

01Early life and education

Cheuk was born in 1987 in Hong Kong. He is the son of Warner Cheuk, the incumbent Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong. He had his secondary education at Raimondi College, the alma mater of his father, but did not perform well academically. However, he became immersed in video editing after creating NBA highlight reels with Windows Movie Maker and received positive feedback on online forums. He also sparked interest in films after watching the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He had poor relationships with his parents, as his father wanted him to become a lawyer or doctor instead of studying humanities subjects. Only getting 8 marks in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination, his father sent him to a boarding school in Britain after Form 5. He later returned to Hong Kong and attended the City University of Hong Kong to study creative media. He was mentored by director and guest lecturer Patrick Tam, and won silver prize in the 18th Ifva Awards with his graduation project, Waiting to Drown….

02Career

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 2012, Cheuk worked as a writer's assistant for sports drama film Unbeatable and action thriller film That Demon Within. In 2017, Cheuk wrote the horror film Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight, which was his first credited screenplay. He also co-wrote action thriller film Paradox with Jill Leung in the same year.

In 2019, Cheuk applied for and received funding from the Hong Kong Film Development Council's "First Feature Film Initiative" with a screenplay draft of Time Still Turns the Pages. He penned the script in 2015 based on the death of a close friend and university classmate, but altered certain aspects of his friend's experiences to delve into the concerning phenomenon of student suicides in Hong Kong. Cheuk also served as the director and co-editor of the film. The film has gained critical acclaim for its subject matter, atmosphere and writing. Cheuk won Best New Director in the 60th Golden Horse Awards and Best New Director in the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards, as well as nominations for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing in the latter.

03Filmography

Film

Year Title Writer Director Editor Ref.
2011 Waiting to Drown… Yes Yes Yes
2013 Unbeatable Assistant No No
2014 That Demon Within Assistant No No
2017 Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight Yes No No
Paradox Yes No No
2023 Time Still Turns the Pages Yes Yes Yes

04Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2023 25th Golden Goblet Awards Best Director Time Still Turns the Pages Nominated
60th Golden Horse Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Best Film Editing Nominated
Best New Director Won
2024 30th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award Best Director Nominated
Best Screenplay Nominated
17th Asian Film Awards Best New Director Won
Best Editing Nominated
42nd Hong Kong Film Awards Best Director Nominated
Best Screenplay Nominated
Best Editing Nominated
Best New Director Won
Watch videos about Nick CheukExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Nick Cheuk, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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