View source for Fruit Chan


{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}

{{Family name hatnote|[[Chen (surname)|Chan]]|Fruit Chan|Chan Gor|lang=Hong Kong}}
{{infobox person
| name = Fruit Chan
| image = Fruit chan 20170728 hkac.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Fruit Chan at the Hong Kong Art Centre, 28 July 2017
| birth_name =Chen Guo
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1959|4|15}}
| birth_place = [[Guangdong]], China
| awards = {{awards|award=[[Hong Kong Film Awards]]|name='''Best Director'''<br>1998 ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong 
Kong]]'' <br> '''Best Screenplay'''<br>2001 ''[[Durian Durian]]''}}{{awards|award=[[Golden Bauhinia Awards]]|name='''Best Director'''<br>1998 ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong Kong]]'' <br> '''Best Screenplay'''<br>2001 ''[[Durian Durian]]''}}{{awards|award=[[Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards]]|name='''Best Director'''<br>1998 ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong 
Kong]]''<br>2015 ''[[The Midnight After]]'' <br> '''Best Screenplay'''<br>2003 ''[[Hollywood Hong Kong]]''}}{{awards|award=[[Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards|Golden Horse Awards]]|name='''Best Director'''<br>1997 ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong Kong]]''<br>2002 ''[[Hollywood Hong Kong]]'' <br> 
'''Best Original Screenplay'''<br>1997 ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong 
Kong]]''<br>2000 ''[[Little Cheung]]''<br>2001 ''[[Durian Durian]]''}}
}}
{{Infobox Chinese|title=Fruit Chan Gor|t=陳果|s=陈果|j=can4 gwo2|p=Chén Guǒ}}

'''Fruit Chan Gor''' ({{zh|t=陳果}}; born 15 April 1959) is a [[Hong Kong]] filmmaker who is best known for his style of film reflecting the everyday life of [[Demographics of Hong Kong|Hong Kong people]]. He is well known for using amateur actors (such as [[Sam Lee (actor)|Sam Lee]] in ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong Kong]]'', Wong Yau-Nam in ''[[Hollywood Hong Kong]]'') in his films. He became a household name after the success of the 1997 film ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong Kong]]'', which earned many local and international awards.

==Early life==
Chan was born in [[Guangdong]], China. His English name is a [[calque]] (literal translation) of his personal name Guo (果). Growing up, he watched a lot of films from [[Second World|Communist countries]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Whitehead|first=Kate|date=March 30, 2002|title=Roll on, Fruit Chan|url=https://www.scmp.com/article/375608/roll-fruit-chan|access-date=2021-08-09|website=[[South China Morning Post]]|language=en}}</ref>

He and his family moved to Hong Kong in July 1971.<ref name=":0" /> His family was poor and Chan worked in an electronics factory while finishing [[Education in Hong Kong|Forms 1 to 3]] at [[night school]]. He later got a job as a [[projectionist]] in [[Jordan, Hong Kong]], where he developed an interest in [[International Cinema|international cinema]].<ref name=":0" />

He later enrolled in a one-year film studies course at the Film Culture Society, garnering admission by lying about his secondary education experience and working odd jobs to pay for tuition.<ref name=":0" />

== Career ==
He continued his interest in film later on at the Hong Kong Film Culture Centre, a small film club, where he studied script writing and directing. In 1982, after only one year of working at the Hong Kong Film Culture Centre he started his career in the film industry. He began his career as an assistant director to David Lai Dai-Wai in the film ''Mid-Night Girls''. He later worked as an assistant director to mainstream directors [[Jackie Chan]], [[Kirk Wong]], [[Ronny Yu]], and [[Shu Kei]].<ref name="Robin Gatto">{{cite web|author=Gatto|first1=Robin|last2=Sonatine|date=May 2002|title=Interview Fruit Chan|url=https://www.cinemasie.com/en/fiche/dossier/346/|access-date=12 April 2011|website=www.cinemasie.com}}</ref>

His break came in 1991 when a film he was working with stopped its production. Chan took this as an opportunity; he used the same studio to direct ''Finale in Blood''. However, the outcome of the first of his own films was highly praised by the critics rather than the public. In 1994 he collected a total of 500,000 HKD and film-materials left over by other productions to begin directing his award-winning ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong Kong]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Fanfan Ko|author-link=Little Cheung|title=FilmFestivals.com|url=http://www.filmfestivals.com/servlet/JSCRun?obj=FicheFilmus&CfgPath=ffs/filmweb&id=852|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026175343/http://www.filmfestivals.com/servlet/JSCRun?obj=FicheFilmus&CfgPath=ffs%2Ffilmweb&id=852|archive-date=26 October 2007|access-date=12 April 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> After ''Made in Hong Kong'' came out he was thought of as the hope for Hong Kong cinema by fellow Hong Kong filmmakers for challenging the stable model of Hong Kong filmmaking. He had become the first filmmaker to, independently of the big studios, challenge the genre of Hong Kong films and make realistic films about the political and social situations going on in Hong Kong at the time. The film was the first part to a trilogy that included ''[[The Longest Summer]]'' and ''Little Cheung''.

