From Jackie Chan to Brigitte Lin, photographer on her shots of Chinese film stars in their most private moments

Jackie Chan trying to compose himself, Brigitte Lin applying make-up in a camper van – photographer and movie fan Lo Yuk-ying shot some classic images

Her photo book, The Film Makers, offers intimate portraits from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, and is being reissued with a new foreword by Tsui Hark

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Actress Brigitte Lin applies make-up in a camper van in this photo taken by Lo Yuk-ying. A new edition of her photo book The Film Makers, featuring intimate images of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, will be released in July. Photo: Lo Yuk-ying

Published: 12:15pm, 25 Jun 2020Updated: 6:20pm, 25 Jun 2020

Hiding in a corner on a movie set, Jackie Chan looks despondent after messing up a shot. Wearing only underpants and standing next to an extra on set, Canto-pop singer George Lam Chi-cheung waits for the shooting of a bedroom scene to begin. Holding up a mirror, Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia gingerly dolls herself up in a camper van.

Superstars of Chinese cinema were captured in such private moments by Lo Yuk-ying, a former part-time movie producer, and feature in a new edition of her photo book The Film Makers, to be released on July 15.

The collection of around 100 pictures were shot for Lo’s column about people working in the Hong Kong film industry which appeared in the bi-weekly Hong Kong movie magazine City Entertainment Magazine between 1979 and 1983. Lo co-founded the magazine in 1979 with other film buffs.

A self-taught photographer, she says that, unlike today, when films and movie stars are plugged relentlessly online, there were no promotional channels for entertainment celebrities in the old days.

George Lam (left) waits in his underwear for shooting to begin on a movie set. Photo: Lo Yuk-ying.

“In the ’70s we set up the Phoenix Sine Club, which organised the first-ever film festival in Hong Kong. We showed art-house movies like [Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 classic] Bicycle Thieves ,” Lo says. “We had to rent the films from overseas and got them at the airport. We all worked pro bono for City Entertainment Magazine. Besides doing the column, I also worked as editor and did typesetting for the magazine.”

Lo had a daytime job as a teacher, and took the pictures when she worked as a part-time general manager and producer for Tsui Hark’s film company because of her love of cinema. Besides being published in City Entertainment Magazine, Lo’s photographs also appeared in City Magazine, co-founded in 1976 by Hong Kong author Chan Koonchung.