In 2002, Chan was a member of the jury at the [[24th Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=2002 |title=24th Moscow International Film Festival (2002) |access-date=30 March 2013 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328141921/http://moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=2002 |archive-date=28 March 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>

Chan was selected to head the jury for the 2015 [[Taipei Film Festival]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sin|first=Ben|date=2015-07-01|title=Fruit Chan heads jury for 17th Taipei Film Festival|url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48-hours/article/1829871/fruit-chan-heads-jury-17th-taipei-film-festival|access-date=2021-08-08|website=South China Morning Post|language=en}}</ref>

== Style and influences ==
Chan lists Japanese directors, particularly [[Cinema of Japan#1960|from the 1960s]] such as [[Nagisa Ōshima]], as his primary influences. Ōshima specifically was the influence for Chan's film ''Made in Hong Kong'' (1997).<ref name="Robin Gatto" />

Chan's films often focus on the "raw, often bleak, view of life of Hong Kong's working class."<ref name=":0" />

==Filmography==

===As director===

* ''Finale in Blood'' (大鬧廣昌隆) (1993)
* ''The 1997 Trilogy'' (九七三部曲) (referring to the year of Hong Kong's [[handover of Hong Kong|handover]] to the People's Republic of China)
** ''[[Made in Hong Kong (film)|Made in Hong Kong]]'' (香港製造) (1997)
** ''[[The Longest Summer]]'' (去年煙花特別多) (1998)
** ''Little Cheung'' (細路祥) (1999)
* ''The Prostitute Trilogy'' (妓女三部曲)
** ''[[Durian Durian]]'' (榴槤飄飄) (2000)
** ''[[Hollywood Hong Kong]]'' (香港有個荷里活) (2001)
** ''[[Three Husbands (2018 film)|Three Husbands]]'' (三夫) (2018)
* ''[[Public Toilet (film)|Public Toilet]]'' (人民公廁) (2002)
* ''[[Three... Extremes]]'' (三更2) (2004) – segment "Dumplings"
* ''[[Dumplings (film)|Dumplings]]'' (餃子) (2004)
* ''[[Chengdu, I Love You]]'' (2009) – segment "1976"
* ''[[Don't Look Up (2009 film)|Don't Look Up]]'' (2009), a remake of the 1996 Japanese horror film ''[[Don't Look Up (1996 film)|Don't Look Up]]''
* ''[[Tales from the Dark 1]]'' (2013) – segment ''Jing Zhe''
* ''[[The Midnight After]]'' (2014)
* ''[[Kill Time (film)|Kill Time]]'' (2016)
* ''[[The Invincible Dragon]]'' (2019)
* ''The Abortionist'' (墮胎師) (2019)
* ''Coffin Homes'' (2021)

===As scriptwriter===

* ''[[Bugis Street (film)|Bugis Street]]'' (1995)
* ''The 1997 Trilogy'' 九七三部曲
** ''Little Cheung'' 細路祥 (1999)
** ''The Longest Summer'' 去年煙花特別多 (1998)
** ''Made in Hong Kong'' 香港製造 (1997)
* ''The Prostitute Trilogy'' 妓女三部曲
** ''Hollywood Hong Kong'' 香港有個荷里活 (2001)
** ''Durian Durian'' 榴槤飄飄 (2000)
* ''Public Toilet'' 人民公廁 (2002)

===As producer===

* ''Public Toilet'' 人民公廁 (2002)
* ''[[Colour Blossoms]]'' 桃色 (2004)
* ''[[A-1 Headline]]'' (2004)
* ''[[Bliss (2006 film)|Bliss]]'' (2006)
* ''[[Still Human]]'' 淪落人 (2019)

===As actor===
* ''[[Mrs K]]'' (2016)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0150897}}
*{{hkmdb name|id=9124}}
* [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=12 HK cinemagic entry]
* [http://www.lovehkfilm.com/people/chan_fruit.htm loveHKfilm entry]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090817113221/http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/fest_content/festivals.pl?debug=&channelbar=&fest=venice&page=read&partner=generic&year=2002&lang=en&text_id=23127 Fruit Chan : the Career Interview]
*[https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1448721/pang-ho-cheung-and-fruit-chan-put-local-movie-world-rights Interview with] [[Pang Ho-cheung]]

{{Fruit Chan}}
{{Golden Horse Award for Best Director}}
{{Best Director HKFA}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Fruit}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Hong Kong film directors]]
[[Category:Hong Kong male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Hong Kong film producers]]
[[Category:Chinese horror film directors]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Fruit Chan|access_date=2026-03-03}}